Helping HECM Borrowers in Texas and Florida

NRMLA servicing experts offer the following guidance for homeowners impacted by hurricanes Harvey and Irma:

• Contact your insurance company right away to file a claim if damage has occurred to your home.
• After that, contact your loan servicer to inform them if damage has occurred to your home.
• Depending on the severity of the damage, and the amount of funds issued by your insurance company, it may be necessary for the servicer to hold the insurance funds, monitor the progress of the repairs, and disburse out to the contractor (similar to a repair set-aside) after an inspection has been completed on the home.
• If you had damage and need to move out of your property, update your contact information with your servicer and provide an alternate contact in the event that your servicer has difficulty reaching you.
• If you had no damage, but you are going to be away from your home for a prolonged period of time, let your servicer know.

On August 28, HUD provided disaster relief for Hurricane Harvey victims and on September 13, provided relief to those impacted by Irma. The relief includes a 90-day moratorium on foreclosures of FHA-insured mortgages. Learn more on HUD’s webpage: Disaster Relief Options for FHA Homeowners.

If you are having difficulty contacting your mortgage servicer, contact the Homeowner’s HOPE Hotline at 1-888-995-HOPE (4673) for assistance and FREE confidential support from a HUD-approved housing counselor.​

Click Here for information about Mortgage Assistance Centers in Houston and FREE events on September 26, 27, 28 and October 3, 4 and 5. Visit ReverseMortgage.org for more information.

Exclusive Discount for NRMLA Members LexisNexis Risk Solutions and NRMLA are proud to offer NRMLA companies an exclusive discounted subscription to the LexisNexis suite of risk solutions including the Mortgage Industry Data Exchange (MIDEX), the leading industry-contributed repository used for verifying, credentialing and monitoring professionals and companies. 

We encourage NRMLA member companies to subscribe to MIDEX and use it to report fraudulent and misrepresentative practices they have experienced in the reverse mortgage space. Schedule a consultation today to get information on pricing and subscription features.   This arrangement will help bring MIDEX benefits to our industry and add to the range of remedies available to NRMLA through active enforcement of its Code of Ethics and Professional Responsibility. It will be used as an important new tool to help close the gap between what NRMLA is permitted to do as an association and what you all as members see as necessary to enhance professionalism and high standards of conduct within our industry.

Learn more about MIDEX by visiting the newest section of NRMLAonline.org – Defending Against Mortgage Fraud – or read Marty Bell’s article in the May/June 2017 issue of Reverse Mortgage magazine, Meet MIDEX: A Tool of Integrity. 

Montgomery Nominated to Head FHA, Patenaude Confirmed as HUD Deputy Secretary

President Donald Trump nominated Brian Montgomery to be the next assistant secretary of the Department of Housing and Urban Development, Federal Housing Commissioner. NRMLA President and CEO Peter Bell responded to the news with the following statement:

“On behalf of NRMLA, I’m pleased to congratulate Brian Montgomery on his nomination to serve as a HUD Assistant Secretary and FHA Commissioner. Brian has proved himself to be a thoughtful and committed public servant who rolls up his sleeves to get results. As FHA Commissioner during the Bush Administration, Brian showed extraordinary competence in his management and oversight of the HECM reverse mortgage program. NRMLA and the industry look forward to working with him upon his return to FHA.”

The U.S. Senate confirmed President Trump’s nomination of Pamela Patenaude to serve as Deputy Secretary of HUD. Patenaude previously served as HUD’s Assistant Secretary for Community Planning and Development and provided leadership for the long-term recovery efforts necessitated by Hurricanes Katrina and Rita.

Sorting Through the Changes On September 19, FHA’s HECM Final Rule will take effect and impact many parts of the loan process, from counseling to servicing.

Compliance officers, business owners, attorneys and loan originators attend NRMLA’s Annual Meeting & Expo because we provide the most comprehensive forum to discuss these updates and how they impact your operations.

Take advantage of this opportunity to attend the 2017 Annual Meeting & Expo to hear from industry experts. Get your CRMP continuing education credits. Network with industry leaders. And come together to improve the reverse mortgage experience. Register today at NRMLAonline.org.

NRMLA Responds to WaPo Editorial In a Letter to the Editor published by The Washington Post on September 10, NRMLA President and CEO Peter Bell reassured the public that Financial Assessment has greatly stabilized the HECM program, but that better modeling was needed within FHA to monitor future performance.

“The highly effective policy has reduced defaults by nearly three-quarters on new loans and makes loans safer for the borrowers and the fund,” wrote Bell, who responded to a Washington Post editorial that praised the Trump Administration’s recent moves to raise insurance premiums and reduce HECM loan amounts in response to concerns about rising program losses.

“A 2015 annual report showed the (HECM) program running a profit that bolstered the (MMI) fund,” added Bell. “In 2016, the models showed a loss. That shows we need better modeling, not that the reverse mortgage program is hindering young people from buying new homes.”

NRMLA Recommends Changes to HECM Loan Docs Comments submitted by NRMLA to the Department of Housing and Urban Development recommended that the HUD 92900-A form be eliminated and other existing HECM loan documents updated to account for recent regulatory changes, such as Financial Assessment and non-borrowing spouse protections.

“As a practical matter, the HUD 92900-A is a largely unusable HECM document from a consumer perspective,” commented NRMLA. Parts of HUD 92900-A are redundant with other documents that consumers receive in connection with a HECM application, while other pages are lender-specific or reference VA (Veterans Affairs)-specific information.

“We request that HECM consumers’ involvement with the 92900-A document be eliminated as the FNMA Form 1009 is a more suitable document to capture consumer information and/or make consumer disclosures,” added NRMLA.

Forms that NRMLA would like to see updated include: Fannie Mae 1009; Payment Plan Exhibit; HUD-1 and the Good Faith Estimate. NRMLA submitted its comments in response to a 30-Day Notice of Proposed Information Collection published by HUD on July 6. Read and download NRMLA’s comment letter from our online index of public comments at NRMLAonline.org.

NRMLA Supports HMDA Threshold Proposal

In comments submitted to the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau, NRMLA supported a proposed regulatory change that increases the benchmark that determines whether a lender must comply with new Home Mortgage Disclosure Act (HMDA) reporting requirements.

Under the proposed rule change, financial institutions that originate 500 or fewer open-end lines of credit (which includes reverse mortgages) in either of the preceding two years would be exempt from the HMDA reporting requirements. The final rule as currently written utilizes a 100-loan threshold.

“NRMLA is generally supportive of the proposed changes in the 2017 HMDA Proposal and commends the Bureau for responding to concerns that the open-end transactional coverage threshold was, at 100 transactions, set too low,” commented NRMLA.

While supporting the threshold change, NRMLA asked the CFPB to delay the effective date of the final rule – set for January 1, 2018 – because it still has security and privacy concerns and questions that require clarification.  

Enacted by Congress in 1975, HMDA requires financial institutions to maintain, report and publicly disclose information about their lending activities. In October 2015, the CFPB published a 797-page final rule that expanded data collection requirements by adding 25 data categories and 100 data fields.

NRMLA Makes Recommendations to Reduce Regulatory Burdens

In its public comments to the Department of Housing and Urban Development, NRMLA submitted 16 pages of recommendations that will help reduce costs and regulatory burdens for reverse mortgage companies.

HUD published a notice in the Federal Register on May 15 informing the general public that it was reviewing existing regulations to assess their compliance costs and regulatory burden. This was in accordance with Executive Orders 13771, “Reducing Regulation and Controlling Regulatory Costs,” and 13777, “Enforcing the Regulatory Reform Agenda, Improving Regulation and Regulatory Review.” HUD also stated in the notice that, as required by Executive Order 13777, it was establishing a Regulatory Task Force charged with identifying agency regulations that should be repealed, replaced or modified.

Among the recommendations, NRMLA proposed that eligible non-borrowing spouses be given 180 days to obtain marketable title when seeking a deferral period after their spouse passes away, because the current 90-day timeframe “is much too short.” NRMLA pointed out that HECM loan documents do not mention the 90-day qualifying period. This lack of consistency is not only burdensome for lenders, “but puts FHA at further risk of litigation and loss,” according to NRMLA. 

New Members NRMLA welcomes our newest members:

• Bison Enterprises, based in Fort Washington, MD (Lender)
• BALANCE, based in Concord, CA (HECM Counseling Agency)
• Bank of Utah, based in Ogden, UT (Lender)
• Cantor Fitzgerald, based in New York (Broker/Dealer)
• Eastman Credit Union, based in Kingsport, TN (Lender)
• Golden Years Mortgage Solutions, based in Torrance, CA (Lender)
• KGS-Alpha Capital Markets, L.P., based in New York (Broker/Dealer)
• Loan Simple, Inc., based in Mandeville, LA (Lender)
• Movement Mortgage, based in Norfolk, VA (Lender)
• Nationwide Equities Corporation, based in Mahwah, NJ (Lender)
• Nomura Securities, based in New York (Broker/Dealer)
• Park Place Mortgage, based in Medford, OR (Lender)
• Senior Reverse Mortgage, based in Albuquerque, NM (Lender)
• Victorian Finance, LLC, based in Durham, NC (Lender)

New CRMPs Congratulations to the following individuals for earning the status of Certified Reverse Mortgage Professional:

• Randall Buffam, Arrowhead Capital Mortgage, Redlands, CA
• John Correll, Lineage Lending in San Diego, CA
• Jake Droge, Open Mortgage, Humboldt, SD
• Cindy McKearney, Fairway Independent Mortgage, Tucson, AZ
• Christopher Mollison, On Q Financial, Inc., Mesa, AZ