On March 14, 2008, the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD) released its proposed rule to amend the existing regulations of the Real Estate Settlement Procedures Act (RESPA). HUD's goal is to simplify and improve the disclosure requirements for mortgage settlements for mortgage settlement costs and to protect consumers from unnecessarily high settlement costs.

While few questions the desirability of the goals, many question the effectiveness of the proposed rule to accomplish them.