National Council on Aging starts providing free reverse mortgage counseling
The National Council on Aging (NCOA) announced that it will offer free reverse mortgage counseling for home owning American senior citizens via its RMCS (Reverse Mortgage Counseling Services) network.
Counselors affiliated with the RMCS will start temporarily waiving the usual $125 counseling fee. This move is intended to help more senior home owning citizens understand how reverse mortgage loans can help them remain in their homes and tide over financial difficulties and get access to some quick cash based on the assessed value of their homes.
To qualify for a reverse mortgage, seniors need to have aged at least 62 or can be older than this age limit. Reverse mortgages are insured by the Federal Government in the form of HECM which is a short form for Home Equity Conversion Mortgage. The senior home owner can continue to live in and occupy the same home which has been reverse mortgaged while enjoying monthly incoming payments from the reverse mortgage lender. Or the money could also be obtained as a lump sum payment or can be drawn in the form of a credit limit. Either way, the home owner can continue to live in the same home and enjoy living a higher standard of life due to the additional influx in income.
Barbara R. Stucki, Ph.D., is vice president of the Home Equity division for NCOA. She said that the NCOA is offering free counseling so that older seniors can learn how to use home equity to draw cash when other assets such as stocks and bonds may have depleted as a source of income. This is because an increasing number of senior citizens are seen to be struggling with day-to-day expenses yet they own homes which have considerable value in them. The home equity can be used as a reverse mortgage loan while allowing the senior to stay in the same home during his or her life time. Many home owners need guidance on how and when to use this important asset during their life times.
The NCOA has also said that they will not charge fees upfront after the end of the free counseling. They would only charge fees at the time of closing as closing fees, when and if the client decides to take out a reverse mortgage.
It is worth remembering that the NCOA has always provided free reverse mortgage counseling for senior home owners with annual incomes less than the limit of $20,000 for individuals and $30,000 in the case of couples.
Reverse mortgages are increasingly being seen as an effective way to deal with the financial crisis during these days of economic recession and consequent slow recovery phase. More and more senior home owners need access to quality and well-informed reverse mortgage counseling in order to decide whether a reverse mortgage is the way to go for. Thus the NCOA has been doing a yeoman service by announcing that they will not charge counseling fees for those senior home owning citizens contemplating a reverse mortgage.
