The state of Texas was decidedly late to the Home Equity Conversion Mortgage game, but at least by one metric, the patience and deliberation appears to have paid off.

The Lone Star State’s Department of Savings & Mortgage Lending found no enforcement actions against reverse mortgage originators in the state over the last 10 years, according to a public records request filed by Scott Norman, vice president of national field retail and government relations at Finance of America Reverse.

“As it relates to our unblemished safety record, this is critical information that every planner, banker, and influencer needs to know about,” Norman said. “All of the protections in Texas are built into the constitution. That’s very, very unique.”

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Home Equity Conversion Mortgage lenders have endorsed 29,072 loans through the end of June 2017, an increase of 18.0% from the same time last year — continuing an overall upward trend despite month-to-month declines.

After a slow January and February, endorsements have now outpaced their 2016 figures for the fourth consecutive month, according to the most recent data from Reverse Market Insight. In addition, refinances have accounted for 16% of all endorsements thus far — a 100% increase over the same mark in June 2016.

The positive yearly totals stand in contrast to an RMI report from earlier this month, which showed a 0.3% drop in endorsements between May and June 2017 — with a 1.6% decline in wholesale lending wiping out a 0.8% bump in retail. Month-to-month endorsements have been on a steady decline since the blockbuster March total of 5,355, a 21.2% increase over February; however, June represented the smallest monthly decline of the past 12 months.

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That’s right: It’s time for Reverse Mortgage Daily’s weekly look at the jobs available on our sister website, RMD Jobs. If the impending approach of Labor Day has you thinking about your plans for the fall and the year beyond — or if you’re just curious about who’s hiring in the industry — check out the most recent postings:

• Forward & Reverse Loan Officer — C2 Reverse Mortgage
• Reverse Mortgage Loan Originator — Open Mortgage, LLC, San Antonio
• Inside Account Executive — HighTechLending dba AmericanSenior
• Reverse Mortgage DE Underwriter — HighTechLending dba AmericanSenior
• Reverse Mortgage Loan Processor — HighTechLending dba AmericanSenior
• Reverse Mortgage Loan Officer – Base + Salary + Bonus — Live Well Financial 
• Reverse Mortgage Underwriter — 1st Nations Reverse Mortgage
• Experienced Reverse Loan Officer, Central Florida & West Coast – Great Comp.! — Reverse for Purchase Florida/HighTech Lending
• Reverse Mortgage Underwriter — Longbridge Financial, LLC
• ARIZONA LOAN ORIGINATOR & A SALES MGR NEEDED TO HELP US WITH OUR HECM LEADS — Senior Mortgage Advisors, LLC
• Reverse Mortgage Lender — Mohave State Bank

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Wells Fargo (NYSE: WFC) will complete the transfer of all remaining reverse mortgages in its servicing portfolio to Champion Mortgage on September 1, ending an era in the Home Equity Conversion Mortgage industry.

The two parties agreed to the transfer of about 80,000 HECMs — the last remaining in Wells Fargo’s portfolio — back in 2016, according to Wells Fargo spokesman Tom Goyda, though Champion isn’t slated to assume servicing functions and until the beginning of next month.

“We will work closely with Champion during the process to help smooth [the] transition for these customers,” Goyda said in an e-mail to Reverse Mortgage Daily.

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More than a year after first internally announcing the name change, Nationstar Mortgage Holdings Inc. (NYSE: NSM) on Monday officially rebranded its operations as “Mr. Cooper.”

The Coppell, Texas-based lender and servicer — which services reverse mortgages under the Champion brand — embarked on the unorthodox name change in order to put a more personal twist on the often cold world of mortgages.

“We took a look in the mirror and realized that in order to build trust with homeowners and those who wish to own a home one day, our organization and our industry needed a change,” CEO Jay Bray said in a statement announcing the move. “Mr. Cooper is a symbol of the transformation we’re undergoing to create an incredible customer experience.”

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When British banking authorities in July announced the eventual death of LIBOR, the reverse mortgage industry was faced with the long-term task of replacing the backbone benchmark for adjustable-rate Home Equity Conversion Mortgages. While much can change between now and LIBOR’s planned trip out to pasture in 2021, the solution to one problem might be easier than expected.

Dan Hultquist, director of learning and development at the ReverseVision software firm, told RMD that he was initially concerned about what would happen to existing HECMs at the time of the switch, since there might not be a contingency plan for swapping out benchmarks on extant mortgages. So he dug into the text of a model adjustable rate note from the Department of Housing and Urban development, and to his surprise, found that HUD had planned for this exact eventuality.

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In case you missed them the first time around, here’s our weekly look at the top stories from the Home Equity Conversion Mortgage world, including one lender’s unique plan to avoid HECM for Purchase transaction delays and a Forbes take that generated some lively discussion.

Lender Finds Creative Fix for HECM for Purchase Hurdle — Frustrated by rules that require H4P buyers to wait for a certificate of occupancy until they can even file an application, one Iowa lender decided to create a curious work-around: Issue a home equity line of credit to pay off the builder immediately, have the borrowers move in immediately after receiving the certificate, and refinance the loan into a HECM a few months later.

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