It was a busy week for reverse mortgage news and there was plenty of coverage from organizations like Bloomberg, the Wall Street Journal and the New York Times.
The New York Times: On Friday, Ron Lieber wrote about the Department of Housing and Urban Development’s decision to rescind its recourse policy for reverse mortgages. It’s good news for AARP, but the organization wants more.
“The foundation hopes that a judge will confirm that HUD cannot ever force a widow, widower or heir to pay a reverse mortgage lender more than a home is actually worth, whatever the balance may be on the mortgage,” writes Lieber. Read more here.
Bloomberg: More coverage of AARP’s reaction to HUD rescinding recourse guidance for the HECM program it published in 2008. Jean Constantine-Davis, a senior attorney with AARP Foundation Litigation told Bloomberg, things are moving in the right direction.
While it seems to be pretty obvious AARP’s lawsuit pushed HUD to rescind the guidance, Brian Sullivan, a spokesman for HUD, told Bloomberg the policy change was unrelated to the lawsuit. “We recognized there was some confusion on the issue, and we wanted to make sure that the ultimate sale of the property is market-based and reflects the property’s real value,” he said. Read more here.
WSJ: Over the weekend, it published A Lower Cost Reverse Mortgage.
“A reverse mortgage has long been considered a loan of last resort because of its high fees. Now, a new type of reverse mortgage is reducing some fees dramatically. But older homeowners need to be aware of the trade-offs,” writes Anne Tergesen of the WSJ.
Compensation Fight Is Not Over: Despite losing the first battle over loan officer compensation with the Federal Reserve, the National Association of Mortgage Brokers said “the fight is far from over”. Last week, the stay was lifted and the new rule is in effect.
No Government Shutdown… Yet: Late Friday night a compromise was made to avert a government shut down. Read more about it at the Washington Post.
