National Council on Aging Offers Free Reverse Mortgage Counseling

Homeowners who want to take out a Home Equity Conversion Mortgage (HECM) must get counseling before doing so. In many cases, you’ll have to pay a fee. However, the National Council on Aging (NOA) is offering free reverse mortgage conseling in response to the increased pressure on the income and savings of older adults.

How Reverse Mortgage Counseling Helps
The NOA says it will waive its usual $125 fee for reverse mortgage counseling sessions through Sept. 30. You can call 1-800-510-0301 to schedule a counseling session. Counseling will:
—Help you determine if it makes sense to apply for a reverse mortgage given your income and expenses
—Determine the amount of money you’d be eligible to receive based upon your age
—Help you become familiar with how reverse mortgages work
—Advise you of some of the pros and cons with taking out a reverse mortgage

Free Reverse Mortgage Booklet
The NOA is also offering a free booklet, “Use Your Home to Stay at Home,” to help homeowners become more familiar with reverse mortgages. The U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development will soon requite all HUD reverse mortgage counselors to give out copies of this book to consumers.

Be Prepared for Counseling Session
If you’re thinking about getting reverse mortgage counseling, make sure you have a list of questions prepared ahead of the session. Counseling will take about an hour and can be done in person or by telephone. Reverse mortgage counseling is confidential. However, a homeowner’s authorized legal representative can also request counseling about reverse mortgages.

This entry was posted on Friday, August 7th, 2009 at 12:59 pm and is filed under Reverse Mortgage . You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.