Chad Peck · 801-809-3872
Required before you apply for a HECM
Before anyone can apply for a reverse mortgage, HUD requires a session with an independent, HUD-approved counselor. It happens by phone or in person, usually takes about an hour, and ends with a certificate.
The counselor doesn't work for a lender and has nothing to gain from your decision. That's the point of the requirement.
Your loan officer must give you a list of HUD-approved counseling agencies — and is prohibited from steering you toward any particular one. The choice is yours alone.
You contact the agency yourself. Fees vary by agency, and some offer reduced-cost or no-cost counseling depending on your circumstances. Ask when you call.
How a reverse mortgage works, what your ongoing obligations are — property taxes, homeowners insurance, upkeep, living in the home as your primary residence — and what alternatives exist. Counselors are not permitted to quote you specific lender pricing.
Both you and the counselor sign it. You give a copy to your lender, and the application can formally begin.
Thirteen HUD-approved national agencies with direct numbers, on one page. Most people counsel by phone. Local agencies come with your personalized list.
Download the list · PDFHUD's counselor locator, searchable by distance, language, and whether they meet in person or by phone. Set “Type of Counseling” to reverse mortgage — not every housing counselor can issue a HECM certificate.
Open HUD's locatorPrefer a list of HECM-roster agencies only? Use HUD's HECM roster search.
The agency will ask you two questions almost immediately. Knowing the answers keeps a five-minute call from turning into a callback.
Most commonly a HECM — the FHA-insured program. If you're buying a home rather than borrowing against one you already own, say HECM for Purchase. If you're refinancing an existing reverse mortgage, say so.
This lets the counselor pull your documents before the session. Without it, some agencies will mail everything to you first and won't book until it arrives.
Don't have your code? It's issued with your documents and is unique to you. Call or text and we'll get it to you the same day.
801-809-3872 chad@reversefreedom.comYour counselor will work through your actual numbers, not general examples. Three of these are personalized to you, and some agencies won't schedule the session until they have them.
Your options side by side — how each affects what you can access and what it costs. The counselor uses this to walk through the trade-offs without recommending one.
How the loan balance grows year by year if you make no payments, and what happens to your remaining equity over time.
The all-in annual cost of the loan expressed as a single rate, required on every reverse mortgage. It lets you compare costs across different holding periods.
Your counselor will expect you to have Preparing for Your Counseling Session and Use Your Home to Stay at Home as well — both are in the packet below, free to download now.
You don't need a lender picked out to get counseled — but if you have a proposal, bring these. We'll prepare all three for your situation at no cost and with no obligation.
These are the documents we're required to give you before counseling, in the order worth reading them. The first two are the ones your counselor will ask about. None of them is a sales piece — they come from HUD, an industry association, the National Council on Aging, and a federal regulator. Working through them first makes your counseling session far more useful.
HUD's own overview of what counseling is, what the counselor will and won't do, and the six steps from booking to certificate.
Seven questions to work through before you apply. The most useful thing to read first, because it's about whether this fits you at all.
The official reverse mortgage consumer booklet approved by HUD. Your counselor will likely work from it.
What living with a reverse mortgage actually requires. Written for borrowers, which is exactly why it's worth reading before you become one.
HUD sets the agenda, not the lender. Every session works through the same required topics, applied to your circumstances.
Topics follow HUD's HECM Counseling Protocol (Handbook 7610.1). If a purchase or an annuity is involved, those get their own required discussion.
Both your counselor and your lender will ask about income and expenses. They're separate reviews, done by different people, for different reasons — and it catches a lot of people off guard.
Your counselor walks through your monthly income and expenses using a budget tool, and screens you for benefit programs you may already qualify for.
HUD has required lenders to complete a Financial Assessment on every reverse mortgage since 2015. It reviews income, credit, and your history of paying property charges.
Every category your counselor is likely to ask about — income, home expenses, living costs, debts. Fill it in online and it adds up as you type, or print the blank form and use a pen. Either way it takes minutes instead of catching you off guard, and nothing is sent to us.
Chad PeckThis page is published by Chad Peck, a licensed loan originator with Reverse Freedom Mortgage. He is not a counselor and cannot counsel you. He also cannot recommend a specific counseling agency, sit in on your session, or pay your counseling fee — those are all prohibited, and for good reason. Use HUD's tools above to pick your own agency.
If you'd like the written list of approved agencies for your area sent over, request it below.
A few details let us run your actual numbers, not examples. We'll send your Comparison of Loan Products, Amortization Schedule, and TALC disclosure, plus the HUD-approved agency list for your area.
No Social Security number, no credit pull, and no application. Estimates are fine — we'll confirm the details with you.
Requesting these documents does not start a loan application and does not obligate you to anything. You are free to choose any HUD-approved agency, including ones not on the list we send.