Financial Freedom announced that effective immediately, it too is discontinuing fixed-rate reverse mortgage loans in Illinois. This comes after Bank of America stopped offering its fixed-rate product in Illinois. All these changes are due to concerns about the Illinois High Risk Home Loan Act (HRHLA) which only applies in the state of Illinois. The act is designed to protect borrowers against high-cost loans, and applies to all kinds of loans and mortgages. Under the threshold set by HRHLA, many fixed-rate products are high cost, since the total closing costs often exceed 5% of the principal limit of the loan.
It is important to note that the fixed-rate product changes in Illinois do not affect any other states. Meanwhile, borrowers in Illinois can still complete reverse mortgages using the LIBOR, while local lenders wait for changes to the HRHLA to be enacted. That said, MetLife and Reverseit are still offering their fixed-rate products… at least for the time being.
Tags: Bank of America, financial freedom, fixed-rate, High Risk Home Loan Act, HRHLA, Illinois, LIBOR, MetLife, reverse mortgage, reverse mortgage loans, reverse mortgages, Reverseit
