Any individual that has been interested in applying for a Reverse loan has always been required to complete a counseling session with a HUD approved credit counseling agency.
The purpose at that time and still remains, was to protect the applicant against any possible financial abuse and to be certain that the individual understood how a Reverse loan functions, how it effects their equity and most importantly, how would it help them in their lives.
Originally counseling was free, which made it an ideal resource for Seniors to use in their quest to learn about the loan and have all of their questions answered by someone other than a Loan Officer. The counseling was and still is very informative and it sorts out the concerns that some seniors have about the title of the house, costs and leaving an estate to their heirs.
Due to the increased demand for the loan in the last two years, the agencies were forced to start charging $125 for the session. Originally the costs for providing the counseling were covered by government grants but they quickly ran out of money and HUD approved the collection of a fee to cover those costs to the agencies so that the counseling requests could be met.
The fee can be charged to a credit card but some seniors are reluctant to do that if they are not sure whether or not they would consider using the loan. I’m sure that many of them in the past, have decided not to do the counseling because of the fee and it’s unfortunate that this may have happened when I know how much of a difference a Reverse loan can make in a senior’s life.
But as of today, Money management International is now offering 3,500 sessions free of charge until the end of September. Anyone that is reading this and thinking about doing a Reverse loan, should jump on this offer immediately as I’m sure that the free sessions will disappear quickly.
You may call them directly and request an appointment and they will accommodate you as soon as possible. Counseling is done over the phone and usually takes and hour, making it very easy and doesn’t require any driving to a location to meet with a counselor. After it’s been completed, they will send 3 counseling certificates to the client that are good for 6 months.
If the senior decides to apply for the loan, they will sign one of them and give it to the Loan Officer. That allows the lender to order a HUD case #, order an appraisal and start the loan process.
Money Management International
877-908-2227