the designation, which “remains the gold standard for individuals who wish to excel in the reverse mortgage business,” says Darryl Hicks, NRMLA vice president of communications. Freck, Harmes and Scheper say the CRMP designation provides great value. “Having a CRMP designation is like having an MBA degree—prestigious, impressive and proof of expertise in the mortgage liability and retirement arena,” Scheper says. “It helps me get appointments with financial planners to discuss how a reverse mortgage can be used as a tool to incorporate housing wealth into the overall retirement solution.” Harmes, a member of NRMLA’s Education Committee and a board member since 2018, has been a strong proponent of the CRMP program and has helped others with it. When he joined NRMLA in 2014, Harmes was an originator for forward and reverse mortgages. “But I had a commitment to becoming a reverse mortgage expert, which was my reason for becoming a NRMLA member,” Harmes says. “I attained the CRMP designation and then became national manager for C2 Reverse, creating the reverse mortgage division for the biggest mortgage broker in the country. Through this work with C2, I have trained more than 300 forward loan officers to competently and ethically originate reverse, and I have mentored more than ten percent of all CRMPs in attaining this certification.” Harmes also continues to originate loans. “I consider it a privilege to have a perspective on reverse mortgages that is national in scope all the way down to day-to-day, faceto-face interaction with the senior homeowners we serve,” he says. More to Do While much has been accomplished, much more needs to be done, observers point out. Freck would like to see more engagement with nonmember companies and originators to bring them into the NRMLA organization. “Every reverse originator Milestones continued from page 31 NRMLA Company Members’ Milestones These companies have reached the following milestones in 2024 in five-year increments: 2004 Harbor Mortgage Solutions (now a branch of The Federal Savings Bank and known as The Harbor Group at The Federal Savings Bank) 2009 Signet Reverse Mortgage 2014 Heartland Bank Ltd. (based in New Zealand) Access Reverse Mortgage Corp. American Fidelity Mortgage Services Inc. C2 Financial Corp. 2019 The Mortgage House Inc. Victorian Finance Cornerstone Home Lending Inc. EquityReach Mortgage Solutions GoodLife Home Loans Mutzig Management Inc. dba EstaR Mortgage A Colorado Reverse Mortgage LLC “Having a CRMP designation is like having an MBA degree—prestigious, impressive and proof of expertise in the mortgage liability and retirement arena. It helps me get appointments with financial planners to discuss how a reverse mortgage can be used as a tool to incorporate housing wealth into the overall retirement solution.” —Paul Scheper, CRMP, president of Loangevity Mortgage 32 REVERSE MORTGAGE / JANUARY-FEBRUARY 2024
RkJQdWJsaXNoZXIy MjQ1MzY1