The Reverse Mortgage Report (RMR) just published that the Mortgage Bankers Association is forming a 15 member task force to help establish standards for the reverse mortgage business. The task force will be lead by former MBA Chairwoman Regina Lowrie, who is the CEO of Vision Mortgage Capital of Pennsylvania.
According to Lowrie and MBA Chief Operating Officer John Courson, the MBA plans to leverage its resources to help lobby and provide economic research to establish best practices for the industry. This will be especially important as the secondary market for reverse mortgage lending returns in the next several years, leading to more proprietary loan products.
The MBA will also work towards nationwide standards to prevent state by state regulation like we have seen in Washington and Massachusetts. Other issues the task force will tackle include servicing and counseling problems. I’m hoping the MBA can help fix the counseling problems created by the Housing and Economic Recovery Act of 2008. Included in the Bill is a provision which was sponsored by Senator Claire McCaskill that has resulted in seniors being turned away from counseling if they are unable to afford it. I’ve contacted Senator McCaskill several times but have yet to receive any kind of response.
The MBA will be able to help with this by using its Mortgage Action Alliance (MAA) which keeps members informed to regulatory changes on the national and state levels. If there is an issue that needs attention, an email is sent to members which allows you to take action on their website by automatically by forwarding your message to the necessary people (ie Claire McCaskill). To see what I mean click here. While I haven’t seen this set up for reverse mortgages yet, I’m sure it’s in the works.
The task force also has plans to roll out a certification program for originators by the end of the year which is something we have been waiting for NRMLA to do. It has been “in the works” for at least a year but who knows if they will ever release it.
I’m glad to see the MBA is taking a step towards being more active in the reverse mortgage business. The size and influence of the MBA is needed to help our industry move in the right direction for businesses and seniors.
