July-Aug 2020

“The responsible use of home equity may be an option to help seniors stay financially secure during the current market disruptions,” says NRMLA President Steve Irwin. NRMLA Creates COVID-19 Resource Page To help guide members through these challenging times, NRMLA has created a COVID-19 resource page that includes best practices for handling in-person visits and important regulatory updates. The resource page includes links to COVID-19 pages setup by the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development, Consumer Financial Protection Bureau and NRMLA’s outside counsel, Weiner Brodsky Kider PC. It also has useful links to mortgagee letters and other COVID-19- related policies. Members who would like to contribute content may do so by emailing NRMLA Vice President of Communications Darryl Hicks at dhicks@dworbell.com . In Washington, they’re talking about ... FHA Addresses COVID-19 Throughout March and April, the Federal Housing Administration (FHA) took several actions to address COVID-19 concerns, among them: • FHA published Mortgagee Letter 2020-12 on April 14 to allow servicers the ability to submit alternative documentation for assignment claims and to extend delivery deadlines for assignment claims impacted by the presidentially declared COVID-19 national emer- gency. These policies took effect immediately and will be in place for assignment claims requests submitted on or before October 30, 2020. The U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development will accept the following alternative documentation, in addition to existing policy, as evidence of eligibility for an assign- ment claim payment on the following specific items: 1. To document that taxes are current, a report from a tax monitoring service indicating that property taxes are not delinquent; 2. To evidence that homeowners’ association (HOA)/condominium fees are current, a state- ment from a mortgagee that HOA or condo- minium dues are not delinquent; and 3. In lieu of the annual occupancy certification signed by the borrower, an emailed or verbal cer- tification from a borrower that they are occupy- ing their property as a principal residence. • FHA published Mortgagee Letter 2020-07 on April 7 to give mortgagees the option to electronically deliver case binders for single-family forward mortgage and Home Equity Conversion Mortgage endorsements through the new FHA Catalyst case binder module. To ease the process for conducting business with FHA, mortgagees may use the module in conjunction with the requirements in Section II.A.7.d., Procedures for Endorsement, in Single Family Housing Policy Handbook 4000.1. The module enables nonlender insurance (LI) mortgagees the ability to electronically submit case binders for endorsement, in lieu of mail- ing paper binders to FHA Homeownership Centers. Congratulations New CRMPs NRMLA congratulates the following individuals for becoming Certified Reverse Mortgage Professionals: • Ryan Philip, Longbridge Financial, based inMahwah, NJ; • Ken Sawan, Longbridge Financial, based in Mahwah, NJ; and • Tom Smith, Power Mortgage, based in La Place, LA. And now you’re up to date. LET US KNOW WHAT YOU’RE TALKING ABOUT. This forum is the place for readers to share their opinions with fellow colleagues about the direction of the reverse mortgage business and other retirement trends. Submissions should be limited to 100 words or less and submitted to Associate Editor Darryl Hicks, at dhicks@dworbell.com . The Biz continued from page 31 32 REVERSE MORTGAGE / JULY-AUGUST 2020