A new report from Government Accountability Office (GAO) found that the Department of Housing and Urban Development’s internal controls do not provide reasonable assurance that counseling providers are complying with HECM counseling requirements.
As part of the GAO’s examination, they participated in 15 HECM counseling sessions and found that while the counselors generally conveyed accurate and […]

Senator Claire McCaskill held a Special Committee on Aging Field Hearing this week to examine reverse mortgage industry problems and possible solutions.  McCaskill feels that while this can be a useful tool for some, many elderly homeowners are prime targets for predatory lending schemes in a rapidly growing industry said a press statement.
During her speech, […]

When the Department of Housing and Urban Development unveiled its 2010 budget request last month, it included a request for $798 million credit subsidy for the FHA’s reverse mortgage program.  It’s the first time HUD has requested a subsidy for the program and left many questioning if the HECM needs to change in order ensure […]

The Government National Mortgage Association announced that it posted $38.98 billion in total mortgage-backed securities issuance in May. For the first five months of calendar year 2009, Ginnie Mae provided approximately $163 billion of liquidity to the secondary market, compared to nearly $80 billion for the first five months of 2008.
"Our MBS program is […]

When participants convened in private last week at the annual policy conference of the National Reverse Mortgage Lenders Association in Washington, D.C., government officials, academicians, attorneys and business executives could “let down their collective hair,” unencumbered by the news media, which were not permitted to attend.
One speaker, from the Government Accounting Office, spoke to RMD […]

Ding Ding!  Here comes “Round 2” from Atare Agbamu in his second installment of An Assault on Fairness: Quash Mortgagee Letter 2008-38 (Part 2).  In Round 2, he discusses how the arms-length rule in the ML has the potential to arouse anger and alienate seniors’ heirs and relatives, which he calls the “core centers of […]