Several changes to the Department of Housing and Urban Development’s Federal Housing Administration approved lender requirements, as posted in Mortgagee Letter 2011-34, were released Friday. Mainly a reiteration of past policies with a few small changes, the mortgagee letter does have the potential to level the playing field for lenders in one particular way. Previously, [...]

Guaranteed Home Mortgage Company announced this week that it has launched a reverse mortgage division to meet increased consumer demand. The White Plains, N.Y.-based mortgage company says the time is right for a reverse-specific division due to uncertainty in housing markets and general economic volatility. While the new department will promote positive aspects of reverse mortgages, [...]

A new solution for the reverse mortgage market has emerged to address the rising number of tax and insurance defaults, by offering an escrow-like service for borrowers. Peace of Mind (or “POM”) Escrow Services, a Chicago-based division of National Tax Search, LLC has developed a third party bill pay service to help HECM borrowers manage [...]

In recent email communication to all supervised lenders, the Department of Housing and Urban Development announced it will be waiving for one year the requirement for small lenders that they submit annual audited financial statements to HUD when seeking Federal Housing Administration approval or renewal. Small lenders are defined as those with less than $500 [...]

Bank of America rolled out its Clarity Commitment in April, but it added its reverse mortgage Clarity Commitment last week for its fixed rate reverse mortgage product. The Clarity Commitment is a one-page loan summary which presents borrowers with their interest rate, terms and other details of the loan in plain language says the company [...]

The reverse mortgage industry let out a sigh of relief when Minnesota’s Governor vetoed a bill which would’ve hurt the reverse mortgage industry and seniors living in the state.  The person who spear headed the introduction of SF 489 was Minnesota’s Attorney General Lori Swanson.  Ms. Swanson was not happy that the bill was vetoed [...]