► On Feb. 3rd the Mortgage News Daily posted a blog by "The Voice of Housing: Reverse Mortgages: Friend or Foe? Definitely Friend" … to get those of you who dismiss the reverse mortgage program as too risky for the FHA and taking advantage of the elderly, to get a grip and look at this wonderful program as a means to provide our growing (aging) population a better quality of life while maintaining our independence and self respect.Read more

LTC Financial Partners LLC (LTCFP) has announced the formation of a new affiliate, Reverse Mortgage Direct LLC (RMD), which will provide reverse mortgages to Americans 62 and up. "We're delighted to add this new service to our corporate offerings," says Cameron Truesdell, CEO of LTCFP, one of America's most experienced long-term care insurance agencies. "Now we can help more people breathe easy, knowing they've got the means to pay for care when needed."Read more

Recent headlines pointing to the detriments of reverse mortgages aren’t getting the story straight. One of the nation’s leading reverse mortgage lenders, Generation Mortgage Company, wants to separate fact from fiction. “Because so many Americans over the age of 62 are facing significant financial stress due to dropping retirement and savings account balances, as well as higher healthcare costs, many groups are targeting seniors under the guise of helping them,” said Scott Peters, CEO and president of Generation Mortgage.Read more

In an effort to stabilize home values and improve conditions in communities where foreclosure activity is high, U.S. Department of Housing & Urban Development (HUD) Secretary Shaun Donovan has announced a temporary policy that will expand access to FHA mortgage insurance and allow for the quick resale of foreclosed properties. The announcement is part of the Obama administration commitment to addressing foreclosure.Read more

Happy New Year! I hope each of you had a great holiday. As an industry we can begin the New Year with optimism for continued economic recovery and a more stable housing finance system.
As I mentioned in the last edition, there continues to be change coming from FHA, and I want to reiterate how much we appreciate your partnership as you work to implement these changes.Read more

Like most pioneers and leaders in other industries and other spheres of life, pioneer loan officers in the U.S. reverse mortgage industry were a curious bunch of happy warriors. They were the foot soldiers who brought the innovative home equity loan to America’s skeptical senior homeowners.Read more

For good reasons, it is open season on Wall Street, bankers and their sidekicks in the mortgage-lending food chain, but Americans still value balance and fairness in their public discourse. That is why I believe “Sub-Prime Revisited,” the ‘report’ released on Oct. 6 by the National Consumer Law Center, is a one-sided editorial with a regulatory policy agenda built on generalizations and extrapolations.Read more

Generation Mortgage Company, a privately-owned reverse mortgage retailer and wholesaler, recently became a national Better Business Bureau (BBB) Accredited Business.Read more

Each month, National Mortgage Professional Magazine will focus on one of the industry’s top players in our “Mortgage Professional of the Month” feature. This month, we had a chance to chat with Frederick L. Assini, president and chief executive officer of Melville, N.Y.-based Franklin First Financial Ltd. At just 27 years of age, Fred created Franklin First Financial with a vision and determination to build one of the country’s finest lending institutions.Read more

The U.S. Department of Housing & Urban Development (HUD) announced that its Mortgagee Review Board (MRB) is proposing to permanently withdraw the HUD/FHA approval of Financial Mortgage USA Inc., a Home Equity Conversion Mortgage (HECM or reverse mortgage) lender based in Honolulu, Hawaii.Read more