Could What Is Happening In Minnesota Be The Beginning Of Further Unnecessary Country-wide Legislation?

Lately, I have been getting the feeling that ubiquitous  reverse mortgage misconceptions will  cause legislators all across the country to take a “second look” at reverse mortgages. Somehow these lawmakers feel imbued with an inscrutable power to make laws perfect, pure and pristine. The fact that something “works” is not good enough.

The fact that the federal government (HUD/FHA)  and Fannie Mae (GSE)  have been tweaking  and re-tweaking the program over two decades is not of any importance to the folks that are supposed to represent the “voice of the people”.  I believe that the reason states like Minnesota feel the mindless need to revisit a program that is already in excellent hands is because they do not want to take a look at their own failings; or at least the failings of their state agencies.

These agencies already have the plenary power to protect their older citizens from those miscreants who purposely and willfully choose to inflict financial carnage upon unsuspecting older Americans.  The proposed Minnesota bill is textbook illustration how legislatures can perpetrate harm on a class of seniors by passing unnecessary laws. 

Isn’t it interesting how an attorney general would rather get lionized for proposing legislation that hurts the group of people she wishes to protect. Giving people a longer time period to decide whether a reverse mortgage is right for them, does not help at all. What does help is cleaning up the vermin mortgage companies and loan originators that prey on the citizens of Minnesota. In a prior post, I have detailed how the reverse mortgage industry would pick up and leave, if the attorney general gets her way.

Should other states feel compelled to pick up on this legislative drivel, there will be no reverse mortgage industry in this country. Congratulations, you have just protected your seniors by making the reverse mortgage process perfect, pure and pristine. The only problem is, that while there is an increasing need for the program (just look at your census projections), you have chased all the lenders away.