Lender tells partners it won’t fund loans that haven’t already closed.
Reverse Mortgage Funding LLC (RMF), a Bloomfield, N.J.-based reverse mortgage lender, halted all of its origination activities Monday.
In a letter addressed to its “partners” and obtained by National Mortgage Professional, RMF also states that “all loans that have not closed will no longer be processed.”
In an emailed statement, a company spokesperson said RMF and its affiliates “made the difficult but necessary decision to pause mortgage origination activities.”
The statement continued, “RMF, like many of its peers, has been challenged by unprecedented interest rate hikes and overall macroeconomic volatility. As a result, the cost of financing and securitizing reverse mortgages has made it impossible for RMF to continue originations for seniors looking to unlock value in their homes at this time.”
The statement added that RMF “has been working diligently with its constituents to support its business and is doing everything possible to weather these challenging market conditions.”
The company did not address rumors that it had lost its warehouse funding lines. It also declined to answer questions about the impact of the origination pause, including how it might affect its employees; and the volume of originated loans in its pipeline.
According to Mobility Market Intelligence (MMI), RMF’s current-year loan volume totaled $3.23 million, while third-party originated mortgages totaled approximately $7 billion. It’s Top 5 TPO partners, according to MMI, include Reverse Freedom LLC; Dale Ernst Tillman; FSI Mortgage LC; and Reverse Mortgage Educators Inc.
As of the end of October, RMF was the nation’s fifth-largest reverse mortgage originator, with a market share of 7.4%, according to Reverse Market Insight. That was down from 10.5% at the same point last year.
RMF sponsors 175 licensed mortgage loan originators, according to the Nationwide Multistate Licensing System (NMLS). The company is licensed to operate in all 50 states, as well as in the District of Columbia and Puerto Rico. Overall, RMF employs more than 300 people, according to various career websites.
According to NMLS, RMF was formed in Delaware in September 2012, has 64 branch locations in 29 states and maintains 10 reverse mortgage websites: www.seniorreversemortgageonline.com, www.debvallow.com, www.flexreverse.com, www.hecminfo.net, www.hecmpa.com, www.marshallgallop.com, www.planB62.com, www.Refinance4Retirement.com, www.reversefacts.com, www.reversefunding.com, www.TodaysReverseMortgage.com.
It offers both reverse mortgages and home equity conversion mortgages (HECMs), including HECMs at fixed and adjustable rates.