If the government makes any sudden moves in the reverse mortgage market, lenders have private products in development that could fill some of the void. People familiar with their development say there are at least a few products that could come off the shelf within several months should the government decide to lower HECM loan [...]

Driven by continued weakness in the housing market, among other factors, Moody’s Investors Service downgraded the ratings of several bonds backed by private reverse mortgages. The downgrade actions came from three mortgage deals and were driven primarily based on the loans concentrated in California, where house prices have declined more than 40% since 2006, Moody’s noted. [...]

Once an industry that thrived on the development of private products to meet the needs of senior homeowners, the reverse mortgage industry of today is almost entirely comprised of a single government product. Prior to the financial crisis, there were several lenders offering a variety of proprietary products and no one would’ve argued about the [...]

What role will the jumbo reverse mortgage play in the marketplace today? Jeff Lewis, chairman of Generation Mortgage, told the Boston Globe it not only meets the needs of borrowers with higher home values, but will also serve aging boomers who are still raising children and helping to support their own parents.  Describing an experience [...]

Standard and Poor’s lowered ratings on seven classes from two U.S. residential mortgage-backed securities (RMBS) transactions backed by nonconforming reverse mortgage loan collateral to “BBB” ratings. According to S&P, the seven downgraded classes from series Securities Corp.’s (SASCO’s) series 2006-RM1 and Structured Asset Securities Corporation Reverse Mortgage Loan Trust 2007-RM1 reflect that the amount of credit enhancement [...]

New guidance from the Federal Financial Institutions Examination Council (FFIEC) says that institutions are encouraged to follow or adopt relevant HECM requirements for mandatory counseling, disclosures, restrictions on cross-selling of ancillary products, and reliable appraisals for proprietary or jumbo reverse mortgage products. While private reverse mortgages have been non-existent until recently, the agency emphasizes the importance of financial [...]