It seems almost every day, there is another change in the Reverse loan industry and in many ways these changes make it more difficult for a senior to apply for the federal program.
The latest “wrinkle” is that in addition to the normal telephone counseling that typically takes about an hour, they will also have to correctly answer 5 questions consisting of 10 that will be chosen from a list of 20. AND IF THEY CAN’T ANSWER THEM, they will not be able to receive their HUD certification verifying that they have completed the required counseling.
At that point, if they have failed, they will not receive their certificate and will be forced to wait an additional 7 days to repeat the process all over again. When you’re 80 years old and possibly desperate about having enough money, this creates undue anxiety and is totally unnecessary.
This kind of pressure on a senior isn’t reasonable and to me, seems questionable as well. Personally, I always provide the mortgage comparison, a worst case scenario amortization sheet, a copy of a Good Faith Estimate and along with all of that, also a copy of AARP’s booklet “Homemade Money”.
I want to be confident that anyone I meet to discuss the loan program with, have a complete understanding of the pluses and minuses and if they will benefit from using it or not. If anything, I probably provide too much information and overwhelm them. But I’d rather do that, than leave anything out and they can always call me with questions after I have met with them.
If there is some “slippery” Reverse loan consultant that isn’t qualified to be one to begin with, that is attempting to rush a senior into the loan, then that is a questionable situation. Seniors should be provided complete information, have all of their concerns and questions answered and never, never, never be pressured to do the counseling.
Maybe these questions might be of benefit to those seniors who have not been given adequate information at the point of the consultation but for my clients? They are always prepared and are anxious to get their loan started in the process.
Feeling as though now, they may have face an “examination” in order to get their counseling certificate is unnecessary and implies that they are ignorant when it comes to making their own decisions. Not to mention the additional pressure to not “fail” answering the questions.
Just another day in the life of the Reverse mortgage industry. I’m sure that there will be more changes in the future, further making it difficult on the senior community.
Wonder why simple things have to be complicated.
The seniors have the right to gain advantage from the reverse mortgage as its original purpose, not to experience additional stress from them.
Jeffrey A. Jackson.