The US House of Representatives passed the Transportation, Housing and Urban Development (THUD) appropriations bill for FY 2011 by a vote of 251 to 167 on Thursday. When the debate began, the Federal Housing Administration’s reverse mortgage program had a $150 million appropriation but passed with $140 million.  While the number may be lower, debate among members of [...]

The Obama Administration has announced a conference on Housing Finance Reform to happen in the upcoming month. On August 17, the “Conference on the Future of Housing Finance” will take place in Washington, D.C. at the Treasury Department. Yet again, the Administration invites the public to get involved in the future of the country’s housing [...]

As part of the Department of Housing and Urban Development’s new HECM counseling protocols, counselors are given the ability to withhold a HECM certificate if borrowers can’t demonstrate basic knowledge of reverse mortgage concepts.  The new powers are part of guidelines recently issued to improve the quality of counseling provided to seniors. According to HUD, [...]

Bank of America Merrill Lynch is looking to sell a $92 million bond backed by “troubled” reverse mortgages backed by the Federal Housing Administration according to Reuters. The bond includes 760 HECMs with borrowers are all in distress situations, including foreclosure. Whether or not they’re T&I defaults isn’t clear, but one analyst told RMD they’re [...]

I’m sure the majority of RMD readers saw MSNBC’s “Consumer Man” terrible article on reverse mortgages. MSNBC’s Herb Weisbaum wrote that consumer advocates believe the country is headed toward another mortgage meltdown in the reverse mortgage industry. “Many of the players from the subprime disaster have now moved into the reverse mortgage market,” he says.

Federal Regulators issued final rules requiring mortgage loan originators employed by financial institutions register with the Secure and Fair Enforcement for Mortgage Licensing Act of 2008 (SAFE). The rule requires originators who are employed by agency-regulated institutions to be registered with the Nationwide Mortgage Licensing System and Registry.  Created by the Conference of State Bank Supervisors and the American Association [...]