Reverse Mortgage Counseling: What HUD Requires and What It Costs

Reverse mortgage counseling is a required session with an independent, HUD-approved counselor who walks you through how the loan works, what it obligates you to, and what your alternatives are. Before obtaining a HECM, all borrowers must complete a counseling session with a HUD-approved reverse mortgage counselor. It usually runs 60 to 90 minutes and typically costs somewhere in the range of $125 to $200, though many agencies waive or defer the fee for households who cannot pay it.

I bring this step up early with every homeowner I sit down with in Bend, because it tends to land in one of two ways. Some people hear the word counseling and assume they are being told they need help making a decision. Others assume it is a formality their lender arranges and signs off on. Neither is right. The session exists so that somebody with no financial stake in whether you take the loan explains it to you first, and I have never once resented that.

This material is not from HUD or FHA and was not approved by HUD or a government agency. A reverse mortgage is a loan that must be repaid, not a government benefit. Counseling requirements and fees are set by HUD and by individual counseling agencies, not by me.

What Reverse Mortgage Counseling Is and Why HUD Requires It

A HECM, the FHA-insured Home Equity Conversion Mortgage, is the only mortgage product I know of that requires you to talk to someone outside the transaction before you can move forward. That requirement is written into the program itself, and it exists for a straightforward reason: this loan is usually taken by people in their seventies and eighties, on the largest asset they own, and the terms are unfamiliar to almost everyone the first time through.

The counselor works for a housing counseling agency approved by the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development and specifically approved to counsel on reverse mortgages. They are not paid by me, they are not paid by Fairway, and their fee does not change based on whether you proceed. They do not sell the loan and they cannot approve it. Their job is to make sure you understand what you are considering, including the parts a salesperson would rather skim.

That independence is also the reason reverse mortgage counseling is one of the better protections against the pressure tactics covered on the reverse mortgage scams and red flags page. Anyone urging you to skip it, rush it, or use a specific counselor they will arrange for you is telling you something important about themselves.

What Reverse Mortgage Counseling Costs in 2026

Agencies set their own fees within HUD's guidelines. Most charge somewhere between $125 and $200 for a HECM session, and a handful charge nothing at all because their counseling program is funded by grants. The fee has to be disclosed to you before the session begins, so you will never be surprised by it afterward.

Three things about the cost are worth knowing before you call anyone.

The one cost rule that protects you most: a lender cannot charge you fees or order an appraisal on a HECM until your counseling certificate is in hand. In practice that means the counseling fee is often the only money in the transaction before you have talked to someone independent, which is exactly the sequence HUD intended.

What Happens During a Reverse Mortgage Counseling Session

The session follows a HUD protocol, so the substance is consistent no matter which approved agency you choose. A counselor will typically cover the following ground.

• How the loan actually works. Growing balance, accruing interest, the payout options, and how and when the loan becomes due and payable. The mechanics are laid out in plain language on the how does a reverse mortgage work page if you want to arrive already familiar.
• Your obligations as a borrower. You remain responsible for paying property taxes, homeowners insurance, and any HOA dues; for maintaining the home; and for occupying it as your primary residence. Failure to meet these obligations may cause the loan to become due and payable. Counselors spend real time here, and they should.
• The costs. Mortgage insurance premiums, origination, servicing, closing costs, and how interest compounds on a balance that grows rather than shrinks.
• Alternatives to a reverse mortgage. Selling and downsizing, a home equity line, refinancing, state and local assistance programs, or simply doing nothing for now. A counselor is required to raise these, not just the loan.
• A budget and benefits review. Most agencies use a financial interview tool to look at your income and expenses, plus a benefits screening that checks whether you qualify for public assistance programs you are not currently using. People are sometimes surprised by what turns up here.
• What happens to your heirs. You keep the title to and ownership of your home. A HECM is a non-recourse loan: you or your heirs will never owe more than the home is worth at the time the loan is repaid.
• A short comprehension check. Near the end the counselor asks a set of questions to confirm the key concepts landed. It is not a test you can fail permanently. If something has not clicked, the counselor explains it again.

You can bring anyone you want. I encourage clients to include an adult child or a trusted friend, and the family guide for adult children was written partly so a son or daughter can walk into that session already knowing what to listen for.

Who Has to Attend the Session

Every person who will be a borrower on the loan has to attend. If you and your spouse are both going on title as borrowers, you both attend, and you can do it together in one session.

A non-borrowing spouse also needs to participate. That comes up regularly in Central Oregon, where one spouse is past 62 and the other is not yet, and it matters because the deferral protections that let a younger spouse remain in the home after the borrowing spouse dies depend on rules that person should hear explained directly. The age thresholds and how the younger spouse affects the calculation are covered on the reverse mortgage requirements page.

If someone is signing under a power of attorney, the counseling session still has to happen, and agencies have procedures for handling it. Do not assume a POA lets you skip the step. It does not.

How to Find a HUD-Approved Reverse Mortgage Counselor

You choose the agency. Your lender is required to give you a list of HUD-approved agencies, but you are not required to pick from it, and you can find one entirely on your own.

1. Use HUD's own list. The department maintains a roster of approved housing counseling agencies, filterable to those approved for reverse mortgage counseling, on the HUD HECM program page.
2. Or use the CFPB search tool. The Consumer Financial Protection Bureau's find a housing counselor tool searches the same approved agencies by ZIP code.
3. Or call HUD's housing counseling line at (800) 569-4287 and ask for an agency approved for reverse mortgage counseling.
4. Ask about the fee and the wait when you call. Two questions: what does the session cost, and how soon can you be scheduled. Availability varies more than price does, and a week's difference in scheduling is common.

Telephone counseling is permitted and is what most Central Oregon homeowners end up using, which means you are not limited to agencies with an office near Bend. If you would rather sit across from someone in person, say so when you call and ask what is available in Deschutes, Crook, or Jefferson County.

Your Counseling Certificate and What Comes Next

At the end of the session the counselor issues a certificate, signed by the counselor and by each borrower and non-borrowing spouse who attended. That document is what your lender needs before the file can move forward.

Two details trip people up. First, the certificate is valid for 180 days. If your situation stalls and you come back nine months later, you repeat the session. Second, completing counseling commits you to nothing. Plenty of people finish a session, decide a reverse mortgage is not for them, and never make another call. That is a legitimate outcome, and if you want the honest case against the loan before you spend the fee, the downside of a reverse mortgage and reverse mortgage disadvantages pages lay it out without softening.

Once the certificate is issued, the application, appraisal, and underwriting can proceed. If your file also has to clear a financial assessment or a property question, the what disqualifies you page covers what underwriting looks at after this point.

Reverse Mortgage Counseling in Bend and Central Oregon

About 21.8 percent of Deschutes County residents are 65 or older according to U.S. Census Bureau QuickFacts, a meaningfully higher share than the country as a whole, so this is a step a lot of local households will go through. A few things I tell Bend and Redmond clients specifically.

Schedule it early rather than late. Counseling is often the longest single wait in the process, not because sessions are hard to get but because everything else moves faster than people expect once the certificate exists. Do the session before you are emotionally committed, while the answer can still change.

Write your questions down beforehand. The counselor is neutral and has no reason to steer you, which makes that hour the single best place to ask the thing you have been hesitant to ask me. What happens if I need assisted living. What happens if my daughter wants the house. Whether a reverse second mortgage makes more sense than a full HECM given the rate on my current loan.

And bring numbers if you have them. A recent property tax statement, your mortgage balance, and a rough sense of your monthly income make the budget portion of the session far more useful than generalities do.

I work with homeowners across Bend, Redmond, Sunriver, Sisters, La Pine, Prineville, and Madras from my office at 601 NW Harmon Blvd. For more local context, the Bend reverse mortgage guide covers Central Oregon equity and reverse mortgage in Oregon covers statewide rules. The full product lineup sits on the reverse mortgage programs page.

Reverse Mortgage Counseling: Frequently Asked Questions