Support for consumer protection, problems with enforcement
Then Hultquist, an old industrial educator, author and developer of Reverse plusImmerses that members of the reverse mortgage industry support sufficient consumer protection and guarantees. Having these guardrails not only keeps consumers safe, but a strong protective presence enables more potential customers to trust industry in what is often a delicate financial transaction.
“If they don’t trust us, it makes it really difficult for us to help them,” Hultquist said in an interview with RMD.
But the agency is also occasionally clashing with the industry in a way that some participants have found useless, despite what comes down to “very good things,” Hultquist said.
One of these good things is the maintenance of a complaint database for consumers. This enables consumers to communicate with data that can visualize the industries that are most influenced by and respond to their complaints.
“I really hope that it will continue under new leadership, so that we as an industry can tackle these issues and keep each other responsible,” said Hultquist. “I think it is important to have a place where someone can say they have had a bad experience, and we can then ensure that that no longer happens.”
But Hultquist said that a failure was ineffective communication between entities in the private sector and the agency, which goes in both sides. Hultquist mentioned the publication of a CFPB report in 2015 that reverse mortgage advertisements of it to be misleading.
He said that after that point the agency never proactively communicated with the industry about a sufficient path ahead.
“What do we do about that? We must be able to discuss problems and find a solution instead of waiting for subjective orders and random fines, “said Hultquist. “And that is, I think, where the industry was soured at the CFPB – if you don’t know what to expect until the orders and fines are issued.
“I believe that in order to really help consumers, experts from the industry should discuss those things should discuss in an open forum.”
For his part, the National Reverse MortGage Lenders Association (NRMLA) uses a wait -and -see approach and explains optimism that the agency will maintain its function to protect older Americans.
“NRMLA and his members are about a protected class of consumers, and we hope that the agency will keep an eye on older Americans against financial fraud,” NRMLA president Steve Irwin told RMD. “We also hope that more efficient methods to proclaim rules will be investigated.”
Consistent authority
But the difference that the CFPB has made has also served to make the reverse mortgage industry stronger, according to Sarah Bolling Mancini, a lawyer with the National Consumer Law Center (NCLC) who has expertise in the field of topics about the reverse mortgage industry and its products.
“One thing that comes to mind immediately is [the CFPB has created] Some really great explanation documents aimed at older adults considering getting a reverse mortgage, “she said. “They have made a book and some videos that are really easy to understand, and I think having a source of information from an independent agency that has explained how this complex loan product works is really useful to let people trust the products.”
Mancini said that these “very important” materials have the potential to help older adults considering a reverse mortgage to understand the pros and cons.
And some enforcement actions of the agency, she said, have been favorable to show consumers that there is supervision to collapse problems.
“In their general supervision of mortgage providers and mortgage managers, they have helped to ensure that everyone plays within the rules, and that also makes more confidence in this product,” Mancini said. “And in this market they introduced some enforcement actions against reverse mortgage lenders who did misleading advertisements and against serviceers who did not communicate well with borrowers.”
The supervisory supervision of the Reverse Hypotheek managers Bureau has only contributed to strengthening the overall market, says Mancini.
‘[That’s] Because they made it clear that if entities did not comply with the law, that would be detected, and everyone completely encouraged to raise the game, “she said.
