ABC News is reporting today that reverse mortgage borrowers have “little to fear” in the wake of Wells Fargo’s exit from the retail business, as it follows the departure of Bank of America from the origination business earlier this year. In an article titled “Reverse Mortgages: Customers Have Little to Fear as Wells Fargo and [...]

Despite a tumultuous 2011 for many who offer reverse mortgages, the products are not going away, a New York Times column reported Friday. “People certainly shouldn’t be worried,” about the reverse mortgage program, former Deputy Assistant Secretary for Single-family Housing Vicki Bott, who left her post Friday at the Department of Housing and Urban Development, [...]

The financial assessment being developed by the Department of Housing and Urban Development to aid in determining HECM borrowers’ ability to meet the obligations associated with the loans continues to move forward said the agency earlier this week. Such a “financial assessment” could have potentially addressed some of the issues raised by Wells Fargo in [...]

The decision by Wells Fargo to close down its retail reverse mortgage business shocked the industry and continues to send a ripple effect to smaller banks, other lenders and brokers whose businesses are positioned to change—and benefit—as a result. With many questions lingering from the composition and impact of a financial assessment from HUD that [...]

The reasons behind Wells Fargo’s decision to exit the reverse mortgage continue to trickle out and late Friday afternoon, an email confirmed a rumor that had been spreading throughout the day. An email obtained by American Banker shows that Phil Bracken, an executive vice president of Wells Fargo Home Mortgage, was worried that the Department of [...]

The New York Times reported over the weekend that Wells Fargo’s inability to assess borrowers’ financial health was the biggest factor in leaving the reverse mortgage business. With both Wells and Bank of America —the two largest lenders— leaving the industry, seniors could find it harder to obtain the loans.