Jumbo Reverse Mortgage 2026: Rates, $4M Limits & HECM Comparison

I have originated jumbo and proprietary reverse mortgages since these programs reappeared in the years following the 2008 crash, and I still find that most of what borrowers hear about them before they call me is incomplete.  Most consumer content treats these loans as one simple idea: your home is worth more than the HECM allows, so here is the bigger loan for you. That is true for some borrowers, and it is the entire story for almost none of them.

The reality I see across real files is more layered.  Home value matters, but so does age, so does household composition, so does how much of the loan a borrower plans to use versus what they qualify for on paper. Some of what makes proprietary loans a better fit has nothing to do with the size of a home at all, and some of what makes them a worse fit is rarely mentioned anywhere.

What follows is not a product brochure. It is what I actually tell borrowers, the questions that decide the outcome more than the headline numbers do, and the places where a proprietary loan genuinely falls short of a HECM, not just where it wins.

When the HECM Ceiling Is the Wrong Question

Every week I talk to borrowers about proprietary reverse mortgages, and no two conversations start from the same place.

Some borrowers have already done the math. They know the HECM has a maximum claim amount of $1,249,125 (as of 2026), they own a home worth $2,000,000 or more, and they call in already asking for a jumbo. They found out about the FHA limit themselves and ruled out the HECM before we ever spoke.

Others land somewhere entirely different. Their home value sits somewhere close to the FHA maximum claim amount, above it or below it, and they have not done enough research to know which program suits their wants and needs. They are trusting me to lay out every option, not just the one that closes fastest. I think that is the job. A lot of loan officers stop at the HECM because it is the program they are most familiar with, and I do not think that serves the borrower.

Plenty of borrowers arrive somewhere in between those two examples, or driven by something else entirely. What decides it is rarely the home value alone. Some borrowers care most about keeping the interest rate low because they want to leave as much equity as possible to their children. Others have no heirs and simply want to know how much money lands in their pocket. Some are turned off the moment they see the FHA mortgage insurance premium, which runs 2% of the property value or the maximum claim amount, whichever is less. None of these people are wrong; they just want different things from the same equity, and there is no single typical proprietary borrower.

For the borrowers who do want to start with the math, here is where proprietary loan-to-value percentages stand by age, with example loan amounts at three home values:

Why “Proprietary” Is the More Honest Name

The name jumbo comes from when these loans were only available on homes worth more than the HECM limit in effect at any given time. For years that was the whole point of the programs, and it is not true anymore. A lot of consumer content still treats jumbo as strictly a high-value home product, and that has not been accurate for some time.

Today proprietary or non-FHA reverse mortgages are available on homes below the FHA limit too, and the reason has less to do with home value and more to do with underwriting flexibility.

Take a condominium. To get a HECM on a condo, the project has to be FHA approved, and that approval process takes real time and real money. Plenty of projects never get there for one reason or another. Proprietary programs run a simpler, faster approval process on the project itself, and they will often approve a condo that HUD would not. A condo owner who never cared about exceeding any lending limit at all can end up needing a proprietary loan for this reason alone.

The Age Question

Home value is not the only place proprietary programs diverge from the HECM. A borrower’s age is a major factor in reverse mortgage eligibility, and proprietary reverse mortgages permit younger borrowers than the HECM does in most states.

The HECM has one minimum age to be an eligible borrower, and that is 62. It is universal: every state and every lender in the country uses that same number, because it is set by HUD.

Proprietary programs are not bound by a single national minimum. Depending on the state and the specific program, the minimum age can go as low as 55, opening these loans to a segment of homeowners the HECM cannot serve at all. Some borrowers end up in a proprietary loan for this reason alone, with no connection to the FHA limit or a property that would not otherwise qualify. They are simply not old enough for a HECM yet.

This varies considerably by state, so it is not a blanket rule. Washington sets a higher minimum age of 60, and Texas requires 62, the same as the HECM. Not every proprietary program is even available in every state to begin with, since these are private products and each state has different regulations governing them. The HECM, by contrast, is available in every state.

The practical takeaway is simple: if you are between 55 and 61 and interested in a reverse mortgage, do not assume you are automatically excluded because of what is required for a HECM loan.

Where Proprietary Loans Fall Short: Non-Borrowing Spouses

Not every difference between these two programs favors the proprietary option, and this is the one I want borrowers to understand clearly before they sign anything.

On a HECM, an eligible non-borrowing spouse, meaning a spouse who is not on the loan as a borrower but resides in the property, has a federally protected deferral option. If the borrowing spouse dies or leaves the home permanently, an eligible non-borrowing spouse can remain in the home and defer the loan becoming due and payable, provided they continue to meet the occupancy and other requirements. HUD built this protection into the HECM program directly.

Proprietary loans do not offer the same deferral option. If the borrowing spouse dies or leaves the home, the loan becomes due and payable, and any non-borrowing spouse will not have the same right to remain in the home that they would have had on a HECM. This means they would have to consider paying off the mortgage, either by refinancing or using other funds, or selling the property. Different proprietary products have different requirements for when a non-borrowing spouse is permitted, and for some scenarios a non-borrowing spouse is not permitted at all.

This matters most for couples where one spouse does not meet the age requirement, and it deserves a real conversation before choosing a program, not an assumption that the protections work the same way as a HECM. If a non-borrowing spouse situation applies to you, this is one of the more important reasons to review the specific terms of any proprietary program you are considering, and to weigh it seriously against a HECM even if the proprietary loan otherwise offers more proceeds.

Rate, Cost, and How You Access the Money

Interest rates on both HECM and proprietary loans move constantly, sometimes daily, so treat any specific rate mentioned here as a snapshot rather than a promise. As a general rule, proprietary loans carry higher interest rates than a HECM. Closing costs can go the other direction: proprietary loans sometimes carry lower total costs since there is no FHA mortgage insurance premium, though that is not guaranteed either. It depends on current market conditions and which rate option, fixed or adjustable, a borrower chooses. The only way to know the real numbers for your situation is to compare actual quotes at the time you are ready to move forward, not a table published months earlier.

Here is where jumbo rates stand as of today; this table updates as the market moves:

And here is a real side-by-side of settlement costs, based on a $1,500,000 home and a 75-year-old borrower:

Expert Insight from Michael Branson, CEO: “Look at the closing cost comparison above. On a $1.5 million home, the jumbo borrower saves over $24,000 just by not paying FHA mortgage insurance. That’s real money back in your pocket on day one, and you’re still protected by the same non-recourse feature, so neither you nor your heirs will ever owe more than the home’s value when it sells.”

How you access the money depends less on which program you choose and more on which rate option you choose. A fixed rate reverse mortgage, whether HECM or proprietary, is a closed-end loan, meaning it must be taken entirely as a lump sum at closing with no future draws available. A line of credit reverse mortgage, whether HECM or proprietary, is open-ended, meaning funds remain available to draw over time.

Where the two programs differ is in the details of that line of credit, and it is a good idea to confirm these specifics at the time you apply since they are subject to change. As of this writing, proprietary line of credit products typically come with a 10-year draw window, while a HECM line of credit has no such limit. The growth rate on a proprietary line of credit is typically limited to 1.5% for the first 7 years, compared to a HECM line of credit, which grows at the note rate plus the current mortgage insurance renewal rate of 0.50% for as long as the line remains open. Proprietary line of credit loans also generally require a mandatory minimum initial draw at closing, currently 25% of the principal limit the borrower is eligible for, a requirement the HECM line of credit does not share.

None of these differences make one option automatically better. They mean the line of credit feature is not identical across programs, and a borrower drawn to a proprietary loan specifically for the line of credit should understand exactly how that credit line behaves before assuming it works the same way a HECM does.

The Qualification Advantage Nobody Talks About

Here is a difference that changes outcomes as much as anything else in this article, and it has nothing to do with home value at all.

All reverse mortgages, HECM and proprietary alike, qualify borrowers through a residual income analysis rather than the debt-to-income ratio used on traditional loans, and both programs require the borrower to meet a residual income threshold. Where they differ is what you are allowed to do to get there. On a HECM, you cannot use loan proceeds to pay off consumer debt in order to meet that residual income requirement. If a borrower is carrying too much revolving debt, that alone can sink a HECM approval, full stop.

On a proprietary loan, you can pay off consumer debt at closing to meet the residual income requirement.

I see this play out constantly with my own loan officers. They bring me a file where the borrower is not qualifying for a HECM, and it frequently comes back to residual income. A borrower on a fixed income carrying credit card debt at high interest rates is often barely covering the minimum payment, which does nothing to bring the balance down. This is exactly the borrower a proprietary loan can rescue, because paying off that debt through closing can be the difference between a denial and real, life-changing payment relief.

A Word on Property Eligibility

Like any reverse mortgage, proprietary loans require the property to be your primary residence, and as the homeowner you are responsible for the timely payment of property taxes, homeowners insurance premiums, and HOA dues (if any), as well as the overall upkeep of your home.

With proprietary loans, eligible property types vary from product to product, though there is a lot of overlap with FHA property guidelines. One property type worth flagging specifically is manufactured homes. Manufactured homes are not eligible for any proprietary loan products at this time; if your home is a manufactured home, the HECM program is your only option. Proprietary products also tend to be stricter when it comes to rural properties and will sometimes limit the acreage permissible on any given product. If your home is on a large acreage parcel, 20 acres or more, raise that right away to confirm your home would be eligible for the product you are interested in.

When More Money Available Is Not the Same as More Money Needed

Borrowers bring me a scenario like this often enough that it says more about human nature than it does about either loan program.

A borrower comes to me with a $3,000,000 home, owned free and clear. There is no mortgage to pay off and no urgent need for cash today. A proprietary loan on that property will produce meaningfully more in proceeds than a HECM ever could, because the HECM formula is capped against the maximum claim amount in effect at the time, regardless of how much the home is worth.

The bigger figure gets attention, and I understand why. But I have watched it become the entire conversation, when the real question has nothing to do with how much a borrower could access and everything to do with how much they will actually use. A free and clear homeowner without an urgent need is not obligated to take the largest loan available just because it exists.

Plenty of these borrowers choose the HECM instead and draw the line of credit only as needed. If that need never grows beyond what the HECM provides, they may never touch a proprietary loan at all, and they will have avoided accruing interest on proceeds they never used. The HECM line of credit also carries a federally guaranteed growth feature, and that is worth weighing against the proprietary alternative when a borrower is not in a hurry to draw funds.

The proprietary loan is not the wrong choice here. It is a choice that deserves more thought than the size of the loan alone. If the borrower’s plans genuinely call for more than the HECM can offer, the proprietary loan is exactly the right tool. My point to these clients is simply that a bigger available balance is not the same thing as a bigger need, and the two get confused more often than people realize.

What surprises people is what happens if a borrower starts on a HECM and later finds their need has grown. They are not locked out of the proprietary option at that point. Refinancing from a HECM into a proprietary loan, as of this writing, is available as a path to access additional equity once the HECM line of credit has been substantially drawn. That refinance requires a seasoning period, typically one year from the closing of the original HECM, along with a demonstrated financial benefit to the borrower. Neither requirement is unique to this scenario; the same seasoning period and benefit test apply when refinancing a HECM into a new HECM, so proprietary programs are not imposing some extra hurdle here. It is the standard the industry applies any time a reverse mortgage is refinanced. This sequence lets a borrower delay a higher accruing balance during the years they do not need it, while leaving the door open if their circumstances change.

Neither program is objectively better on a $3,000,000 home. The right one depends on whether the borrower is solving for today or planning for a need that has not shown up yet, and on being honest with themselves about which one they are doing.

Choosing the Program That Fits, Not the One That Sounds Biggest

After all of this, the question I get most often is still some version of “which one is better.” I understand why people ask it that way. It would be easier if there were a single right answer.

There is not, and I hope that is clear by now rather than frustrating. A HECM and a proprietary reverse mortgage are not a smaller version and a bigger version of the same loan. They are built for different situations, and the borrower who benefits most from one is not necessarily the borrower who benefits most from the other. Age can decide it before value ever comes up. A non-borrowing spouse can decide it regardless of how much a home is worth. A borrower’s real need for cash today, rather than the largest figure available on paper, can decide it too.

If you want the differences in one place, here is the side-by-side:

What I ask every borrower to do, and what I would ask you to do, is be honest about your own situation before you get attached to a program. Do you actually need more than a HECM can offer, or are you drawn to a larger balance you may never use? Does your age, your property, or your household situation rule one option out before the comparison even matters? Are you solving a problem you have today, or planning for one that has not shown up yet?

A rate table or a calculator cannot answer those questions for you, and I cannot fully answer them in an article either. They take an actual conversation, with someone willing to walk through your specific numbers, your specific property, and your specific goals, and willing to tell you plainly if the loan you called about is not the right fit for your situation.

That is the conversation I have with borrowers every week, and it is the one I would have with you.

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