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Finance of America Reverse Review


ConsumersAdvocate.org Rating: 4.4 / 5 (Excellent)
80 Customer Comments & Reviews - see all comments
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Finance of America Reverse is a direct lender focused solely on reverse mortgages. Founded in 2003, FAR operates in 50 states and is based in Oklahoma.
 
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Finance of America Reverse is the reverse mortgage arm of Finance of America. Finance of America is recognized as one of premier mortgage lenders in the United States and has a substantial lending history of nearly 20 years in business.  

Most Flexible Proprietary Loan

Among lenders currently offering proprietary reverse mortgages, Finance of America Reverse stands out for a number of reasons. For starters, its proprietary loan, the HomeSafe® reverse mortgage, is more a suite of tools than a single, one-size-fits-all type of loan.

There are three versions of the HomeSafe® proprietary loan: HomeSafe Standard, For Purchase, and Select. The biggest difference between them is how funds are disbursed to borrowers. HomeSafe Standard offers single, lump sum payments; and HomeSafe Select is an adjustable-rate option that functions as a line of credit. No other proprietary reverse mortgage shows this much versatility in terms of payment options.

Requirements for FAR’s HomeSafe® products are quite reasonable. There is no minimum property value and non-borrowing spouses are protected under specific circumstances.

HomeSafe® is also the proprietary reverse mortgage with the greatest regional availability in the market. HomeSafe Standard loans are available in a total of 26 states (the average is around 15), HomeSafe Select is available in the following states: California, Colorado, Connecticut, District of Columbia, Florida, Georgia, Hawaii, Idaho, Illinois, Louisiana, Nevada, New Jersey, North Carolina, Oregon, South Carolina, Texas, Virginia, and Utah. FAR has expressed its desire to keep adding states to this list, with some already on the way.

Widest Selection of Products

We found that Finance of America Reverse had one of the largest product portfolios in the industry, with six different available options: HomeSafe®, HECM, Reverse for Purchase (H4P), Refinancing, and Silvernest. Most reverse mortgage companies only offer FHA-insured loans, with only a few lenders having a proprietary option.

 

FAR’s Refinancing options are unique in the industry. The latter is an HECM-to-HECM refinancing program that works similarly to regular loan refinancing. The program can help those whose homes have significantly appreciated in value, who want to take advantage of lower rates, and who want to add another borrower to the loan—a spouse, for example.

Finally, FAR borrowers have another option to consider thanks to the company’s partnership with Silvernest. A room and house-sharing service, Silvernest matches users with potential housemates in their area for a fee. It does this via detailed profile analysis and can provide aging homeowners with extra income and companionship. Those with an active FAR loan are provided with a one-year subscription and have the cost of matching with a housemate covered.

Top-Notch Online Experience

Finance of America Reverse’s website is straightforward and offers a good amount of learning resources, including a handy loan calculator and retirement personality quiz.

Information on FAR is easy to access, with one tab dedicated to exploring the options available through the lender, and another focused on how to be ready for retirement. FAR also has an articles and news section, where users can find numerous writeups not only about retirement products, but also about retirement living as whole. The company’s retirement personality quiz can also help pinpoint the right product for a consumer depending on what their outlook on retirement is.

FAR’s reverse mortgage calculator is simple but can provide a good projection of how one’s equity will translate into funds. After inputting just four values—age, home value, mortgage balance, and state of residence—users are redirected to a pie chart showing the total amount of proceeds, mortgage payoff, proceeds available after paying off your mortgage, and remaining equity. A second chart will appear with the same fields but based on a HomeSafe® loan, for qualifying homes in states where it’s available.

 

Finance of America Reverse LLC NMLS ID # 2285 (www.nmls.consumeraccess.org)

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Customer Comments

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Robert R
10/5/2018
Hold back information not disclosed, process way too involved and to may calls and emails from the sales person
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hblsurfr
5/15/2022
The most unethical company I have ever worked with. In getting a mortgage. If you go with this company carefully watch the fees. They will add or change. They are probably thinking that seniors are too senile to understand the documents. If you go with this company you certainly will need an attorney. I would never recommend this company to any of my friends or family. The loan servicing department is a disaster. When your insurance company sends you a check for a claim it Hass to be sent to their servicing department called CeLink. They will have you wait weeks to disperse the funds even though you have repaired and paid your contractor. Numerous hours and phone calls and each... Read More
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Christine W  
Official Response

Reputation Management Specialist of Finance of America Reverse
Hello, We are not able to discuss loan information in a public forum. Our goal is to provide the best experience, and we’re sorry we failed to meet your expectations. Please reach out to Reviews@far.com with your customer information so we can help resolve the issues.
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Greg
9/6/2021
The reverse specialist, Katie May, made a 2 month process into 3 by wasting weeks. She withheld information sometimes on purpose. She created surprises and stress needlessly. She could not properly read an insurance statement, even showing erratic behavior. She was trying to make me way over insured, not understanding market conditions at all. Reverse mortgage borrowers should go somewhere else for their loan.
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Christine W  
Official Response

Reputation Management Specialist of Finance of America Reverse
Hi Greg, Thank you for bringing this to our attention. We appreciate you taking the time to leave a review and will use this as a learning experience to train and implement new processes. If you still require additional information, please call us at 866-615-1257 and we'll be able to assist you. Again, we apologize for any inconvenience this has caused as customer service is our highest priority.
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Kathleen K
9/1/2020
Customer service is terrible I have requested a withdrawal line of credit form 4 times & have not received it yet. Is the money still there? makes me wonder!
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Olivia S  
Official Response

Representative of Finance of America Reverse
Hi Kathleen, we're sorry to hear that and would like to assist in a resolution but need more information to identify your account. Please give us a call at (855) 981-8921, or you can directly contact CeLink, the company who handles the line of credit draw requests, by phone: 866-654-0020, fax: 844-569-1565, or email: LOC@reversedepartment.com
johnsmithcapps
5/6/2020
The refi process went promptly and flawlessly, despite the challenges of doing business during the coronavirus pandemic. FAR representative Taylor Williams was consummately professional: proactive without being overbearing, rapidly responsive whenever we reached out.
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bpkorn
11/13/2019
Reverse Mortgage Specialist and Team Head were terrific, but the back office processing encountered numerous delays that should not have happened. Need to build in time cushion for closing and funding to occur.
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Terry L
11/13/2019
Randi lee Schwersenska went above and beyond to make my loan happen, trusted, sincere, friendly, and always available to answer questions!!!
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Richard B
11/4/2019
Sales person was friendly, responsive, professional. Made the whole process interesting, easy, and expedient. I would recommend Finance of America and Joe DeAngelis highly!
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Kenneth D
10/30/2019
FAR provides excellent service throughout the entire process. They send notaries to you for document signings. They provide the information you need for financial analysis including very useful loan amortization schedules. I highly recommend this company. We went from initiation to closing in about 50 days.
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Guszella B
9/14/2019
It long and tedious process but Matt Anderson got me through it. He worked continuously for and I thank him very much.
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