Find the Best Reverse Mortgage in 2026

A reverse mortgage is a loan that lets eligible older homeowners convert part of their home equity into cash. Instead of you paying the lender each month, the lender pays you — as a lump sum, monthly payments, a line of credit, or a combination. You keep the title to your home, and the loan is repaid when the last borrower sells, moves out permanently, or passes away.

For an FHA-insured Home Equity Conversion Mortgage (HECM), you generally must be 62 or older, own your home (or have a low remaining balance), and live in it as your primary residence. Some proprietary “jumbo” programs accept borrowers as young as 55. You’ll also complete a short session with a HUD-approved counselor.

Yes. You remain on the title and continue to own your home. You’re responsible for keeping current on property taxes, homeowners insurance, and basic maintenance. As long as you meet those obligations and the home stays your primary residence, you can stay as long as you like.

It depends on the age of the youngest borrower, current interest rates, your home’s appraised value (up to FHA limits for HECMs), and how much you still owe. Older borrowers and homes with more equity generally qualify for more. Our estimator above gives a rough range — a lender provides exact figures after an appraisal.

Reverse mortgage proceeds are loan advances, not income, so they’re generally not taxable and typically don’t affect Social Security or Medicare. They can affect needs-based benefits like Medicaid or SSI. Consult a tax advisor about your specific situation.

HECM loans are non-recourse: your heirs will never owe more than the home is worth. When the loan comes due, they can repay the balance and keep the home, sell it and keep any remaining equity, or hand it to the lender. Any home value above the loan balance belongs to your estate.

Reverse mortgages include closing costs, an origination fee, and — for HECMs — an FHA mortgage insurance premium. Many of these can be financed into the loan. Because costs and rates vary by lender, comparing several offers (as on this page) helps you find the best overall value.

If your spouse is under 62 at closing, they can be designated as an Eligible Non-Borrowing Spouse (ENBS) under HUD Mortgagee Letters 2014-07 and 2021-09. This means if you — the borrowing spouse — pass away or move permanently to a care facility, your spouse can remain in the home without the loan being called due, provided they continue paying property taxes and insurance and the home remains their primary residence. The trade-off: because the lender uses the younger spouse's age in the principal limit calculation, your upfront cash access will be lower than if both spouses were 62+. Always disclose a non-borrowing spouse to your lender before closing — failing to do so can void ENBS protections entirely.

The unused portion of a variable-rate HECM line of credit grows automatically over time at the same rate as the loan's interest accrual rate (current interest rate + 0.5% annual MIP). For example, if your rate is 6.5%, an untouched $100,000 credit line grows to roughly $106,500 after one year — even if home values fall. This is a unique feature: it's not investment growth, but it means your available borrowing power expands the longer you wait to draw. A fixed-rate HECM, by contrast, pays out as a single lump sum at closing with no future access. The line of credit is generally the better structure for borrowers who don't need all the cash immediately — it preserves optionality and grows as a financial safety net. The lump sum makes sense when you have a specific, immediate large expense (like paying off a mortgage balance or funding a home modification).

This is the most common cause of HECM foreclosure. Because a reverse mortgage has no monthly payment, it's easy to underestimate the ongoing obligations — but property taxes, homeowners insurance, and basic home maintenance are non-negotiable conditions of the loan. If you fall behind, your servicer is required to notify HUD and can advance funds from your loan to cover the arrears (called a Life Expectancy Set-Aside, or LESA), reducing your available proceeds. If the default is not cured, the lender can call the full loan balance due and initiate foreclosure proceedings. The CFPB estimates that tens of thousands of HECM borrowers have faced this risk. If your income is limited, ask your lender upfront about a LESA — structuring one at closing protects you from the most common failure mode of a reverse mortgage.

A HECM is federally insured by FHA, capped at the 2026 maximum claim amount of $1,249,125, and requires HUD-approved counseling. A proprietary (jumbo) reverse mortgage is a private product not backed by FHA — it has no loan limit ceiling, which makes it the right tool if your home is worth significantly more than the HECM cap and you want to access equity above that threshold. Proprietary products can also allow borrowers as young as 55 (vs. 62 for HECMs). The trade-off: proprietary loans carry no FHA non-recourse guarantee, may have different (sometimes higher) costs, and vary widely by lender since there's no standardized federal program structure. If your home value is under ~$800k–$900k, a HECM will almost always net you more after costs. Above that range, a proprietary loan is worth comparing side by side.

Reverse mortgage proceeds themselves are not counted as income by Medicaid or SSI — they are loan advances. However, if you receive a large lump sum and don't spend it within the calendar month you receive it, the remaining cash balance can be counted as a liquid asset. Medicaid has strict asset limits (typically $2,000 for an individual), so a large unspent lump sum could temporarily disqualify you from coverage. A line of credit or monthly payment structure largely avoids this problem because you draw only what you need when you need it, making it far easier to stay under the asset threshold. If you currently receive or expect to receive Medicaid or SSI, speak with a benefits counselor — not just a reverse mortgage lender — before choosing your payout structure. Social Security (non-needs-based) and Medicare are unaffected.

Yes, but it's subject to HUD's 5-5 Rule: to refinance a HECM, the increase in your principal limit (the additional cash you'd get access to) must be at least 5 times the closing costs of the refinance, and you must have had the original loan for at least 5 years (there are exceptions for significant home value increases). If both conditions are met, refinancing can make sense — particularly if your home has appreciated substantially, the youngest borrower has aged (increasing the principal limit factor), or rates have shifted in your favor. Refinancing resets your upfront MIP (2% of the new MCA), so the cost hurdle is real. Request a break-even analysis from any lender proposing a refinance, and compare the net benefit against simply opening a new line of credit draw if your existing loan has unused capacity.

All three convert equity into cash, but the structure differs. A home equity loan is a second mortgage paid out as a lump sum with a fixed rate and a fixed monthly payment. A HELOC is a revolving line you draw from as needed, usually at a variable rate, with interest charged only on what you have drawn. A cash-out refinance replaces your existing first mortgage with a larger one and hands you the difference — which means giving up the rate on your current mortgage, so it usually only makes sense if today’s rates are at or below what you already have.

Most lenders limit your combined loan-to-value (CLTV) — every loan secured by the home, added together — to somewhere between 80% and 90% of the appraised value. On a $500,000 home with a $200,000 first mortgage and an 85% cap, that is $425,000 of lending value less $200,000 already owed, or roughly $225,000 available before fees. The cap, and whether you get the top of it, depend on the lender, your credit profile, the property type, and your state. Our estimator above runs this arithmetic for you.

No. Unlike an FHA-insured reverse mortgage — which requires the youngest borrower to be 62, with some proprietary programs starting at 55 — home equity loans, HELOCs, and equity-sharing agreements have no upper or lower age band beyond being a legal adult. What they underwrite instead is your credit, your income, and how much equity you hold.

As a general guide, lenders look for a credit score in the mid-600s or better for a home equity loan or HELOC, a debt-to-income ratio at or below roughly 43%–50%, and verifiable income. Equity-sharing agreements are typically more flexible on credit and do not require income verification in the same way, because the investor is underwriting the home rather than your paycheck. Requirements vary by lender and by state, and a stronger profile generally buys you a higher CLTV cap and a better rate.

In a home equity investment (also called an equity-sharing agreement), an investor pays you cash today for a share of what your home is worth when the agreement ends — typically within 10 to 30 years, settled when you sell, refinance, or buy the investor out. There are no monthly payments and no interest. The trade-off is the payoff formula: if your home appreciates strongly, the investor’s share can cost considerably more than the interest on a loan of the same size, and you need cash or a sale to settle. Read the payoff example in the agreement — not just the headline percentage — before you sign.

A traditional home equity loan or HELOC generally takes two to six weeks from application to funding, most of which is appraisal and title work. Lenders that use automated valuations and digital closings can be materially faster — some fund in under a week for straightforward files. Timelines are estimates, not commitments, and anything unusual about the property or the title will extend them.

Only conditionally. Under current federal rules, interest on a home equity loan or HELOC is deductible only when the proceeds are used to buy, build, or substantially improve the home that secures the loan, and only within the overall mortgage-interest limits — using the money to consolidate credit cards or pay tuition does not qualify. Deductibility also assumes you itemize. Talk to a tax advisor about your own situation rather than relying on a general rule.

The lien has to be cleared at closing. Your home equity loan balance, or your drawn HELOC balance, is paid off out of the sale proceeds along with your first mortgage, and you keep whatever is left. An equity-sharing agreement settles the same way, except the amount owed is the investor’s share of the sale price under the agreement’s formula rather than a principal balance. If the total owed exceeds what the sale brings in, you are responsible for the shortfall — so check the payoff terms before you borrow against equity you may need to move.

Yes — all three products are secured by your home, which is exactly why they are cheaper than unsecured credit. Missing payments on a home equity loan or HELOC can lead to foreclosure, as can failing to meet the terms of an equity-sharing agreement. Borrow against the payment you can sustain if your income changes, not the maximum a lender approves, and ask what happens if you fall behind before you sign anything.

Usually, yes, in two separate ways. First, most HELOCs carry a variable rate, so the payment moves with the index it is tied to. Second, a HELOC has two phases: during the draw period (commonly about 10 years) many lenders bill interest only, and when the repayment period begins you start paying principal too — which can raise the payment sharply even if the rate never moves. Ask any lender for the payment at the start of repayment, not just the payment today. Some lenders offer a fixed-rate option on part of the balance.

Some lenders can rely on an automated valuation model or a desktop review, particularly on standard properties with plenty of equity; others require a full interior appraisal, typically a few hundred dollars, which can be rolled into closing costs. Which one you get depends on the lender, the loan size, and how much equity you are leaving in the home. It is a fair question to ask before you apply, because it drives both the cost and the timeline.

Often yes, as long as the combined balances stay inside the lender’s CLTV cap and your debt-to-income ratio still works. The practical constraint is arithmetic, not policy: each additional lien counts against the same percentage of your home’s value. Where the cap is already close, lenders will usually ask you to refinance or close the existing line rather than add a third mortgage on top.