Working With Legislators continued from page 25
people who had trouble making face-to-face meetings, say Downey and Kirkpatrick. “It was never about us. It was always about the consumer,” Kirkpatrick says. Downey relates the story of one borrower who lived alone and used
“Whether you are telling the story of a neighbor or a loved one or a borrower, a consumer whom you helped, you’re giving real-life scenarios, and that’s important.”
—Debbie Sousa, executive director of the Massachusetts Mortgage Bankers Association
Debbie Sousa
a motorized wheelchair. To attend an in-person session, he had to hire a special van to pick him up, take him to the counseling office, wait for him and bring him back. “It cost him over $1,000 in additional fees just to be counseled when just as easily it could have been accom- plished over the telephone,” Downey says. Legislation ending the in-person requirement reached the desk of former Massachusetts Gov. Deval Patrick, who left office in 2015. However, a drafting error forced the bill back to the state Senate, and the leg- islative session ended before the bill made it back to the governor. “We had to start all over again,” Downey says. While persistent advocacy laid the groundwork for eventual success, the COVID-19 pandemic proved the critical turning point. Fear of the virus prevented in-person meetings of any kind, forcing people to rely heavily on videocon- ferencing tools, such as Zoom and Microsoft Teams. As a result, Massachusetts officials temporarily waived, for the duration of the COVID-19 emergency, the requirement for in-person counseling of reverse mort- gage borrowers. The waiver was extended several times before the requirement was rescinded by law. Sousa credits lawmak- ers’ growing familiarity with virtual communications as one reason they revisited the issue. Lawmakers were using the tools to hold hearings and conduct other business. “That was a huge difference,” she says. Data also helped. While the waivers were in place, a Massachusetts counseling agency routinely surveyed clients about their experience with virtual sessions, Sousa says. Of the roughly 400 people surveyed, 96 percent reported a favorable experience with remote counseling.
Lessons and Tips So, what can others learn from that experience? Downey, Kirkpatrick, Norman and Sousa shared these tips: Meet with lawmakers. All four say reverse mortgage professionals must establish relationships with the state legislators representing their districts. Lawmakers are faced with hundreds of complex issues. They are not experts in reverse lending, but they may welcome a short meeting with people who are and who can explain the importance of reverse mortgages. The effort is particularly crucial, given the many linger- ing misconceptions about the product. Those miscon- ceptions still color the views of state legislators. “You’ve got to be able to educate them and enlighten them as to what the reverse mortgage is, not what they think that it is,” Downey says, noting that Massachusetts lawmakers did take the time to listen. “The meetings can be held even when there is no leg- islation under consideration,” adds Norman, who strongly recommends using talking points from NRMLA. “I would highly encourage you to be proactive. You always want to make a friend before you need a friend.” And if lawmakers are unavailable, it is just as effec- tive to meet with their aides. “Lawmakers depend on the staff to collect the information and distill that for them,” Kirkpatrick says. Look around the corner. When lawmakers are considering an issue, they are often focused on where the opposition may be, Kirkpatrick says. It is worth bringing that information to the forefront during a meeting but also to make a compelling case for your side, he says.
26 REVERSE MORTGAGE / SEPTEMBER-OCTOBER 2024
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