HECM Housing Counselor

Qualifications:

• HECM certified or acquire HECM certification (within 60 days of employment) and maintain certification
• Acquire HUD counseling certification within 30 days of employment
• Acquire and maintain NFCC certification as a Credit Counselor within 14 days of employment
• Sit for various State Exams, as applicable to perform counseling services
• Bachelor’s degree (BS/BA) degree and/or 5-7 years’ experience providing direct services to older
  consumers in financial or social services capacity.
• Knowledge of mortgage & consumer lending preferred.
• Ability to work independently and handle multiple tasks simultaneously
• Excellent critical thinking abilities

Essential Functions:
To perform this job successfully, an individual must be able to perform each of the following essential functions satisfactorily. The requirements listed below are representative of the knowledge, skill and/or ability required.
Reasonable accommodations may be made to enable individuals with disabilities to perform the essential functions.

• A reverse mortgage counselor must exhibit world-class professionalism and patience with clients in helping them understand the nuances of this government-insured program.
• Counselors must be able to tailor each counseling session to the client’s pre-existing knowledge and level of financial sophistication.
• Counselors must confirm appointments in advance and ensure that their clients receive the HUD-required, pre-counseling paperwork prior to the session.
• Counselors are required to comply with HUD’s counseling protocol as detailed in the HECM Counseling Protocol Handbook.
• The counselor will become familiar with the client’s unique financial situation by reviewing a detailed budget, recording current income, exploring assets and liabilities, and discussing issues involving the client’s current credit status.
• The counselor will input all required information into the secured computer system.
• The counselor will maintain the strictest level of confidentiality regarding the client’s personal and financial information. The counselor is prohibited from discussing any aspect of the counseling session with a reverse mortgage lender and is also prohibited from steering the client to a specific lender.
• The counselor is expected to maintain professional objectivity throughout the counseling session and refrain from any suggestion to either proceed or withdraw from the reverse mortgage. The role of the HECM counselor is one of education so that the client can make an informed decision regarding the suitability of the
  reverse mortgage for his or her situation.
• Each HECM counselor is expected to stay current on all changes issued by HUD to the HECM program
  through a regular review of the Mortgagee Letters published on the hud.gov site.
• Attend and staff community outreach events, as appropriate
• Solidify partnerships, conducting follow-up where necessary
• Represent CCCSMD in interagency networking groups and participate in interagency initiatives.