Longbridge Financial announced the official launch Monday of Platinum, its proprietary reverse mortgage product.
The company touts the new product as a more flexible product than a federally insured reverse mortgage, Platinum is a fixed-rate, full-draw loan designed to cater to borrowers with high home values who want access to cash up front at a low cost.
Platinum offers borrowers access to up to $4 million of their equity with no origination fees, no monthly servicing fees and no mortgage insurance premiums.
“It is priced to be competitive with many forward mortgages and HELOC programs and, of course, existing private reverse mortgages,” said Longbridge CEO Chris Mayer told HousingWire, adding that the loan also features a streamlined approval process.
Longbridge, a New Jersey-based reverse mortgage lender and servicer, said Platinum is now available in California thought its retail outlets and wholesale partners. In the next several weeks, the product will roll out in Arizona, Colorado, Florida, Pennsylvania, Utah, and Virginia, with more states to follow soon, according the lender.
With Platinum’s launch, Longbridge is the fourth HECM lender to bring a proprietary reverse mortgage to market this year. On Friday, Quicken Loans subsidiary One Reverse Mortgage announced the launch of its proprietary product, the HELO.
The growth of a healthy proprietary market has been a long time coming, according to some in the space, leading to speculation as to whether private offerings will eventually edge out the Federal Housing Administration’s product.
Mayer said he expects to see the proprietary market continue to evolve in order to reach a broader segment of consumers looking to access their home equity.
“I expect the market for non-government backed reverse mortgages to continue to grow and evolve with more attractive options as lenders get more experience and investors and rating agencies become more comfortable with private reverse mortgages and start to see data on performance,” Mayer said.
“It is a healthy step for the industry to develop alternatives to the FHA-backed HECM loans, especially for borrowers living in more expensive homes and those not served by the HECM program.”
