“There’s still a dark cloud over HECMs,” said Michael Banner, a long-time advocate of reverse mortgages who has a CE-accredited business devoted to teaching financial advisors about HECMs.

Last week we focused on the HECM product, and how it became less generous after the financial crisis. This week we examine the role of the banks—large ones and smaller ones—and their roles (or former roles) in the distribution of HECMs.

The DOL may have put a crimp in the sales of the hot-selling but controversial annuity product when, without specific warning, it raised the regulatory bar for the sale of fixed indexed annuities. (This article is free today.)

With so many Boomers retiring with low average savings but high average home equity, demand for government-insured reverse mortgages, or HECMs, should be growing. Instead, it's shrinking. Here's why.