At the Annual Mortgage Bankers Association's 92nd Annual Convention and Expo in Orlando, Florida, held in October, 2005, the Legal Issues and Regulatory Compliance Committee introduced a proposed draft of the Uniform Closing Instructions ("Instructions"), which consists of General and Specific Closing Instructions. As Renee Smith-Cleary, Assistant General Counsel with DocMagic, Inc., was the primary drafter of the Specific Closing Instructions and participated in the numerous Committee conference calls related to the development of the Instructions, she attended the Convention meeting at which the Instructions were introduced.

According to Smith-Cleary, "[t]he goal of this project is to create a uniform set of instructions so that closing agents know exactly where to look for the information they need, which will facilitate a smoother closing process. The General Closing Instructions [GCI] are a static set of instructions and the Specific Closing Instructions [SCI] contain the data particular to the transaction."

The GCI are fairly comprehensive with 28 pages, and the SCI have four pages. The current plan is to post the GCI on the MBA's website and incorporate these by reference into the SCI. The SCI organize related information in sections. These sections contain the transaction-specific information.

"We want to know if our customers consider these documents to be a tool that will benefit and improve the closing process. We want to hear our customer's opinions regarding their likes, dislikes, and suggestions for improvements." Please provide your feedback to us at compliance@docmagic.com.