How much money can you get from a reverse mortgage? Calculate it
How much money you can get from a reverse mortgage: enter age and home value for a HECM principal-limit estimate, the formula, and a worked example.
How much a reverse mortgage will pay out is the borrower's HECM principal limit: the lesser of home value or the 2026 FHA lending limit of $1,249,125 (HUD ML 2025-22), multiplied by the Principal Limit Factor for the youngest borrower's age and expected rate (HUD PLF table, ML 2017-12), minus closing costs and the 2% upfront FHA mortgage insurance premium. Enter your age and home value. No personal information required. The result is an estimate of the HECM principal limit: the most a federally insured reverse mortgage would let you borrow against the home, before closing costs and mortgage insurance.
- Net at closing
- $230,350 after upfront costs
- PLF applied
- 0.389 at 6.6% expected rate
- Home value used
- $650,000
- Upfront costs
- $22,500 (orig + 2% MIP + closing)
Range pending. Jumbo parameters are loaded at build time from each lender's published parameter sheet. The bounded range is wired in Phase D.
Why a range, not a number? Jumbo parameters are lender-set, not federal. A single dollar figure would imply a precision the underlying data does not support. Source: HomeSafe (Finance of America) · Platinum Preserve (Longbridge) · SecureEquity+ (Mutual of Omaha) published parameter sheets. Last verified 2026-05-20.
What does the number mean?
The figure above is the principal limit: the maximum the HECM program would let a borrower of this age, at this home value, draw against the home over the life of the loan. It is the starting figure, not the cash a borrower receives at closing. Closing costs, upfront mortgage insurance (currently 2.0% of the maximum claim amount), and any existing mortgage payoff come out of the principal limit before disbursement.
A worked example. A 70-year-old borrower with a $500,000 home, at a 6.0% expected rate (currently typical given 10Y CMT at 4.59% as of the May 15, 2026 Federal Reserve H.15 release plus a 1.5% lender margin), looks up the HUD principal limit factor for age 70 at expected rate 6.0% (roughly 0.45) and multiplies by the maximum claim amount of $500,000. The principal limit comes to approximately $225,000. The actual figure depends on the exact PLF cell HUD has live and the lender's margin. The methodology page walks through the lookup: how this number is calculated.
Why your number might be different from a neighbor's
Two borrowers with the same age and similar home values can see noticeably different principal limits, and the reasons trace to four variables. Age of the youngest borrower is the biggest single driver: the PLF curve climbs sharply from age 62 to age 85, so a 75-year-old gets a meaningfully higher percentage of the home's value than a 62-year-old at the same expected rate. The expected rate matters because HUD's PLF table indexes both age and rate; a borrower locking in at a lower rate gets a higher PLF cell, and HUD's 3.0% floor caps the benefit at the low end. The FHA HECM lending limit applies as a ceiling: a $2.5 million home and a $1.5 million home produce the same maximum claim amount, $1,249,125, the 2026 limit set by HUD Mortgagee Letter 2025-22. And eligibility itself sets the floor before any number applies: the home must be the borrower's primary residence, the borrower must be at least 62, and the property must meet FHA standards. The plain-language eligibility checklist lives at reverse-mortgage requirements.
There is no minimum equity threshold for a HECM. The principal limit is calculated against the maximum claim amount, not against the borrower's equity. A borrower with an existing forward mortgage applies the principal limit first to pay off that mortgage, with any remainder available as proceeds. If the existing mortgage balance is larger than the principal limit, the HECM cannot close. That is the practical equity test: enough equity that the principal limit covers the existing payoff with room left over.
The calculator does not ask for four inputs that also move the disbursement. Lender margin: the expected rate is 10Y CMT plus the lender's margin, currently around 1.75% to 3.25%; a higher margin shifts the PLF lookup and reduces the principal limit. Mortgage insurance premium: FHA charges 2.0% of the maximum claim amount upfront and 0.5% annually on the outstanding balance, and upfront MIP comes off the principal limit at closing. Closing costs: origination, third-party closing, recording fees, and state taxes vary by lender and state. Existing mortgage payoff, as above. For a binding number, a HUD-approved counseling session (required before any HECM closes) and a lender quote are the next two steps.
How our numbers work
The calculator pulls the current HUD principal-limit factor table at build time, uses the daily 10-year Treasury Constant Maturity rate from the Federal Reserve's H.15 release for the expected-rate input, applies HUD's 3.0% expected-rate floor where it binds, and caps the maximum claim amount at $1,249,125 for FHA case numbers assigned on or after January 1, 2026. The full formula, the data sources, and what the calculator does not estimate live on the methodology page.
See methodologyFrequently asked questions
Is this calculator accurate?
Within the inputs it asks for, yes; it applies the same PLF lookup the lender's underwriting system uses. The variance from a lender quote comes from the inputs it does not collect: the lender's specific margin, exact closing costs in the borrower's state, and any existing mortgage payoff.
Why don't you ask for my SSN or email?
The calculator returns the principal-limit estimate without any input that would identify the borrower. The federal formula needs only age and maximum claim amount; nothing else changes the lookup. Skipping the form is the design choice.
What's the most I can borrow with a HECM?
The principal limit is the most. For 2026, it is capped by the federal HECM lending limit of $1,249,125 (HUD Mortgagee Letter 2025-22) and the PLF table cell for the borrower's age and expected rate. At a $1,249,125 maximum claim amount, an 85-year-old at a 5.0% expected rate is looking at a PLF in the 0.65 range and a principal limit near $810,000. Borrowers with home values above the federal limit who want a higher principal limit move into jumbo (proprietary) territory; see jumbo reverse mortgages for the bounded-range math.
What is the principal limit factor (PLF)?
A decimal between roughly 0.20 and 0.75 that HUD publishes by age and expected rate. The PLF times the maximum claim amount equals the principal limit. HUD hosts the current table at hud.gov/program_offices/housing/sfh/hecm/rmtopten.
Where does the 3.0% floor come from?
HUD's PLF table treats any expected rate below 3.0% as if it were 3.0%, holding the principal limit constant in that range. The floor was lowered from 5.0% to 3.0% in the PLF tables issued under HUD Mortgagee Letter 2017-12.
Do I have to qualify based on income or credit?
HECM has a financial assessment, not a traditional income-and-credit underwrite. The lender confirms the borrower can meet the ongoing property charges (taxes, insurance, maintenance). Default on those charges is the most common cause of HECM termination outside of move-out or death. See reverse-mortgage requirements for the full checklist.
Next step: compare reverse-mortgage programs for the parameter cards on each lender, or read the methodology if the number above needs more context.
Last reviewed
Sources
- HUD, HECM Principal Limit Factor tables,
hud.gov/program_offices/housing/sfh/hecm/rmtopten - HUD Mortgagee Letter 2025-22, "2026 Nationwide HECM Limits Effective January 1, 2026"
- HUD Mortgagee Letter 2017-12, HECM PLF tables and the 3.0% expected-rate floor
- Federal Reserve H.15 Selected Interest Rates, 10-Year Treasury Constant Maturity, release of May 15, 2026