MISMO Seeks Public Comment on Enhanced Closing Instruction Templates and XML Mapping Specification

WASHINGTON, D.C. (May 18, 2023) – MISMO®, the real estate finance industry's standards organization, is seeking public comment on a new set of enhanced work products created by the Closing Instructions Development Workgroup (DWG) that are designed to create a common format for closing instructions. The 60-day public comment period runs through July 17, 2023.

“Lenders and settlement agents will communicate more effectively, provide better customer service, and improve operational efficiencies through the use of consistent closing templates and underlying datasets,” said David Coleman, President of MISMO.

The Closing Instructions DWG is seeking public comment on the following resources:

• Revisions to the MISMO Master Closing Instruction Template
• Revisions to the MISMO Transactional Closing Instruction Template
• Revisions to the MISMO Closing Instruction Implementation Guide
• New MISMO Transactional Closing Instruction Dataset

  MISMO’s Master and Transactional Closing Instruction templates create a consistent format for closing instructions and are designed to enhance communication between lenders and settlement agents, thereby reducing closing errors. The templates focus on the format and organization of closing instructions, rather than legal language often included in instructions.

  The updates to the templates and supporting iGuide include:

  • Clarified field label names to align with industry standard terms
  • Additional fields to capture data requested by the industry
  • Enhancements to the fields related to eClosings based on industry adoption

In addition to the revised templates and iGuide, the Closing Instructions DWG created a dataset to accompany the Transactional Closing Instructions. The MISMO Transactional Closing Instruction Template XML Mapping Specification is intended to serve as a guide for implementers in defining data requirements, for a specific integration, to exchange data based on the format of the MISMO Transactional Closing Instructions and the MISMO v3.6 reference model.   

The public comment period allows those who participated in the proposals at least 60 days’ notice prior to final release to review and disclose any applicable Patent Rights (as defined by MISMO's 2018 Intellectual Property Rights Policy). Disclosures and comments should be directed to [email protected].

MISMO’s work to solve key business challenges is made possible due to lender support of the MISMO Innovation Investment Fee. For more information visit MISMO.org.