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The Closing Disclosure 3-day rule

For most residential mortgages, the borrower has to receive the Closing Disclosure at least three business days before closing. Enter your closing date to see the deadline, and the last day to put it in the mail.

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How the three days are counted

For this rule, a business day is every calendar day except Sundays and federal public holidays. Saturdays count. Count back from the closing date: the closing day itself isn’t one of the three.

Example: closing on a Thursday. Wednesday, Tuesday and Monday are the three business days, so the borrower must have the Closing Disclosure by Monday. If a federal holiday falls in that window, it doesn’t count, and the deadline moves a day earlier.

Mailed or emailed disclosures

If the disclosure isn’t handed to the borrower, it’s treated as received three business days after it was sent, unless you have proof it arrived sooner. In the Thursday example, a mailed Closing Disclosure has to go out by the Thursday before (Saturday, Friday and Thursday count back from Monday).

When the clock starts over

Most changes only need a corrected Closing Disclosure at or before closing. Three changes need a new disclosure and a fresh three-business-day wait: the APR becomes inaccurate beyond the allowed tolerance, the loan product changes, or a prepayment penalty is added.

Who it applies to

The rule covers most closed-end consumer mortgages secured by real property. It doesn’t apply to cash purchases, commercial loans, home equity lines of credit or reverse mortgages. Lenders and some states add their own earlier deadlines.

A planning aid, not legal advice. Check the lender’s closing instructions for any earlier deadline.

Never count these days by hand again

Closing Desk works out the Closing Disclosure deadline for every open file, moves it when the closing date changes, and puts any file at risk at the top of your team’s morning email.