A new alliance is supporting a national campaign to educate seniors and their loved ones about reverse mortgages.
Professional Mortgage Alliance (PMA) has developed a strategic alliance with nonprofit 3in4 Association to produce educational materials regarding reverse mortgages. The campaign is also meant to educate those who specialize in working with seniors.
The 3in4 Need More campaign raises awareness of the importance of planning for one’s long-term care needs and provides a variety of resources for seniors and the professionals who work with them, including information about reverse mortgages.
While 3in4 has supported the reverse mortgage product as a viable tool for retirement planning since 2011, this new strategic alliance with PMA will provide 3in4 with with more reverse mortgage information to distribute, as well as live correspondence.
This strategic alliance with 3in4 is an example of PMA’s “unique business model of developing relationships with professionals who already serve the senior segment of our nation,” says PMA Chief Executive Officer Michael Banner.
The strategic alliance is a “national endorsement,” he says.
Banner authored a chapter about reverse mortgages in 3in4’s resource guide for seniors; “The Essentials for Long-Term Care Planning,” a guide that averages about 40,000 downloads a month.
“[The chapter] states today’s reverse mortgage is no longer a needs-based ‘product of last resort,’ but should be considered as a viable option in an overall and more comprehensive retirement plan,” he says. “It details the options of how a client can draw money from their reverse mortgage and deals with the most common mis-information and half-truths that plague our industry.”
Currently PMA is approved to do business in Florida and Connecticut, and is in the process of applying to operate in an additional five states: Texas, Oklahoma, Tennessee, Kentucky and Pennsylvania.
The industry has a long way to go when it comes to educating the professionals who work with seniors on a daily basis, Banner says.
“The reverse mortgage has always been looked at as a needs-based product, or a product of last resort,” he says. “But, it should be treated as a powerful option in an overall and more comprehensive retirement plan. Our philosophy is, ‘Let’s help seniors have the highest quality of life possible during their retirement years.”
Written by Cassandra Dowell
