In a recent letter to Mortgage Bankers Association President/CEO David Stevens, CFPB Director Richard Cordray attempted to soothe compliance concerns over the new Know Before You Owe mortgage disclosure rules. However, some observers said a note from Cordray on the matter is simply not enough.

"The most important part of the letter is that it might be helpful to investors who are just skittish, but it doesn't have any real force of law," Andrew Arculin, a lawyer at Venable LLP in Washington, told CU Times. "Typically liability under a statute is not something that an agency gets to decide. It's something that Congress has put in place and for the courts to interpret."

In the letter, Cordray said if investors rejected loans based on formatting errors, "they would be rejecting loans for reasons unrelated to potential liability associated" with the new disclosure rules. He added that there are "cure provisions" that allow for the "issuance of a corrected closing disclosure, even after closing."