AARP to Congress: HUD Should Require More Generous Loss Mitigation Options to Help HECM Borrowers

AARP to Congress: HUD Should Require More Generous Loss Mitigation Options to Help HECM Borrowers

Testifying before the Senate Banking Committee, Shannon Guzman (pictured), Senior Strategic Policy Advisor at AARP Public Policy Institute, recommended that the Department of Housing and Urban Development improve reverse mortgage loss mitigation options borrowers who are at risk of losing their homes.

While she didn’t offer specifics on reverse mortgage loss mitigation options, Guzman testified that, “HUD should require HECM servicers to offer loss mitigation to borrowers, as well as develop more generous mitigation options. Given the sharp increases in home values, more generous options could be made available with little risk to the mutual mortgage insurance fund.”

She added, “People who lose their home to foreclosure at an older age have less time to recover from the financial shock, not to mention the emotional and health toll that loss of a home involves.”

Today’s hearing, titled Affordability and Accessibility: Addressing the Housing Needs of America’s Seniors, featured subject matter experts from the Harvard Joint Center for Housing Studies, affordable housing developer Nevada Hand, and public policy organizations, such as the Cato Institute and American Action Forum.

View all of the testimonies and/or a recording of the hearing on the Senate Banking Committee web site.

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Darryl Hicks

Darryl Hicks is Vice President of Communications for the National Reverse Mortgage Lenders Association. In this capacity, Hicks writes for NRMLA's publications, manages the association's web sites and social media accounts, assists committees and the Board of Directors, and manages the Certified Reverse Mortgage Professional designation. Prior to joining NRMLA in 1999, Hicks spent three years in the Washington, D.C. bureau for National Mortgage News.