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As I mentioned in my Reverse Mortgage Rumors post on Sunday, another major player in the jumbo reverse mortgage world, just bit the dust.

Though it has not yet hit the newsstands (or the company’s web site), it appears as though James B. Nutter and Company’s investor for their jumbo reverse mortgage product has pulled the plug. I know someone who had a jumbo loan in for review with them and, mysteriously, they were avoiding follow up phone calls. When they finally received word, they said that last week their investor bailed out and they were scrambling to find a new investor.

To date, however, they have apparently been unsuccessful in finding a new investor for their jumbo program.

James B. Nutter and Company claims to be the first reverse mortgage bank in United States to fund an FHA Reverse Mortgage. So while they’re far from the largest, I’m sure that they will continue to be a player in funding the Home Equity Conversion Mortgage (HECM) product. And they fund other types for FHA loans as well, so their business should continue in operation despite the loss of their jumbo reverse mortgage.

The loss of their jumbo reverse mortgage to the marketplace, however, is not a significant one. They program was not competitive. It had lower loan amounts and much higher fees than the Bank of America reverse mortgage, as well as Financial Freedom and the Countrywide reverse mortgage (jumbos).

Here is a good review of the top reverse mortgage programs including jumbo reverse mortgages.

With all the turmoil in the financial markets over credit concerns, it does not come as a surprise to me that even some reverse mortgage lenders are faltering.

It’s been rumored that EverBank Reverse Mortgage (formerly Bank of New York) is going to stop offering their groundbreaking fixed-rate jumbo reverse mortgage. It will be too bad if they go under because they filled a unique niche in the reverse mortgage business with their product, which sometimes offered significantly more cash than other jumbo reverse mortgage lenders. Perhaps that is one of the reasons that they may be finding themselves overextended.

There is also a rumor going around that another MAJOR reverse mortgage company is having problems connected to their proprietary reverse mortgage. As soon as I hear who it is, I’ll post about it.

The good news for borrowers is that even if your reverse mortgage is held by a lender that is having troubles, it is not likely to affect you. The feds or other banks always seem to step in and bail out a struggling lender. And reverse mortgages have historically been good investments from a banker’s perspective. So even if your reverse mortgage lender goes under, it’s almost certain that another bank will purchase your mortgage keep you whistling the no-mortgage-payment melody.