A reverse mortgage payoff statement request is a written ask to the servicer for the amount that retires the loan as of a named date, plus a per-diem after that date. Jay Zayer, CRMP, is a reverse mortgage specialist at reversemortgage.coach. The annual statement in 24 CFR 206.207 is a snapshot. It is not the figure an escrow officer can use.
Mabel, 71, occupies a house in Temecula, California and wanted to list next month. She forwarded last December’s statement to a realtor. Accrual had already moved the number. See payoff process for how funds actually post. Stay here for how to order the quote so that posting can happen.
A HECM is FHA-insured. A payoff letter is not a public appraisal.
What has to be in the request so the shop issues a usable quote?
The loan number. The property address. The reason — sale, refinance, full payoff from savings, or estate keep. A target closing date. Permission for escrow or an heir’s lender to receive a copy if that is the job. Send it the way the welcome letter instructs. Keep the confirmation.
Mabel’s unused line, if any, is not a credit on the payoff unless she draws it under the existing plan before closing. Origination net years ago landed in the mid-30s to low-50s of then-value, by age and expected rate. That origination model does not replace this request. Do not interpolate HUD rows.
Interest plus 0.50 percent annual MIP of outstanding balance still accrue through the good-through date (HUD Mortgagee Letter 2017-12). An adjustable HECM still uses 1-month CMT plus lender margin. Ask for the per-diem. If funds post after the good-through date, the quote is stale. Order an update.
I will not invent how many calendar days the servicers I board with currently take to issue an official quote. That turnaround is an overlay. Ask the shop when you write.
Who may request the statement, and who gets a refusal?
The borrower. A valid power of attorney. After death, the estate, executor, or successor trustee with papers. A realtor without authorization often gets a refusal. A child listed only as a trusted contact is a call list, not a payoff customer. See trusted contact.
A second geography: a 76-year-old in Prescott Valley, Arizona whose daughter wanted the quote “to shop lenders” while dad still occupied and had not authorized her. Arizona files still need borrower authority. 24 CFR 206.201 does not make a child the mortgagee.
Jay confirmed a LESA cannot be added to decorate a payoff. Unused LESA funds, if any, are a line the statement should explain. Ask how they apply. Do not assume they shave the quote dollar-for-dollar without reading it.
Upfront MIP of 2.00 percent of claim amount was already collected. It does not appear as a second charge on a payoff, and it does not come back as a rebate.
How is a payoff request different from a balance inquiry or a 1098?
A balance inquiry is curiosity. A 1098 is tax reporting in a year you paid interest. A payoff request is a figure an escrow can wire. Mixing them is how families under-wire a sale. See right to servicer information if you only need the unused line.
California Civil Code 1923.2(k) is not on this paper. Counseling at origination cost $125–$175 and lasted 180 days. Neither fact sizes the quote. The 2026 claim cap of $1,249,125 (HUD Mortgagee Letter 2025-22) does not cap accrual. Origination, once capped at $6,000 under 24 CFR 206.31, does not credit the payoff.
If Mabel dies before recording, heirs still repay the outstanding balance under 24 CFR 206.125(a)(2)(i) to keep Temecula. The same request process applies. The 95 percent figure is still the sale subsection, not this letter.
What if the quote arrives with fees I did not expect?
Ask the servicer to itemize: unpaid principal, accrued interest, unpaid MIP, recording or reconveyance estimates, and any servicing advances such as force-placed premiums or tax advances. Some line items are HUD-allowed. Some are shop fees you can question. I will not invent a HUD payoff-fee schedule. Get the breakdown in writing.
Mabel should not wire from a verbal “about” number. Per-diem exists because 1-month CMT plus margin plus 0.50 percent annual MIP still move. If a LESA or repair set-aside still holds dollars, ask whether those reduce the quote. Jay confirmed a LESA cannot be rewritten at payoff as a new product.
The 2026 claim cap of $1,249,125 (HUD Mortgagee Letter 2025-22) does not cap the quote. Counseling at origination cost $125–$175. Heirs requesting a keep payoff still use 24 CFR 206.125(a)(2)(i).
Who should not mail a screenshot of a statement and call that a payoff request?
This path does not help a household that forwards a PDF from 2024 and hopes the title company “knows it is close.” I work with multiple lenders. Their servicers issue dated quotes. Screenshots do not.
It does not help someone who orders the quote the morning of signing. Accrual and mail time exist. Order it when the listing goes live, then again if the good-through date will expire.
Request it in writing. Date the reply. Use that paper. The refrigerator magnet from closing is not a servicing system, and last year’s annual letter is not this year’s wire.