The Department of Housing and Urban Development is seeking approval from the Office of Management and Budget (OMB) to collect certain information related to the Home Equity Conversion Mortgage program.
HUD published a notice of its proposed information collection on the HECM program in the Federal Register on Tuesday, titled “Home Equity Conversion Mortgage Application for the Origination of Reverse Mortgages and Related Documents.”
In the description of the need for the information and proposed use, the Federal Register notice states that basic intention of the Federal Housing Administration’s HECM reverse mortgage program, which is to enable seniors who have equity in their homes to withdraw a portion of the accumulated equity, with the intent being to ease the financial burden on elderly homeowners facing increasing costs during a time of reduced income.
“The currently approved information collection is necessary to screen mortgage insurance applications in order to protect the FHA insurance fund and the interests of consumers and potential borrowers,” states the Federal Register notice.
The proposed data collection for the HECM program arrives just one week after the most recent actuarial review of FHA’s Mutual Mortgage Insurance Fund revealed substantial losses in the agency’s reverse mortgage book of business. In the latest report, which reviewed the Fund’s fiscal year 2016 status, the HECM portfolio had an economic value of negative $7.7 billion.
In accordance with the Paperwork Reduction Act, HUD is requesting comment from all interested parties on the proposed collection of information over the next 60 days.
Anyone interested in submitting comment must do so by January 23, 2017.
View the Federal Register notice here.
Written by Jason Oliva
