thing: Americans who haven’t yet retired say they are unprepared for retirement, unsure of how to prepare and unsure if they even want to fully retire. On July 20, a poll of 1,238 Americans 18 and older conducted by Axios/Ipsos caught my attention because it found that one in five Americans don’t think they’ll ever retire. Of that group, 70 percent said they can’t or won’t be able to afford to retire versus 19 percent who just don’t want to retire. An additional ten percent picked “other” as a response. People are split on whether they will retire when they expect. Thirty-six percent plan to retire on time, 23 percent reported they will have to retire later than expected and 40 percent said they aren’t sure if they will retire at the time they expected. You can read more interesting statistics from the same poll at https://bit.ly/3qynmmT. New CFPB Issue Spotlight: Medical Debt and Older Adults The Consumer Financial Protection Bureau (CFPB) has focused its attention lately on the huge amount of medical debt being billed—sometimes inaccurately—to older adults. In 2020, nearly four million adults 65 and older reported having $53.8 billion in unpaid medical bills despite 98 percent of them having health insurance coverage. Nearly 70 percent of these older adults reported having medical insurance coverage from two or more sources. CFPB released an issue spotlight in May that describes how the medical billing system can leave older adults with inaccurate bills, collection and credit reporting on amounts they do not owe. These challenges can be particularly difficult for older adults, especially those who face health issues, or functional limitations or live on a fixed income. You can read a copy of the report at https://bit. ly/44jTWGE. FHA Publishes Mortgage Documents in More Languages To help accommodate Americans whose first language is not English, the Federal Housing Administration (FHA) in June launched a resource page that includes more than 30 single-family mortgage documents and related resources used in the origination of FHA-insured mortgages, including HECMs, in Chinese, Korean, Spanish, Tagalog and Vietnamese. The translated documents include the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD) Addendum to the Uniform Residential Loan Application (HUD 92900-A) required for all FHA-insured single-family mortgages; model documents, including mortgage notes and riders used in FHA forward and HECM transactions; and required borrower disclosures. These documents are intended to assist lenders, servicers, housing counselors and other FHA program participants in explaining information related to FHAinsured mortgages to those with limited English proficiency prior to borrowers executing legal documents in English, as required by law. You can visit the resource page at https://bit.ly/3R5ahfJ. U.S. Median Age Hits Record High The 2021 census continues to yield interesting statistics on the U.S. population. In mid-June, the U.S. Census Bureau released new statistics in its Vintage 2022 Population Estimates that show the nation’s median age increased by 0.2 years to a record 38.9 years between 2021 and 2022. A third (17) of the states in the country had a median age above 40 in 2022, led by Maine with the highest, at 44.8, and New Hampshire at 43.3. Utah (31.9), the District of Columbia (34.8) and Texas (35.5) had the lowest median ages in the nation. Hawaii had the largest increase in median age among states, up 0.4 years to 40.7. In 2022, seven counties had median ages at or above 60: Highland County, VA (60.0); Charlotte County, FL (60.2); Jefferson County, WA (60.4); Harding County, NM (60.5); Jeff Davis County, TX (61.7); Catron County, NM (62.1); and Sumter County, FL (68.1). Read the report at https://bit.ly/3KTEomb. Submit Your Questions or Comments I’d also like to use this column to respond to questions you may have about NRMLA, the CRMP designation, or anything that’s on your mind. Send your questions or comments to dhicks@dworbell.com. Hey, Members REVERSE MORTGAGE / NOVEMBER–DECEMBER 2023 9
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