The reverse-mortgage business has operated in a kind of parallel universe for a long time. I know, because I’ve spent decades helping seniors access the equity in their homes with these products.
The fundamentals are sound, the value to older homeowners is clear, and the need continues to grow, but structurally, the reverse market has lived outside the data standards, technology ecosystems, and workflow frameworks that power the forward side of the business.
For years, that lack of alignment has held reverse mortgages back from becoming the mainstream product so many of us know they can be.
That’s why May 28, 2025, was such an important moment in our industry’s history.
On that date, MISMO officially released the first standardized reverse mortgage data set, marking a milestone that reverse lenders had been anticipating for more than a decade.
For the first time, reverse data now lives inside the same model that governs conventional and government lending.
The implications are enormous: cleaner data, more consistent integrations, and a foundation for the kind of operational consistency that lenders and investors expect.
And MISMO isn’t stopping there.
What’s Next for Reverse Mortgage Standards
The organization has already signaled that additional reference-model updates impacting reverse mortgages are on track for early 2026, expanding this foundation so that lenders can support not only origination data, but the full lifecycle of a reverse loan, from underwriting to servicing to secondary-market execution.
The MISMO Reference Model includes an XML schema representation of the data and relationships that support industry business processes; a corresponding YAML file set that confirms to the OpenAPI specification; the logical data dictionary (LDD) which provides a business centric view of the model; a Unique ID Matrix that can be leveraged to streamline impact analysis and to accelerate implementation efforts; and more.
This momentum is exactly what the reverse community has been waiting for.
What makes this especially meaningful is that these standards directly address two of the reverse mortgage industry’s longest-running pain points: data portability and system integration.
The lack of standardized fields, naming conventions, and workflow definitions has forced lenders to build custom bridges into their LOS, pricing engines, document systems, and servicing platforms. Every integration has been a one-off. Every new vendor requires translation work. Every system change feels more complicated than it should.
Now, for the first time, the path forward is clear.
Building Needed Structure Into an Important Business
Standardization brings structure, which brings consistency, which brings trust. As I’ve said before, most recently to HousingWire: these new standards “would go a long way to ‘mainstream’ the reverse mortgage products.”
That’s not just a hope; it’s a practical outcome when the industry finally shares a common language.
I’ve had a front-row seat to this evolution as chair of MISMO’s Reverse Mortgage Workgroup, where a deeply committed team, made up of lenders, servicers, technologists, and industry partners, has spent months working through the details.
I’ve been impressed not only by the expertise in the room, but by the shared belief that reverse mortgages deserve a seat at the same table as forward lending. When leaders from both sectors can sit together, debate real-world challenges, and design shared standards, the entire industry benefits.
At Mortgage Cadence, this alignment feels natural because it has always been part of our DNA. Our platform is unique in that it supports both forward and reverse lending, which means we’ve long recognized the need for unified data structures, automated compliance, consistent workflows, and tightly integrated systems.
The arrival of MISMO’s new standards only strengthens the foundation we’ve already built. It allows us to map data more cleanly, streamline integrations, improve portability, and ensure that our users can operate confidently on both sides of the mortgage business.
But the significance goes way beyond technology. As the reverse market grows, and as more forward lenders consider entering the space, they’re looking for simplicity, clarity, and consistency. They want a product that feels familiar. They want processes that connect seamlessly to their existing tech stack. And they want assurances that reverse lending won’t require a small army of specialists just to stay compliant.
MISMO’s work is removing those barriers. It’s helping reverse lending shed the “niche” label and move into the mainstream where it belongs. And with the next set of standards already in development for early 2026, the momentum is only accelerating.
For lenders, this is the moment to take another look at reverse. The tools are better. The data is cleaner. The systems finally speak the same language. And the path to adoption has never been clearer. Want to learn more? Contact Mortgage Cadence today.
By George Morales, National Sales Director at Mortgage Cadence
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