In case you missed it, here’s what happened in reverse mortgage news this week:
FHA said reverse mortgage premiums could bear some of the brunt of the tax cut extension plan. FHA is required under the plan to raise premiums by 10 basis points. Where the agency will implement the increase is still an unknown, a HUD spokesman told RMD.
MetLife quit its forward business. As of 5 pm Tuesday, the reverse mortgage giant stopped accepting forward mortgage applications. The company announced it was seeking a buyer for its forward business in October, and sold its bank business to GE Capital in December. MetLife says it remains committed to its reverse mortgage business.
The CFPB took flight, then announced reverse mortgage oversight plans. The Consumer Financial Protection Bureau, which only last week got its full power under the authority of its first director, Richard Cordray, this week announced its plans for non-bank oversight. Detailed reverse mortgage information is included in its Origination Examination Procedures, found here.
We asked the experts: How scary is the CFPB really? While the sources we spoke with said preparation is important, their biggest concern: uncertainty. “Unprecedented is the word of the day,” one attorney familiar with the agency told us. Hear from the experts on how exactly this agency is going to work.
A Wall Street Journal video report talked reverse mortgages and FHA. National Reverse Mortgage Lenders Association President and CEO Peter Bell spoke with WSJ to clear up some uncertainties about the FHA’s reverse mortgage program and to explain why the program is needed now, more than ever.
Fred Thompson won big in the republican primaries… sort of. The former Republican senator appeared in American Advisors Group reverse mortgage commercials run during the primary election coverage. AAG reports an overwhelming response to the ads.
RMD will be observing the Martin Luther King, Jr. holiday on Monday, January 16. We’ll see you back here after the long weekend.
Written by Elizabeth Ecker
