As the demographic landscape of the United States continues to shift toward an older population, credit unions find themselves at a critical crossroads regarding their mortgage product portfolios. Despite a deeply loyal and aging membership base, these member-owned financial institutions are currently capturing only a microscopic fraction of the reverse mortgage market. This was the central theme of a high-level panel discussion held this week at the American Credit Union Mortgage Association (ACUMA) annual “Make Your Mark” conference in Las Vegas.
Industry experts and credit union executives gathered at the event to dissect the current state of senior lending, revealing a stark disparity between the number of eligible members and the actual volume of reverse mortgage originations. The consensus among the presenters was clear: credit unions have a significant and largely untapped opportunity to better serve their older members by integrating reverse mortgages into their broader financial planning services.
The presentation featured Ron Kamler, president and CEO of Alliance Reverse Mortgage, and Brandon Bartholomew, mortgage sales manager at Mountain America Credit Union. Together, they outlined the specific challenges that have historically hindered credit union participation in this space, while highlighting the successful strategies used by early adopters to bridge the gap between member needs and institutional offerings.
The Statistical Disconnect
To illustrate the scale of the missed opportunity, Ron Kamler presented a series of data points that underscored the current market imbalance. According to Kamler, approximately 36,000 reverse mortgages were originated across the United States over the past 12 months. Out of that total, credit unions were responsible for only 81 loans.
This figure is particularly striking when viewed against the backdrop of the credit union industry’s total reach. Kamler noted that there are roughly 55 million credit union members nationwide who are currently age-eligible for a reverse mortgage—typically defined as those age 62 or older for the federal Home Equity Conversion Mortgage (HECM) program, or as young as 55 for certain proprietary private products.
The gap between 55 million eligible members and 81 closed loans suggests a profound disconnect in the marketplace. For Kamler, this indicates that millions of seniors are either not accessing their home equity at all or, more likely, are taking their business to independent mortgage banks and specialized lenders rather than the financial institutions they already know and trust.
One of the primary drivers of this disconnect is a lack of awareness and a clear starting point for the consumer. Many senior homeowners are curious about how to leverage their home equity to support their retirement but are intimidated by the complexity of the product or the reputation of the industry. Brandon Bartholomew noted that at Mountain America Credit Union, the decision to enter the reverse mortgage space was driven directly by member demand.
Bartholomew explained that members began approaching the credit union with questions after receiving quotes from outside lenders. In many cases, these members were seeking a "second opinion" from a trusted source. When the credit union staff reviewed the terms and fees being offered by external competitors, the results were often alarming.
“They trusted the credit union to help them and advise them as what to do,” Bartholomew said during the panel. “That’s one of the reasons we started getting into reverse mortgages—to help them, because we saw how much they were being charged. It was outrageous what they were being charged outside.”
