In case you missed it, here’s what happened in reverse mortgage news this week:
7 Reverse Mortgage Financial Assessment Tips for Originators—RMD spoke with several reverse mortgage originators who shared tips based on their successes under the Financial Assessment. See what they had to say.
Congresswoman Wants More Relief for Reverse Mortgage Non-Borrowing Spouses—Ranking Member of House Financial Services Committee Maxine Waters (D-CA) this week wrote a letter to HUD Secretary Julián Castro, expressing concern with his agency’s handling of non-borrowing spouses of reverse mortgage borrowers. In the letter, Waters urges that greater protections be afforded to these spouses to better safeguard them from foreclosure.
MarketWatch: It’s Now Tougher to Get a Reverse Mortgage—The Financial Assessment has made reverse mortgages tougher to obtain today, said MarketWatch in an article this week. But although the new requirements means more work is required from borrowers, the article suggests that the Financial Assessment should not be viewed as all that bad.
5 Ways Reverse Mortgages Can Serve as Retirement Planning Tools—Gone are the days when reverse mortgages wet considered a loan of last resort. Rather, they are gaining steam among financial planners today as a retirement tool that can hedge against future costs and provide much-needed income during a borrower’s post-working days, according to a webinar this week meant to educate financial advisors on the strategic use of Home Equity Conversion Mortgages.
Boston College: Americans Are Shortsighted When It Comes to Finances—Saving for retirement is a long-term strategy, but Americans of all ages and income levels are shortsighted about their finances, says a study released this week by the Center for Retirement Research at Boston College. Among the financial indicators used in the analysis were day-to-day problems such as difficulty covering expenses, heavy debt burdens and the inability to access $2,000.
Written by Jason Oliva