Reverse mortgages can be a lifeline for low-income seniors, reports a recent AOL Daily Finance article. The product can be “very valuable” in situations where an eligible senior has home equity but not a lot of monthly cash flow, the article quoted Margot Saunders, a counsel with the National Consumer Law Center, as saying. “If [...]

HECM applications rose 3.9% in August to 7,940, marking an 18% year-over-year decline when compared with August 2010, the latest Federal Housing Administration Outlook from the Department of Housing and Urban Development shows. Total HECM endorsements were up 5.3%, with HECM Saver endorsements rising more than 8% during the month, from 496 in July to 536 [...]

The initial first month cash draw for the HECM Standard far surpasses the first month cash draw for HECM Saver loans, a recent chart created by the Department of Housing and Urban Development depicts. With the saver first month draw at 46.4% of the initial principal limit and at 80.8% for Standard loans, the comparison is [...]

The HECM Saver and HECM for Purchase are tapping a mere fraction of their potential markets, each with a projected target population that could yield the equivalent to the entire current HECM Standard market, an industry analyst says. The potential HECM Purchase market includes a whopping 70,000 seniors annually, according to calculations from Revere Market [...]

The Federal Housing Administration is not immune to the housing recession, but strong contributions for the past two years’ books of business, including an increase in HECM mortgage insurance premiums, are helping to stabilize the Mutual Mortgage Insurance Fund following 2006-2008 losses. Carol Galante, acting commissioner of the Federal Housing Administration, spoke of the changes [...]

In case you missed it…here’s what happened in reverse mortgage news this week. California signed a reverse mortgage protection bill into law. California Governor Jerry Brown (D-CA) signed into law a bill on Wednesday that aims to prohibit inappropriate conduct by insurance professionals in the sale of reverse mortgages. The bill was designed to prohibit insurance [...]