We are still #1 and growing our local team in Eastern PA ( 18+ top reverse mortgage specials)

Top Reverse Mortgage Lenders of 2008

Wells Fargo is still the #1 Retail originator of Reverse Mortgages in the USA. Our Local Team in Eastern PA is top shelf and stands ready to help any of your friends, family, clients or associates. Call 866-518-1020 ext 101 for help.

The report below includes new endorsements per lender.

There sometimes comes a tipping point when politics gets in the way of government, when talk trumps action—and when that happens someone, someplace has to shout, “Halt!”

We may well have now reached that point in the reverse mortgage debate. Rhetoric that claims to be helping seniors may instead be scaring them and, as a result, stagnating them.  As President Obama has emphasized and clearly demonstrated, words matter.  They need to be selected with care.  And too many of the words being tossed about in Washington, DC, by politicians, regulators and headline writers seem to be more for effect than to accurately reflect the current situation.

Reverse mortgages are still a relatively new financial product and they require constant reexamination. But during this evolutionary process, we cannot overlook that in an economy where there are few if any loans to be had, home values have plummeted and the value of retirement accounts have fallen, reverse mortgages are vital to the future security and happiness of our senior population.

A thoughtful and thorough new study from the MetLife Mature Market Institute and the National Council on Aging reports that nearly half of the seniors who take out reverse mortgages utilize them to pay off first mortgages and thus lower their monthly expenses, so they can afford to stay in their homes. Members of the National Reverse Mortgage Lenders Association across the nation report to us that they are keeping new clients out of foreclosure each month.  In that regard, the reverse mortgage program is serving its purpose—and serving the nation’s good.

At the same time, the program and the industry it has produced are being dissed by a frequently inflated barrage of political rhetoric, which tends to ignite shrill newspaper headlines. The month of June was bookended with two blatant cases involving important government officials:

At the beginning of June, Comptroller of the Currency John C. Dugan, in a speech to the American Bankers Association containing some important observations and ideas, unfortunately said that reverse mortgages are susceptible to some of the same issues that ignited the subprime fiasco. Over the next few days, news headlines online and off ranted that a government regulator warned that reverse mortgages could be the next subprimes.  A few days after the speech, Dugan’s deputy, Ann Jaedicke, appearing at the NRMLA Washington Policy Conference, reported that Dugan was unhappy with how his remarks were interpreted. But the damage had been done.

The month ended with a field hearing in St. Louis organized by Republican Senator Claire McCaskill of Missouri, who two months earlier had stood in the Senate chamber and labeled reverse mortgages as a “dangerous product.”  Of the six people McCaskill invited to testify, four had a documented history of expressing skepticism about the financial product. Though the panel did include two advocates (Peter Bell, the president of NRMLA, and Buzz Zeman, a counselor from St. Louis), it ignored many high-profile and knowledgeable advocates, such as Meg Burns and Brian Montgomery, who have overseen the reverse mortgage program for HUD.  Given this cast, it appeared as if McCaskill was not seeking a balanced view of the program so much as staging a public reiteration of her own skepticism.

McCaskill set the tone in her opening remarks.  “We convene today,” said the one-time Jackson County prosecutor, “to discuss serious concerns about lax oversight in this program that is leaving our nation’s seniors vulnerable to predatory practices leading to fraud and victimization.”  But neither McCaskill nor any of the other speakers she selected provided much evidence to back up this claim.

The issue here is the tone of the conversation.  No one involved with reverse mortgages would be foolish enough to argue that it is a perfect product.  The staffs at the Department of Housing and Urban Development, at many other regulatory agencies, in state legislatures and at organizations such as NRMLA, are working daily to find creative solutions to make it a better product. But these changes — caps on origination fees, a clearer counseling protocol, restrictions on cross selling of other financial products — went unmentioned in the McCaskill hearing.  Instead, McCaskill accused some mortgage entities of not having the best interest of seniors in mind, “but rather just profit at any cost.”  The result was scare headlines in the Kansas City Star and Miami Herald that read, “Lawmakers Look at Rising Scams for Reverse Mortgages.”    

When a United States senator or a prominent federal regulator questions the trustworthiness of those selling a product, it can have no other effect but to scare people away from the product.  And many of those people, those seniors, now have no other source of money available to them to provide them with security and comfort in a difficult part of life.

At the NRMLA Washington conference, Sen. Tim Johnson, Republican of South Dakota, entered the room and said, “I don’t know that much about reverse mortgages. Why don’t you educate me?”  Over the next hour, 15 men and women in the reverse mortgage business each told a story of a senior who was in dire trouble until they took out a reverse mortgage. It was an incredibly moving scene that brought some present to tears. There are 300,000 more of these stories now in America.

All of us dealing with reverse mortgages — lenders, counselors, advocates, politicians, regulators — are in this together. We all need to ask ourselves, what is the priority here? This product was originally designed by the Federal Housing Administration and AARP to provide seniors with the assets to make the later years of their lives more secure and less worrisome. So isn’t it all of our responsibility to make the product better and make it work for as many of them as possible?  

The problems with the product are indeed being addressed on a daily basis. Some examples in the most commonly criticized areas:

Counseling — Seniors need to have the confidence that the counseling for the product is comprehensive. To address that, HUD will soon introduce a new counseling protocol that, among other things, will require individual counselors to be tested and approved by the department and also require counselors to ask prospective borrowers a set of questions that indicate if they understand the product.

Advertising — The Federal Trade Commission, the HUD Inspector General’s Office and NRMLA are all scrutinizing advertising for false and misleading claims, with various penalties in place for offenders ranging from fines to suspension of licenses. At NRMLA, we receive and take action on complaints from members when other members run egregious ads. The FTC reports that over the past four years, it has received 50 complaints relating to reverse mortgages out of 4 million total complaints. Policing this product is manageable.

Suitability — Bills are coming out of state legislatures calling for lenders to determine the suitability of borrowers without creating standards for assessment.  In his speech before the ABA, Comptroller of the Currency Dugan expressed concern about borrowers’ ability to meet their tax and insurance obligations.  Meanwhile, HUD and NRMLA’s servicing subcommittee have been discussing regulations and a process for financial assessment of prospective borrowers.  This would provide lenders with the methodology to determine whether or not a senior is capable of covering their ongoing financial obligations — including taxes and insurance — and offer safeguard options if they are not.

Ethics — Perhaps the most important issue of all is assuring seniors that they are dealing with ethical people whose primary concern is their best interests.  NRMLA members are required to sign and abide by a Code of Ethics and Professional Responsibility. Those who vary from their ethical commitment are brought up on charges before our Ethics Committee. The threat is not only suspension or expulsion from the organization, but also the passing along of the complaint to the proper regulators. In addition, we have created a Certified Reverse Mortgage Professionals designation which requires two years of experience and 50 reverse mortgage transactions, continual education, a background check, participation in an interactive ethics course and a three-hour exam that includes detailed questions on counseling, cross-selling restrictions, and all the other issues that have attracted concern.

Actions such as these are the best protection for seniors. Dire warnings are really no help to anyone.

And so this is a call for a verbal ceasefire, an end to grandstanding that may be good politics, but is not good government. Phrases such as “a dangerous product,” “the next subprime” and “predatory lending” should be banned from the debate forever. They have sting, but not substance. Tarnishing the images of reverse mortgage professionals by implicating that they are connected to bad practices in other sectors of the mortgage business is unacceptable.  And it diverts attention from the unmanageable crisis we really ought to be tackling: the sad fact that the vast majority of senior abuse in America occurs within families.  

Instead of pointing fingers and arguing amongst ourselves, isn’t it time for everyone who has a hand in the future of reverse mortgages — senators, House representatives, HUD, the Office of the Comptroller of the Currency, the Office of Thrift Supervision, the Federal Deposit Insurance Corp., the Office of Management and Budget, the Congressional Budget Office, as well as non-governmental organizations such as AARP, the National Council on Aging and NRMLA — to come together quietly and work in harmony on a single comprehensive program that will best serve the needs of our seniors? There may not be a lot of political currency in this approach, but some issues are too important to be treated as political.

We at NRMLA will be happy to convene this. Consider this the first in a series of efforts to reach-out to all of you who share our priority — securing the lives of our growing senior population.

Reprinted from an article published by the National reverse Mortgage Lenders Association

I want to thank Pam DeShong for sharing this great information regarding reverse mortgages. Pam has over 20 years of mortgage experience, and lending is a strong part of her background. Pam is involved with many organizations which supports senior concerns. She is a member of the Norfolk & Virginia Beach Task Force on Aging and the National Reverse Mortgage Lenders Association.

The company that Pam works for, Seniors First, has been locally owned and operated for over 10 years. The company was founded on old fashioned values, and the name clearly states what its priorities are. Seniors first specializes exclusively in reverse mortgages. Pam’s strong concern for seniors is very important to her and she truly wants to share that passion with others. Please feel free to contact Pam for further information on how reverse mortgages can provide financial security to the seniors in your life. E-mail Pam at pdeshong@cox.net or call her at 757-285-7278. Visit the Seniors First web site: www.seniorsfm.com

Advantages of a Reverse Mortgage

The main advantage of Reverse Mortgages is that they are an extremely flexible financial planning product with very few – if any – restrictions on how you receive and use the money.

To many people, a Reverse Mortgage simply sounds too good to be true. But, there really are no catches. Given the right set of circumstances, a Reverse Mortgage is an ideal way to increase your spending power in retirement.

Key advantages and benefits of Reverse Mortgages include:

No Risk of Default: Unlike a home equity loan, with a Reverse Home Mortgage your home can not be taken from you. If you default on a home equity loan, you could lose your home.
The Reverse Mortgage Lenders have no claim on your income or other assets.

No Downside: With a Reverse Mortgage you will never owe more than your home’s value at the time the loan is repaid, even if the Reverse Mortgage lenders have paid you more money than the value of the home. This is a particularly interesting advantage if you secure a Reverse Mortgage and then home price declines.

Tax Free: The money from a Reverse Mortgage is typically tax free, since it’s a loan when the homeowner receives the funds, as either additional fixed income or a lump sum.

No Restrictions: How you use the funds from a Reverse Mortgage is not restricted – go traveling, get a hearing aid, purchase long term care insurance, pay for your children’s college education – anything goes.

Flexible Payment Options: You can receive the Reverse Mortgage loan money in the form of a lump sum, credit line a combination of the two.

Easy Pre-Qualifications: There are no income qualifications to get a Reverse Mortgage.
Home Ownership: With a Reverse Mortgage, you retain home ownership and the ability to live in your home.

Guaranteed Place to Live: You can live in your home for as long as you want when you secure a Reverse Mortgage.

Federally Insured: The Home Equity Conversion Mortgages (HECM) is the most widely available Reverse Mortgage. It is managed by the Department of Housing and Urban Affairs and is federally insured. This is important since even if your Reverse Mortgage lender defaults, you’ll still receive your payments.

Recently Increased Lending Limits: As of Nov. 6, 2008 the Department of Housing and Urban Affairs increased the loan limit on the HECM to $417,000. And, for loans written in 2009, the loan limit is $625,500.

Disadvantages of a Reverse Mortgage

A Reverse Mortgage may not be for everyone; consider the following:

Beware if You are Eligible for Low-Income Assistance: If you are currently or will be eligible to receive low-income assistance from the Federal or State government (like Medicaid), you will want to be careful that income from a Reverse Mortgage does not disqualify you from that assistance. (NOTE: Social Security and Medicare are not impacted by a Reverse Mortgage.)

Reconsider if You Are Planning to Move in the Near Term: Since a Reverse Home Mortgage loan is due if your home is no longer your primary residence and the up front closing costs are typically higher than other loans, it is not a good tool for those than plan to move soon to another residence.

Evaluate if You are Willing to Reduce Your Heirs Inheritance: Many people dismiss a Reverse Mortgage as a retirement option because they want to be sure their home goes to their heirs. And it is true, a Reverse Mortgage decreases your home equity – affecting your estate. However, you can still leave your home to your heirs and they will have the option of keeping the home and refinancing or paying off the mortgage or selling the home if the home is worth more than the amount owed on it.