What's happening
This bill requires the Department of Financial Services to create a website for consumers to compare reverse mortgage loan products.
Why it matters
Empowers consumers with transparency. By requiring detailed comparisons of costs, rates, and service features, the website will help seniors and their families better understand and evaluate reverse mortgage options, potentially reducing confusion and the risk of being misled.
Promotes competition among lenders. Lenders must submit their lowest available prices and full details about rate adjustments and fees, encouraging them to offer better terms to be included and remain competitive on the state-managed platform.
Standardizes information and disclosures. The bill establishes a consistent way for reverse mortgage information to be presented, making it easier to compare products and reducing the chances of hidden fees or misleading marketing.
Provides state oversight and accountability. With the Department of Financial Services overseeing the site and determining participation fees, the legislation creates an official, trusted resource, helping to protect vulnerable consumers from predatory lending practices.
Albany, before your first meeting.
Every bill that moved yesterday, summarized in a sentence and ranked by impact. The Albany Scorecard follows on Sundays.
Free. Unsubscribe in one click. Want alerts on specific bills? Create an account.
Who cares
Headline styles
Create Reverse Mortgage Website
Plain English, a few words. Used as the page title.
Sponsors
1 Co-sponsor
History
- Substituted by A5625A
- Ordered to third reading cal.1380
- Committee discharged and committed to rules
- Reported and committed to finance
- Referred to judiciary
Companion bill
The same bill in the other chamber. A bill becomes law when one version passes both houses and the governor signs it, so either number can carry it.
Create Mortgage Comparison Website
Vetoed · Sponsor Helene Weinstein
Full text
2 pagesUnderlined is new[Struck] is removedOfficial text on nysenate.gov ↗
STATE OF NEW YORK
3221
2019-2020 Regular Sessions
IN SENATE
February 4, 2019
Introduced by Sen. SANDERS -- read twice and ordered printed, and when printed to be committed to the Committee on Judiciary
AN ACT to amend the real property law, in relation to directing the department of financial services to establish an internet website for federal home equity conversion mortgage product comparison
The People of the State of New York, represented in Senate and Assembly, do enact as follows:
Section 1. The real property law is amended by adding a new section 280-b to read as follows:
§ 280-b. Federal home equity conversion mortgage comparison website. 1. For the purposes of this section, the following terms shall have the following meanings:
(a) Reverse mortgage loan. A reverse mortgage loan as defined in section two hundred eighty of this article, which is issued in the state pursuant to the home equity conversion mortgage for seniors program operated by the federal Department of Housing and Urban Development.
(b) Authorized lender. An authorized lender as defined in section two hundred eighty of this article authorized to make reverse mortgage loans, as defined in this section.
(c) Department. The department of financial services established pursuant to section one hundred two of the financial services law.
2. The department shall establish and operate a home equity conversion mortgage comparison website. Such website shall provide information to potential consumers of reverse mortgage loans, including information and comparisons on reverse mortgage loan products so as to allow consumers to make educated choices as to which authorized lenders offer the best services, terms and value based on a variety of financial circumstances. The department shall ensure that the website allows consumers to compare the cost, rate and service features of reverse mortgage loan products.
EXPLANATION--Matter in italics (underscored) is new; matter in brackets
[ ] is old law to be omitted.
LBD00900-02-9
S. 3221 2
3. An authorized lender may submit information on its reverse mortgage loan products to the department for inclusion on the internet website established pursuant to this section, if:
(a) the authorized lender submits complete reverse mortgage loan prices to the department;
(b) the authorized lender submits all factors relating to the reverse mortgage loans affecting future rate adjustments which may impact future debt, borrower equity or lines of credit;
(c) the prices and costs provided to the department are as low or lower than those offered under any other circumstances for a particular product; and
(d) the authorized lender submits such fee, as shall be determined by the department, for the publication of information on the website.
§ 2. This act shall take effect on the one hundred eightieth day after it shall have become a law. Effective immediately, the addition, amendment and/or repeal of any rule or regulation necessary for the implementation of this act on its effective date are authorized to be made and completed on or before such effective date.
Reflowed for reading: line numbers and page breaks removed. Cite the official text.
Sponsor's memo
Title of bill
An act to amend the real property law, in relation to directing the department of financial services to establish an internet website for federal home equity conversion mortgage product comparison
Purpose
This bill would create a new website, run by the Department of Financial Services, to compare HUD home equity conversion mortgage information, rates, and features to seniors in order to create a buyer's market for these products and ensure seniors have reliable, updated, and comprehen- sive information about the products.
Summary of provisions
Section 1: Requires the Department of Financial Services to establish and operate a home equity conversion mortgage comparison website. The website will provide information to seniors, including information and comparisons on reverse mortgage loan products in order to help seniors make educated decisions on which products to choose. The website will allow the consumer to compare the cost, rate, and service features of these products.
Lenders may submit their reverse mortgage products for comparison on the website so long as they submit complete reverse mortgage loan pricing to the department and all factors relating to the reverse mortgage loans affecting future rate adjustments. The prices and costs provided must be as low or lower than those offered via other avenues, and the lender must pay a fee determined by DFS to maintain the website.
Section 2: The act will take effect one hundred and eighty days after it becomes a law, but DFS may immediately take whatever actions necessary to begin is implementation.
Existing law
Under current law, there exists no state-run comparison website for home equity conversion mortgage products.
Justification
Reverse mortgages are complicated and expensive financial products. Many seniors do not understand how they work or what their true longterm costs are. Exacerbating this problem are unscrupulous lenders who market reverse mortgages as public services or government-sponsored products. Inadequate regulation of this industry resulted in a sharp uptick in defaults in 2016, as more seniors fell into foreclosure on these products, losing not only their homes, but also their most significant financial assets.
Foreclosures in the reverse mortgage industry have taken place against seniors for making payments mere cents short of their tax or mortgage insurance bills. Lenders eager to tap the equity in these homes are sometimes aggressive to foreclose and see a return on their investment. Seniors can be better protected by providing them with clearer, more accurate information about these products and helping seniors to compare these products and their associated costs.
A reverse mortgage comparison website monitored and run by DFS would create a buyer's market that would empower seniors to seek out lenders and compare products offered by various lenders in order to make and educated decision absent any form of high pressure marketing or subjective/selective information provided by potentially unscrupulous lenders.
Legislative history
This is a new bill.
Fiscal implications
To be determined.
Local fiscal implications
None.
Summaries, headlines and scores are AI-generated from the official bill text. How we score bills. Source: NYS Open Legislation.