RM: What is the impact you’re seeing from HECM origination counseling? DB: It’s important to analyze the impact of one’s work. I bring that management style from my private-sector experience into my role in public service. We’ve collected data from the agencies on the volume and types of housing counseling they’re conducting. These numbers, known as “9902” reporting, are not final, and they’re self-reported by the agencies, so FHA numbers could be distinct from these. But it’s powerful data to share about the impact of the work we’re doing together to ensure responsible loans are originated. The statistic I find most interesting is that for fiscal year (FY) 2022, about 34,500 consumers received HECM counseling that led to loan origination as reported by HUD-approved counseling agencies. That’s a 24 percent increase from the 27,850 who were counseled and received loans in FY 2021. I want to applaud our agencies for working with the reverse mortgage industry in accommodating that volume of counseling. I also want to note the outreach performed to ensure sustainable homeownership. Our agencies report that over 1,800 HECM borrowers received reverse mortgage foreclosure prevention counseling in FY 2022. Of those, over 1,500 resolved the situation where they worked with FHA and their mortgage servicer to sustain their housing. All of this work was done by 260 HUD-certified reverse mortgage counselors. HUD supported their activities through expanded loss mitigation options and our offices’ outreach to at-risk borrowers suggesting that they speak with a counselor and take advantage of the U.S. Treasury’s Homeowners Assistance Fund program. I commend our counselors for ... the volume of consumers they’re seeing. I want to commend the agencies, also, for their focus on HECM foreclosure prevention. RM: What are you trying to improve in this space? DB: There’s a lot of opportunity for growth, and I think there’s tremendous opportunity for closer working relationships between the reverse mortgage industry and the housing counseling agencies. I’m really, really excited about emerging technologies that educate consumers so they can make, coupled with housing counseling, informed decisions about the product. The more that senior borrowers understand the product and their financial responsibilities—and the more they understand the advantages and disadvantages, as well as the risks involved with HECM loans—they will make informed choices. RM: What are some of those technologies? DB: There are a number of products that many of our agencies have developed that are proprietary and are used as a part of their client management systems to really walk a consumer through their budgets and their expenses, as well as different mortgage products and compare them. There are also some products in the marketplace that are specially designed for consumers thinking about the HECM that are also extremely helpful. I see those products having a larger role within the space as we move forward. RM: Do you see opportunities for the reverse mortgage and housing counseling industries to work together more efficiently in order to benefit clients? DB: There’s a great opportunity for collaboration in how we approach loan origination and how we refer consumers to HUD-approved housing counseling organizations. I hope the industry takes advantage of our new find-a- counselor tools. ... The earlier a referral is made to a senior thinking about the product, the more informed they will be, and the more likely they will move through the process expeditiously if they feel it’s the right product for them. Win-win for everyone, right? An informed borrower makes an informed applicant. We also would welcome the opportunity to work with the industry to develop new software educational systems in the space. We have invited NRMLA and others to make recommendations on how we can improve our housing counseling rulemaking and our guidance. In fact, we are working on a revised housing counseling handbook, and I’m happy to share that we listened to many of the recommendations from NRMLA and valued the reverse mortgage industry’s input for this update. Counseling the Counselors continued from page 23 24 REVERSE MORTGAGE / MAY–JUNE 2023
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