The CFPB recently published a notice advising of the availability of an updated version of the What You Should Know about Home Equity Lines of Credit booklet. The updated booklet is dated August 2022, and replaces the January 2014 version of the booklet.

The updated booklet is considerably shorter than the prior version of the booklet—11 pages instead of 19 pages. The CFPB took a similar approach when it updated the Consumer Handbook on Adjustable Rate Mortgages (CHARM) booklet and issued the Your home loan toolkit: A step-by-step guide to replace the settlement cost booklet. The updated versions of those disclosures were shorter than the prior versions. Also, as noted by the CFPB, the updated HELOC booklet has the look and feel of the other two disclosures.

The CFPB advised that it “is updating the HELOC booklet so that it aligns with the Bureau’s educational efforts, to be more concise, and to improve readability and usability.” The CFPB notes that new features of the updated booklet include clear instructions on how consumers can use the booklet to explore their options, a comparison table with examples of loans that utilize home equity and other sources of financing a consumer might consider (including closed-end credit), and expanded tables for consumers to compare three estimates of HELOCs.

At the end of the notice, the CFPB states that “[i]n January 2021, [the] CFPB released a statement encouraging financial institutions to make financial products and services available to consumers with limited English proficiency. One of the tenets of that statement is that financial institutions provide consumers with clear disclosures in languages other than English.” The CFPB issued a Spanish language version of the updated booklet, which is available here.

[View source.]