A reverse mortgage bill aiming to change the way industry professionals do business in the state of New York was signed into law on Friday by Governor Andrew Cuomo, Reverse Mortgage Daily reported. This has codified the bill into New York state law, and Governor Cuomo’s office confirmed to RMD that he had signed it. Assembly Bill 5626 was first passed by the New York State Assembly in May, and takes sweeping aim at what it calls “deceptive practices,” requiring reverse mortgage lenders to provide supplemental consumer protection materials while imposing additional restrictions on lenders related to their payment of insurance premiums and property taxes. The bill also requires that both lenders and borrowers be represented by an attorney at the time of closing, and at least one attorney must be present to conduct the closing itself. Sponsored in the New York State Assembly by Helene E. Weinstein, who represents Assembly District 41 in Brooklyn, the intent of the new law was detailed in a memo circulated to New York state lawmakers as answering the necessity of regulating a complex product that is sold to a protected class with current regulations that are described by the memo as “inadequate.”
