Should I get my Reverse Mortgage from Wells Fargo?

We hear this question quite often. After all, Wells Fargo Bank is one of the nation's largest banks and does more reverse mortgages every year than any other lender in the United States. And since they are already handling many borrower's banking needs, it seems only natural for most of these borrowers to check with their bank first when they do make the decision that a reverse mortgage is right for them. But is that the best decision?

Firstly, almost all reverse mortgages being done today are the government-insured Home Equity Conversion Mortgage (HECM or "Heck-um"). Prior to 1988 when Ronald Reagan signed the legislation which made the reverse mortgage an FHA-insured product (FHA being the Federal Housing Administration, a division of the Department of Housing and Urban Development or HUD), reverse mortgages had unsavory features such as shared appreciation which could allow lenders to set appreciation rates.

By setting appreciation rates that were not consistent with the market results, lenders could easily wind up owning borrowers' properties. With the modern FHA regulated and insured product, borrower safeguards were added. Many of the myths of reverse mortgages still persist today but borrowers retain ownership of their homes and the product is constantly being refined by HUD to further protect borrowers. So that gets us back to the question of whether or not a borrower should seek a large lender like Wells Fargo Bank to obtain their reverse Mortgage or a small lender like All Reverse Mortgage Company.

With Wells Fargo you must get better guarantees, right? NO. A HUD HECM is the same no matter which lender you use to get the loan and HUD makes the same guarantees. Well then, since Wells Fargo is bigger, they must be able to do the tougher deals...right? Again, no. HUD, through FHA administers the program and sets the ground rules. In fact, at All Reverse Mortgage we have been able to do several loans on properties located in condominium projects denied by Wells Fargo Bank, for borrowers with trusts that Wells Fargo Bank could not accept and for properties denied by Wells.

In fact, at All Reverse Mortgage, the specialists who process your loans have underwritten loans (which means they hold a HUD Designated Underwriter CHUMS number and have been approved by FHA to underwrite the loans, they are not just paper pushers), have insured the loans, have sold the loans to Wall Street and were part of a team who wrote a jumbo proprietary reverse mortgage product and sold it to Wall Street. They really are experts when it comes to reverse mortgages. Well then, you must be thinking that because they are bigger, Wells Fargo Bank must be able to give their borrowers a better rate or lower fees.

Here again, the facts bear out that All Reverse Mortgage is consistently lower in their origination fees, their servicing fees, available margins and their fixed rates.

Because we are approved with just about every source offering reverse mortgages, we have access to the best programs and lowest rates and fees.

Does this mean that we are trying to say anything bad about Wells Fargo Bank? Absolutely not! but if you are like us and you believe that you should not have to pay what could amount to thousands of dollars of your home's equity for the "privilege" of getting your reverse mortgage with one company, when you can get the same FHA-insured loan with another company for much less and in most cases much more quickly, then we believe that you should contact us at All Reverse Mortgage Company.

The HUD Lending Limits are the same for all companies and the HUD insurance affords the same protection to all borrowers regardless of which company you choose for your reverse mortgage. We believe that since that's the case, you should save thousands of dollars and also get the best possible service. Give us a call and let us prove that to you with a simple quote. After all, it's your equity and there is no reason to throw thousands of dollars of it away just for the privilege of using one company over another for the same product.

Links of Interest:

• Wells Fargo Reverse Mortgage Volume by ReverseBase.com
• Reverse Mortgage Fees, Cost of a HECM Loan
• View Current Interest Rates
  
• Use the Reverse Mortgage Loan Calculator