NRMLA recently announced that certain organizations are attempting to implement the final FHA rules on borrower paid and lender paid counseling. While the rule that allows counselors to charge for counseling sessions technically went into effect on October 29, NRMLA is cautioning members of the reverse mortgage community to wait for a mortgagee letter which will provide more guidance on how to implement the new program.

When HUD issued the original guidelines in early October the wording was very general and left much open for interpretation. One area that specifically that needs more explanation is the procedure addressing clients who are the “hardship cases” and cannot afford to pay for counseling. From what I’ve been hearing, it sounds like the trend will become that the lender will pick up the counseling fee for all borrowers but it will only have to be paid if the loan actually closes.

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