How can we improve the reverse mortgage borrower experience? Loan officers report they have trouble maintaining their customers’ attention as they explain the details of reverse mortgages. Others tell us they lose customers to HELOCs simply because of the daunting pile of documents. Servicers send out important communications to borrowers in envelopes that are never opened. The CFPB claims borrowers do not understand they are taking out a loan.

We can do better than this. For the past few months, NRMLA members have been meeting regularly to review the borrower experience from the beginning to the end of a loan.

Join your colleagues in Chicago, November 14-16, for NRMLA’s 2016 Annual Meeting & Expo and work with us on developing “a better borrower experience.” Register at nrmlaonline.org.

HUD Considers Mandatory Assignments at 98% HUD published a Supplemental Notice of Proposed Rulemaking that seeks comment on a regulatory change, which would require HECMs to be assigned to HUD once the loan balance is equal to or greater than 98 percent of the maximum claim amount. Public comments must be submitted by September 12. Mortgagees currently have the option to assign loans at 98 percent, at which time HUD assumes responsibility for servicing them until the loan is paid off.

The criteria for assigning cases to HUD will not be changed through this rule. Mortgagees can assign loans only if they are current on making required payments to the mortgagor; current on making required MIP payments to the secretary; the mortgage is not due and payable; and the mortgage is a first lien of record and title to the property securing the mortgage is good and marketable.

CFPB Expands Foreclosure Protections

The CFPB finalized proposed amendments to its Mortgage Servicing Rules on August 4, some of which apply to reverse mortgages.

The rules go into effect either 12 or 18 months from the date of publication of the final rule in the Federal Register, depending upon the particular change. We would expect the final rule to be published in the Federal Register in August, so the earliest the rule would be effective would be sometime in August 2017. To read the full article, log in to nrmlaonline.org.

36,500 Visitors in 30 Days to Reversemortgage.org NRMLA’s consumer website, reversemortgage.org, is a popular destination for consumers who want to learn more about reverse mortgages, attracting more than 30,000 unique visitors each month. To ensure the best possible user experience, NRMLA relies on Google Analytics to monitor traffic on a weekly basis to see where visitors come from and which pages they visit most often.

During the past 30 days, we had 36,496 visits (or sessions). Approximately 30,445 were new visitors while the rest were returning visitors. The following graphic shows that the highest concentration of visitors (both new and returning) live in California (5,436 sessions), followed by Florida (2,345), Texas (2,306), Virginia (1,859) and New York (1,755).

Google Analytics also shows us that 80,889 total pages were viewed on the website during the same time period. The most popular pages included:

• Find a Lender
• Most Frequently Asked Questions
• Reverse Mortgage Calculator
• org homepage
• What Is a Reverse Mortgage?
• Your Road Map to a Reverse Mortgage

We will continue to share these types of statistics and invite members to visit reversemortgage.org to give us your impressions of the site, the content we provide, and information or features we might want to add.

Reverse Mortgages in the News

• In “How to Invest in Retirement,” published in S. News and World Report, financial journalist Jeff Brown writes that retirees’ spending needs change as they get older, so budgeting to spend specific amounts per year for 20 or 30 years may not work. Life throws curve balls, like divorce and death of a spouse, which can upend even well-formed financial plans. The last few years of one’s life can be quite expensive as medical needs escalate. To improve financial security in retirement, Brown advises that readers: avoid tapping retirement accounts to pay for kids’ college tuitions; save at least 15 percent of their gross income once they reach age 40; pay off their mortgage; and set up a reverse mortgage line of credit as a reserve. “It can be especially valuable to establish a credit line now because you can lock in today’s low loan rates,” writes Brown.
• “Using a Reverse Mortgage to Pay Off Your First Mortgage,” an article on bankrate.com by reporter Polyana da Costa, provides a thorough explanation of reverse mortgages and offers hypothetical examples of how they might work for some homeowners. Da Costa also profiles Barbara Hiebert, who got a reverse mortgage after her husband passed away, but uses it “only when I need it.” Recently, she hurt herself after falling and spent more than $10,000 during her at-home recovery. “I had people come in for three hours in the morning and at night,” says Hiebert. “It was expensive. I couldn’t have afforded it without the reverse mortgage.”

• ‘The Quiet Comeback of Reverse Mortgages,” an article byThe New York Times reporter John Wasik, states that reverse mortgages earned a bad reputation when they were subject to widespread abuses by lenders, but with new reforms in place, they are making a modest comeback and seen as a way of helping retirees fill gaps in their future income. “They can provide cash or ‘longevity insurance’ when other sources of retirement income come up short, or provide money for out-of-pocket health care costs or other sudden financial crunches,” writes Wasik. The article profiles Peter and Joyce Hill, who used a reverse mortgage to build a house in a 55-plus retirement community in Lancaster County, Pennsylvania.

Congratulations to New CRMPs NRMLA congratulates the following individuals for achieving the status of Certified Reverse Mortgage Professional (CRMP).

• David W. Carter, Reverse Mortgage Funding LLC, Santa Rosa, California
• Robert Paul Charles, The Federal Savings Bank, Anthem, Arizona
• Matthew Evans, Certified Reverse Mortgage, Tustin, California
• Tony Guillen, Liberty Home Equity Solutions, Las Vegas, Nevada
• Hernando Manzano, The Reverse Mortgage Group, LLC, Westin, Florida
• Nina H. Penny, Arizona Wholesale Mortgage, Inc., Phoenix, Arizona
• Paul E. Scheper, Liberty Home Equity Solutions, Coto de Caza, California
• Peter Tentler, Liberty Home Equity Solutions, San Diego, California
• Minh Vu, Golden Equity Mortgage, Concord, California

Thank you for Joining NRMLA welcomes our newest members

• Heritage Reverse Mortgage, St. George, Utah
• TenA Companies, Inc., St. Paul, Minnesota