The US Department of Housing and Urban Development officially extended the loan limits for its FHA insured reverse mortgage program with Mortgagee Letter 2009-50.

The national FHA loan limit for the HECM program in 2010 remains at $625,500 (150 percent of the national conforming limit). In the special exception areas (AK/HI/GU/VI), the maximum claim amount on HECM mortgages is the same $625,500 limit as in all other areas. The loan limit shall be effective for all HECMs that have been assigned a FHA case number on or after the effective date of this Mortgagee Letter.

Baltimore, MD (PRWEB) November 17, 2009 — Next Generation Financial Services (NGFS) today announced that Robert Cannon has joined NGFS as its Chief Executive Officer. Cannon succeeds acting President Richard Pitbladdo, who will continue with NGFS as its Chief Financial Officer.

As an attorney, Cannon has advised banks, bank regulators and individuals, especially regarding Home Equity Conversion Mortgages, commonly known as “HECMs”. He has overseen nearly 2,000 reverse mortgage closings. Prior to joining NGFS, Cannon was a principal of The Equitas Group, a group of companies he founded that develop private label reverse mortgage programs for community banks and conduct reverse mortgage title closings. Cannon is also a Lecturer at Suffolk University’s Sawyer Business School in Boston.

“Rob is an ideal fit for NGFS,” said Daniel Schmedlen, General Counsel for NGFS parent company LTC Global, Inc. “He has comprehensive knowledge of the increasing regulatory compliance demands the industry faces and has experience in improving the operational efficiency and service quality of reverse mortgage operations, particularly through automation of workflow processes. Cannon has a solid vision of where the industry is heading and how NGFS can play a leading role.”

About NGFS NGFS, headquartered in Baltimore, is a national distributor of reverse mortgage products. NGFS was founded in 2001 and currently operates as a division of 1st Mariner Bank.

The Government National Mortgage Association (Ginnie Mae) announced that it guaranteed more than $917 million of reverse mortgage MBS (HMBS) in October.

“Ginnie Mae – whose securities carry the full faith and credit of the U.S. government – has been quick to modify and create securitization products that provide additional liquidity to help stabilize the U.S. housing market,” said Thomas R. Weakland, Ginnie Mae’s Acting Executive Vice President. “And for the past 11 months we’ve consistently shown – with industry-wide low Single-Family delinquency rates – that our conservative approach to risk-taking is working for U.S. taxpayers.”

In the aftermath of the national foreclosure crisis, Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger, to help prevent California homeowners and homebuyers from being impacted by fraudulent mortgage practices, has signed legislation increasing consumer protections in the lending market, including providing law enforcement with more teeth for cracking down on deceitful mortgage practices. These bills are aimed at strengthening California’s reverse mortgage laws by providing senior homeowners with greater consumer protections at the time of considering reverse mortgage agreements. These laws make it a felony to commit fraud in connection with a mortgage application, including promoting responsibility and accountability in the real estate market, including the promotion of homeownership in a safe and accountable environment.”

The Governor has signed the following bills:

* AB 329 by Assemblymember Mike Feuer (D-Los Angeles) to establish the Reverse Mortgage Elder Protection Act of 2009 to provide senior homeowners with greater consumer protections, ensuring they are fully informed of the consequences of entering into a reverse mortgage agreement. Specifically, lenders are required to provide prospective borrowers with a clear and informative written disclosure statement, including a written checklist pertaining to the risks and suitability of a reverse mortgage, prior to borrower attending loan counseling.

In a nutshell, the Commissioner explained that from its enactment, the HECM program was intended to operate without any credit subsidy. While one might argue with OMB’s recent assessment, the fact is that OMB’s number is the “governing” number here and accordingly, there needs to be credit subsidy, or program changes, in order for the HECM program to continue operating once the new federal fiscal year begins on October 1. Since the appropriations process is unlikely to provide credit subsidy, program changes are the only viable route for keeping the program operating past September 30.

The Commissioner offered to attend a meeting, or series of meetings, with a delegation from NRMLA to discuss the future of the HECM program and reiterated that policy changes can be made as needed, so we can revisit the principal limit issue and other issues, such as re-engineering the MIP over the months ahead. However, he made clear that they needed to make the change that they are making right now and there is nothing else to be done about it.

Call 1-888-973-8377 to see if the limit change could effect how much you would receive from a Reverse Mortgage.