A federally-mandated disclosure formerly provided to the homebuyer at the start of a real estate transaction.
The Good Faith Estimate (GFE) was a federally-mandated disclosure formerly provided to the homebuyer at the start of escrow (i.e., the beginning of a real estate transaction).
In an attempt to be more user-friendly, the GFE form was replaced by the Loan Estimate (LE) and is no longer used to reflect initial fees. Despite this fact, many Real Estate Agents still use the term “Good Faith Estimate” to refer to the LE.
Along with the similarly outdated HUD-1 Form (replaced by the Closing Disclosure) provided to the buyer at the close of escrow (i.e., the end of a real estate transaction), these forms were originally intended to provide the buyer with a clear representation of all charged fees and any fee changes from start to finish.