Last week, Guild Mortgage has announced a range of products called ‘Flex Payment Mortgage’. The brand includes Home Equity Conversion Mortgage (HECM) reverse mortgage products, in addition to refinances, proprietary jumbo options and HECM for Purchase (H4P) loans.
After acquiring the robust reverse mortgage division of Cherry Creek Mortgage in early 2023, Guild has used its industry expertise to secure a place among the top 10 reverse mortgage lenders. It was recently listed as the seventh largest lender as of August 31, based on data from Reverse market insight (RMI).
To get a better idea of what the Flex Payment Mortgage suite aims to achieve for the business, HousingWire‘s Reverse Mortgage Daily (RMD) spoke with Jim Cory, director of Guild’s reverse division.
Fresh appearance, branding through ‘flexibility’
When asked about the main goal behind the line, Cory said it’s all about giving the reverse mortgage product a proverbial “new coat of paint” to capture the attention of more consumers.
“With Flex Payment Mortgage, Guild aims to give the reverse mortgage product a new, fresh look and brand,” said Cory. “Our idea is to really focus on flexibility. We kept coming back to the word ‘flexible’ and the flexibility of the program – whether we’re offering a loan that allows a borrower to stay in their home, giving them a line of credit or otherwise accessing home equity.”
Strengthening the H4P business is also a priority, as Guild – and many other industry members – view this product as severely underutilized, even compared to a traditional HECM loan.
“That’s what we really wanted to focus on,” Cory said of H4P. “It’s basically the same product, but there’s so much difference in what they offer the customer.”
By aligning all reverse mortgage product options – HECM, H4P and proprietary jumbo options – under one unified brand, the company can offer a more holistic suite of services to potential customers, Cory said.
A ‘regular mortgage option’
The company is keen to introduce a reverse mortgage product option in an effort to normalize reverse mortgages across its wider product range, something that companies in the mortgage industry have been hoping to do for some time.
“We are really focused on seeing this as a mainstream mortgage option, something that we can roll out to more and more of our Guild regional and industry loans,” he said.
He compared it to specialized mortgage options available to military veterans so they are aware of them The U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs (VA) loans are an important part of the strategy to get them on board as customers. In reverse mortgages, the specialization element for borrowers age 62 and older has some similar characteristics. And such options are not necessarily limited to reverse mortgage options.
“We really feel like we need to offer this other option to every mortgage customer who is 62 years of age or older who comes to our branches,” he says. “We prefer to call it a ‘Flex Payment Mortgage’. That is our new branding and this is how we will present it.
“In most cases it’s still a reverse mortgage, but we may have different ideas about what falls under that ‘flexible payment’ category.”
Expanding access to forward LOs
As many forward mortgage players have indicated over the past year, incorporating reverse into their existing product suites has been a key focus as they begin to dip their toes into reverse. Guild’s new branding is also designed to smooth the path for term loan providers to offer more reverse options, Cory said.
“A lot of this has to do with our traditional term loan providers,” he said. “That’s our biggest growth area and our biggest focus: how we can get them involved. My personal goal is that I want every one of our nearly 3,000 lenders to one day finance a reverse mortgage. It’s a huge goal and a huge mountain to climb, but it’s very exciting.”
The ability to offer a reverse mortgage option to people age 62 and older – or 55 and older for certain home loan options – only helps expand the repertoire of options that might attract a particular customer , he said.
“There’s another option here, just like if you’re a veteran,” Cory said. “There is another option you may be eligible for. Let’s see what that would look like.”
