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Welcome to the Live for Today, Plan for Tomorrow Podcast, your go-to source for insights on mortgages, retirement planning, and real estate. Hosted by Gabe Bodner, a seasoned expert in the mortgage industry, our goal is to simplify complex financial concepts for homeowners and potential buyers. Join us as we explore reverse mortgages and other retirement planning topics, featuring exclusive interviews and expert advice.
At the Live for Today, Plan for Tomorrow Podcast, we delve deep into the intricacies of reverse mortgages and various mortgage options, providing you with the knowledge you need to make informed decisions. Whether you're looking to refinance, or exploring the benefits of reverse mortgages, we're here to guide you through every step of the process.
The Live for Today, Plan for Tomorrow Podcast is brought to you by The Bodner Team, showcasing our commitment to empowering individuals with the financial insights they need to achieve their retirement dreams. Visit us at https://www.reversemortgagesco.com to learn more about how we can assist you in navigating the mortgage landscape.
Join Gabe Bodner as he interviews industry experts, breaks down financial jargon, and shares success stories to inspire and educate our audience. The Bodner Team Podcast is more than just a podcast; it's a community of learners and achievers looking to make smart, confident mortgage choices.
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Hello, and welcome back to the Live for Today, Plan for Tomorrow Podcast. I'm your host, Gabe Bodnar with the Bodnar team of One Trust Home Loans. And I'm really excited today for our special guest. She's a good friend of mine. We've got to know each other over the last many years through the reverse mortgage industry.
Gabe Bodner:She happens to be one of the top account executives with a national reverse mortgage company. That's one of the top three reverse mortgage companies in the country. Alyssa Prieto, welcome. Thanks for being a guest today.
Alissa Prieto:Yeah, thank you for having me. Happy Absolutely. To be
Gabe Bodner:Well, Alyssa, as a industry veteran of over twenty years in the reverse mortgage industry, I know you and I were chatting a week or so ago about some of the scams for lack of better terms and some of the bad actors that are marketing to our clients. So today's conversation, I really wanted to pick your brain a little bit and really just talk about again, how our clients can be on the lookout and be able to protect themselves, again, for lack of better terms, some of these scammers that are out there. So with that, let's dive in. Talk to me maybe about some of the recent scams. Again, I know your company has thousands and thousands of customers in their servicing portfolio.
Gabe Bodner:So talk to me about what you're seeing out there today.
Alissa Prieto:Yes. So as far as scams, what we are seeing, and I actually spoke to a client today, is borrowers are receive once they do a reverse mortgage, they're receiving a ton of mail from home warranty companies saying, hey, sign up with us. And they're using the lender's name in this correspondence. So it's extremely confusing for any homeowner. I mean, you know, I'm sure when you closed your loan on your on your house, you received a home warranty.
Alissa Prieto:You get a ton of mail stating your lender is doing this, and no one's really looking at the fine print because it's truly fine and at the very bottom and it doesn't always share the name of the company. So it's very, very confusing. It's unfortunate because I feel like a lot of senior homeowners are getting inundated with a lot of, junk mail. Sure. And there's really nothing you can do.
Alissa Prieto:It's not like, I don't know. Do you know if there's a do not mail list? I know there's a do not call list, but I don't necessarily know that there's a do not mail list. So, you know, I don't know how to combat this because nobody wants to, I mean, you don't want to miss something important, right? So you have to look through all of the mail that you receive.
Alissa Prieto:But I will tell you that if you do have a loan, a reverse mortgage loan, and it's being serviced, always take precautions. If you receive something in the mail, pick up the phone and call the servicer. Confirm, because we're never going to call you and ask you for personal information. We do have a lot of protections put in place. I would say this when I say we, the servicing company has a lot of protections put in place to make sure that there isn't anybody fraudulent calling, trying to access funds, and trying to gather information?
Gabe Bodner:Yeah. So you just mentioned a lot there. So let's break down a couple of things. Number one, these solicitations, for lack of better terms, about home warranties. Okay.
Gabe Bodner:So if you have a reverse mortgage or any mortgage for that matter, let's be very clear. That document that's recorded is of public record. So in certain states, it's called a mortgage and other states, it's called a deed of trust. That document is recorded within your county. It's of public record.
Gabe Bodner:So these companies are buying data a lot of times, therefore your name and your mailing address and the fact that you have a mortgage are of public record, right? That's correct. And furthermore, what's interesting, and I'll tell you a quick story here in a minute, on that deed of trust, Not only does it mention your mortgage company who originated the mortgage, but it also mentions and has listed the loan officer's name and license number and MLS number on it. And therefore, these people who are purchasing these lists now have the loan originators name and license number, the mortgage company's name and license number, your name and your mailing address. And in some cases, they can also purchase another list to get your phone number and or email address.
Gabe Bodner:So through many different avenues, people can buy this data and now mail you, email you, text you, call you all the things. And so to Alyssa's point, one of the biggest, what I'll call scams that we're seeing are these home warranty solicitations. And if you wanna purchase a home warranty, that is completely up to you, but you are not required to purchase a home warranty with a reverse mortgage. Okay? And so just be on the lookout.
Gabe Bodner:These home warranty solicitations, in most cases, tell my clients, just throw it away. Okay? Just throw it away. Do not call them. Do not respond to them.
Gabe Bodner:Secondarily, Alissa, you mentioned call the loan servicer. I'll say two things on that. Number one, don't call the number on the solicitation. It may appear to be your loan servicer but it may not be your loan servicer. Okay?
Gabe Bodner:So most reverse mortgages and maybe not most, but a lot of reverse mortgages are serviced through a sub servicing company and their website, Alyssa, if you can correct me if I'm wrong is thereversedepartment.com. Is that correct?
Alissa Prieto:I think it's just, let me confirm for you. It is reversedepartment.com. Correct.
Gabe Bodner:Reversedepartment.com. Okay. Yes. So many, many reverse mortgages are again serviced by a sub servicer. The website is reversemortgage.com.
Gabe Bodner:You can call that phone number. And Alyssa, you wanna pull it up on the screen, we can even give the phone number. But the idea being call your loan servicer, that phone number will be listed on your statement, on your reverse mortgage statement. And again, if you have a traditional mortgage, call your loan servicer and the phone number listed on your monthly statement. In addition to that, call your loan officer.
Gabe Bodner:Okay? Call the individual loan officer or broker, whoever helped you, your mortgage professional, whoever helped you get that mortgage to begin with, call them. Okay? We get calls all the time from past clients and we welcome those calls. Right?
Gabe Bodner:We want our clients to call us and ask us questions and confirm. We have clients literally text us pictures of these solicitations or scan and email it. And we'll be able to tell you if this is legitimate or if this is a scam or not. So reach out to your loan originator. The phone number for this particular loan servicer, which happens to be again, one of the largest is (866) 654-0020.
Gabe Bodner:And again, they can certainly tell you if your loan is being serviced by them and if not, then you can contact again your loan servicer. So Alyssa, we talked a little bit about the biggest, what I call scam or solicitation are these home warranties that you brought up, which is a great one. What else? What else are you seeing as far as major solicitations and scams these days?
Alissa Prieto:Yeah. And I don't necessarily know if I would call them scams, but there are people that are soliciting senior homeowners to refinance their reverse mortgage. And a lot of times they're doing it pretty quickly. And it really doesn't make sense to refinance your reverse mortgage. So going back to what Gabe was saying is it's really important to contact your loan officer to make sure that you're communicating with them, talking about that because they know your situation.
Alissa Prieto:When a loan officer meets with a reverse mortgage borrower, we're trying to understand why are we doing this loan? How can I assist you so that you can achieve your financial goals? So we want to make sure that and sometimes it does make sense, right? Sometimes there's a life event that happens, and you need access to more cash and your home value has increased and you've gotten older or you wanna add somebody to the loan to protect them. So yes, there are times when the refinance does make sense, but my personal suggestion is always to refer back to your original loan officer because they know your situation.
Alissa Prieto:They put you into that particular product for a reason. So it's best to discuss, you know, your financial goals, what you're hoping to achieve by utilizing the you know, having your house work for you and utilizing the proceeds of your house so that you can achieve your financial goals. The other thing that I wanted to mention too is, you know, there's common questions on the reversedepartment.com website. So if you ever have any troubles with making your property tax payment, please contact servicing and let them know. There's a lot of helpful there's also a link for helpful resources.
Alissa Prieto:There's a lot of helpful resources and things that are available to you because we wanna make sure that you're one happy with your reverse mortgage loan, that it is, you know, everything you wanted and more, and then also that you can sustain it and maintain it. So, you know, we're really here to serve when I say we servicing reverse mortgage servicing is there to assist you to make sure that, moving forward, can continue to stay in your home.
Gabe Bodner:Absolutely. So a couple of things I'll break down there. Number one, you mentioned these folks are going to call you or contact you to refinance. They are going to offer you more money or a lower interest rate. Right?
Gabe Bodner:And again, if you are curious, if you are interested in seeing if it makes sense to refinance your reverse mortgage into a new reverse mortgage, contact your loan originator. They'd be happy to speak with you. If you called me, I'd be happy to speak with you about the options. We get calls from past clients all the time. And I will tell you that in many cases, we do an analysis and we determine based on your current market value and your current mortgage balance, what funds might be available to you.
Gabe Bodner:And if the funds available to you with a new reverse mortgage are not significantly greater than the cost to originate the new reverse mortgage, then we don't recommend it. Right? Generally speaking, we try to follow a five to one rule, which basically says that the available funds to you should be five times greater than the cost of refinancing. Now, some cases, loan originators are going down to a three to one test where the benefit should be three times the cost of originating. Whatever it is, make sure you do that analysis with your loan originator.
Gabe Bodner:On that note, if you did not like your loan originator, or your loan originator has retired and is no longer originating loans, number one, feel free to give our team a call or call your loan servicer and they have a division that will be happy to assist you and do that analysis for you. Okay? So Alyssa, anything else to add on to that as far as, you know, there are certainly situations where it does make sense to refinance, but be very, very careful and very leery of someone contacting you that you don't know that's offering you more money at a lower interest rate.
Alissa Prieto:Yeah, I would just say be very careful what information you're providing over the phone. Like if they, because a lot of times you'll have a, somebody calling you and pretending to be the servicer, pretending to be your lender. So just know that the servicer is not going to call you and ask you for your personal information. They already have it. So be very mindful about what you're providing over the phone, and utilize some utilize a trusted adviser, utilize somebody you trust.
Alissa Prieto:So this industry is very small. I've been in the industry for twenty two, twenty three years. So you have mean, with great Gabe, you're great hands. I know he's been in the business a long time as well. So utilize your trusted resources and just keep in mind that when servicing calls you, they're not gonna be asking you for personal information.
Gabe Bodner:100%. And I'll give you a quick story from a past client of mine actually who called me about three weeks ago now. She called me and said, Hey Gabe, I got this weird phone call. And it was actually a voice message from someone that said they were working on her refinance. And she did the right thing.
Gabe Bodner:She called me and said, Hey Gabe, you know, this person says they're working on a refinance, you know, what should I do? And I said, Don't call them back. I'm happy to help do an analysis. We did. It did not make sense for her to refinance given her circumstances and her situation.
Gabe Bodner:And she said, Great, thank you so much. And I won't call them back. The next week, she called me and said, Hey, Gabe, this person, I won't mention the name, sent me a text message. And literally inside that text message said, I'm working with Gabe on your refinance. I just need some information from you.
Gabe Bodner:Please call me. Unfortunately, this client literally called that person back and that person said fraudulently that they were working with me and asked for her social security number over the phone. And to your point, Alyssa, do not provide that information over the phone, especially to somebody you don't have a relationship with. And she called me to let me know this whole situation. But these folks are getting very creative.
Gabe Bodner:And again, they are appearing as though they are working in your favor or on your behalf and trying to assist you. When the reality is they're only really working in their best interest in many, many cases. I don't wanna say in all cases, but be very leery and very careful because these, again, schemes, I won't say scammers, but these schemes are getting very, very creative. The information is readily available, and you just have to be very leery and figure out how to protect yourself. And I think the best way, once again, is to contact your original loan originator and or your loan servicer.
Gabe Bodner:So we've got a few more minutes here. Alyssa, are there any other anecdotes or any other stories or situations that you're seeing or hearing as it relates to, again, loans that are in servicing and these, again, scams that are occurring out there today?
Alissa Prieto:I mean, I think there's always scams in every type of business, right? You always have to be careful. And I think unfortunately people tend to prey on older homeowners, older senior homeowners. So I think just having yourself educated, being able to do your research, working with, you know, trusted advisors, know, if you've already done a loan and the experience was good and you have your servicing statement, you know, just make sure that you're, you know who you're reaching out to and what information you're providing. So, yeah, I mean, I do, I just think, I mean, even for my young kids who are online, you know, I'm like, don't post your birthday.
Alissa Prieto:Can't do that. So I think it's just where it really goes for everybody in this new tech world that we're living. You see people getting hacked all the, companies that you would never think would get hacked or getting hacked. So I think you just really, regardless if you are eight years old or 80 years old, you just wanna be careful what information you're putting out there.
Gabe Bodner:Absolutely. And as a sort of public service announcement to that point, there are services that are free where you can lock your credit or freeze your credit. A lot of the credit companies out there, whether it's Experian or Equifax or TransUnion, you can actually put a freeze on your personal credit at no cost. I do that personally with TransUnion. I don't do it with all the credit unions, but I do it with TransUnion.
Gabe Bodner:You can create an account online for free and you can freeze your credit. And that way, if someone is trying to steal your identity and or open up credit in your name, they won't be allowed to. So there are other services out there I've heard of like LifeLock as an example. Again, that's a paid service. I'm not here to promote them.
Gabe Bodner:But there are services out there that you can subscribe to, to protect yourself. With that, if you have an adult child or a grandchild that is tech savvy, I would reach out to them and ask them for assistance because they might be able to see through some of these situations that you might not be able to. So with that, we'll go ahead and wrap up. Alyssa, did you have anything else to share or add as we wrap up here?
Alissa Prieto:Sorry, just one last thing. On any reverse mortgage loan, do ask for an alternate contact. So make sure that alternate contact that and that is available in servicing. So make sure that that's somebody that you know, and you trust, and have a great relationship with, and servicing can also reach out to your alternate contact on your behalf as well. So and there's a lot of processes that they have in place to avoid any fraud and really protect you.
Alissa Prieto:So keep in mind that servicing really is making sure that they put all the proper steps and procedures in there to protect you.
Gabe Bodner:Absolutely. And with the alternate contact, we usually request the name, phone number, email address and mailing address of your alternate contact during the loan closing process or loan application process, And we provide that to the loan servicer. However, after your loan closes, if you want to add a secondary alternate contact or you want to change your alternate contact, reach out to your loan servicer to be able to do that. You can certainly do that. Alissa, this has been great.
Gabe Bodner:It's always good to see you. It's always great to reconnect with you, talk about some of these things, challenges for lack of better terms in the industry and offer solutions to our clients. Appreciate you, appreciate what you do for the industry and thank you for your time today.
Alissa Prieto:Thanks Gabe. Appreciate being here. Thanks so much.
Gabe Bodner:All right. Thanks everyone. Make it a great day.