NRMLA Steps Up PA Advocacy Efforts

NRMLA Steps Up PA Advocacy Efforts

A second letter was sent by NRMLA to members of the Pennsylvania legislature — this time to members of the Senate Banking and Insurance Committee — seeking revisions to House Bill 1466.

HB 1466 was adopted by the House of Representatives last month and referred to the Senate.

  • The bill extends mandatory counseling to proprietary reverse mortgages and requires the counseling be provided by a HUD-approved housing counseling agency based in Pennsylvania.
  • As currently written, the bill appears to require the counseling to be provided by the loan officer not the counselor.

In its first letter to the bill’s sponsors, NRMLA requested the removal of the language requiring a counseling agency be located in the Commonwealth and that lawmakers clarify that the HUD-approved counseling agency be responsible for counseling a borrower, not the loan officer.

H.B. 1466 was adopted by the House of Representatives without these revisions, prompting the second letter to Senate Banking Committee members.

What they’re saying: NRMLA says, “It is industry standard for reverse mortgage lenders to provide a list of housing counseling agencies to the applicant(s), not to provide such counseling. Thus, we suggest revising the Bill to require that the licensee provide a list of approved housing counseling agencies.”

Published by

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.