HECM Principal Limit Factor Tables by Age and Interest Rate

HUD’s principal limit factor tables set the share of your home’s value you can tap with a Home Equity Conversion Mortgage, and they use two inputs to do it: the age of the youngest borrower or eligible non-borrowing spouse, and the expected interest rate at origination. At today’s rates, a 62-year-old might qualify for around 36% of home value while an 82-year-old under identical conditions could reach above 55%. Every FHA-approved lender pulls from the same HUD grid, so the same age and rate combination produces the same factor no matter who originates the loan.¹

How the Grid Is Built

Picture the PLF table as a large grid. Each row is a borrower age, running from 62 up through the 90s. Each column is an expected interest rate in eighth-point increments. Where your row and column meet, the table shows a decimal factor: 0.410, 0.493, 0.554, and so on. Multiply that factor by the Maximum Claim Amount and you get the gross Principal Limit, which is the total equity pool before any closing costs, insurance premiums, or existing mortgage payoffs come out of it.

Because every lender reads the same grid, there is no shopping around for a better factor at the same age and rate. Where lenders do compete is the margin they add to the index rate, and that margin feeds directly into which column of the table applies to you.

How Your Age Moves the Factor

You must be at least 62 to take out a HECM.² HUD then uses the age of the youngest borrower or eligible non-borrowing spouse at closing to look up the factor, not the oldest and not an average. That single age determines how long HUD assumes the loan will be outstanding. A 62-year-old is statistically likely to stay in the home for two decades or more, giving the balance a long runway to compound. An 82-year-old has a shorter expected occupancy, so the balance has less time to grow and less chance of exceeding the property’s future value.

The pattern shows up cleanly in HUD’s published grid. At an expected rate of 5.000%, a 62-year-old gets a factor of 0.410, meaning 41% of the Maximum Claim Amount. Each additional year nudges the factor up, and the increases accelerate in the upper age brackets.

At an expected rate of 5.875%, HUD’s tables produce these factors:p>

Age 62: 0.363 (36.3%)
Age 65: 0.384 (38.4%)
Age 70: 0.420 (42.0%)
Age 75: 0.449 (44.9%)
Age 80: 0.493 (49.3%)
Age 85: 0.554 (55.4%)
Age 90: 0.623 (62.3%)

The spread is wide. The 90-year-old’s factor is nearly double the 62-year-old’s. If you are a younger borrower and that gap feels punishing, an adjustable-rate HECM’s unused line of credit grows each month at the loan’s effective rate, so the lower starting percentage for younger borrowers is partially offset over time as the credit line compounds.¹

How the Interest Rate Moves the Factor

The second axis works in the opposite direction from age: higher rates produce lower factors. A higher rate means the balance compounds faster, so HUD limits the starting amount to reduce the odds of the debt overtaking the home’s value.

Adjustable-Rate HECMs

For an adjustable-rate HECM, HUD defines the expected interest rate as the 10-year Constant Maturity Treasury (CMT) yield plus the lender’s margin.³ The margin is a fixed spread the lender sets, typically between 1.5% and 3%, and it stays locked for the life of the loan. If the 10-year CMT sits at 4.0% and the lender’s margin is 2.0%, your expected rate is 6.0%, and the lender reads across the 6.000% column. A different lender offering a 1.75% margin would give you a 5.75% expected rate and a higher PLF. Comparing margins matters more than comparing advertised rates.

Fixed-Rate HECMs

Fixed-rate HECMs work differently. Because the rate never changes, the expected interest rate simply equals the note rate on the mortgage. Fixed-rate loans also restrict you to a single lump-sum disbursement at closing. There is no line of credit or monthly payment option.

The 3% Floor

HUD imposes a floor of 3.0% on the expected interest rate used to calculate the PLF.⁴ Even if treasury yields dropped so low that the expected rate calculated to 2.5%, HUD would still use 3.0% to look up the factor. The floor caps how generous the initial payout can become regardless of market conditions.

From Factor to Dollars: The Maximum Claim Amount

The PLF is a percentage, so it needs a dollar figure to multiply against. That figure is the Maximum Claim Amount, defined as the lesser of the home’s appraised value or the national FHA lending limit for HECMs.⁵ For 2026, that national limit is $1,249,125, a single ceiling that applies everywhere, including Alaska, Hawaii, Guam, and the U.S. Virgin Islands.⁶

If your home appraises at $600,000, the Maximum Claim Amount is $600,000. If it appraises at $1,400,000, the Maximum Claim Amount caps at $1,249,125 because the FHA will not insure beyond that ceiling. Every dollar of value above the limit goes unused in the HECM calculation.

Here is a full example. A 75-year-old borrower with a home appraised at $500,000 and an expected interest rate of 5.875%. The Maximum Claim Amount is $500,000, which is below the national limit. The PLF at age 75 and 5.875% is 0.449. Multiply $500,000 by 0.449 and the gross Principal Limit comes to $224,500. That is the total pool, but it is not the check the borrower receives.

What Actually Reaches You

Federal regulations require several costs to come out of the Principal Limit before you touch a dollar. HUD calls these mandatory obligations. They include the upfront mortgage insurance premium (currently 2% of the Maximum Claim Amount), the loan origination fee, the counseling fee, title insurance, the appraisal, recording fees, and any existing liens on the property that must be paid off at closing.⁷

Using the example above, the 2% upfront MIP on a $500,000 Maximum Claim Amount is $10,000. Add an origination fee, title costs, recording charges, and the appraisal, and you might see $15,000 to $20,000 deducted before factoring in any existing mortgage balance. If the borrower still owes $80,000 on a conventional mortgage, that payoff also comes out of the Principal Limit, leaving roughly $124,500 to $129,500 in net proceeds from the $224,500 gross figure. An ongoing annual mortgage insurance premium of 0.5% of the outstanding balance also accrues each year, compounding alongside interest.

The 60% First-Year Cap

Even after mandatory obligations are subtracted, you cannot necessarily access everything that is left right away. For adjustable-rate HECMs, HUD limits the amount you can draw at closing and during the first 12 months to the greater of 60% of the Principal Limit or the total of your mandatory obligations plus 10% of the Principal Limit.⁸ Any remaining funds sit in a line of credit that becomes accessible after the first anniversary of closing.

If your mandatory obligations are small, the 60% cap will be the binding constraint. If they are large, such as a big existing mortgage payoff, the mandatory-obligations-plus-10% formula kicks in and may allow more than 60% up front. The total initial disbursement can never exceed the full Principal Limit.⁷ Fixed-rate HECMs have no line of credit, so the whole disbursement happens at closing as a lump sum, and the 60% cap still applies to what you can receive.

Life Expectancy Set-Asides

Lenders must run a financial assessment before approving a HECM, evaluating your credit, income, cash flow, and residual income to determine whether you can keep up with property taxes, homeowners insurance, and HOA fees.⁷ If the assessment raises concerns, the lender can require a Life Expectancy Set-Aside, a chunk of your Principal Limit earmarked for future property charges.

The LESA is calculated as the present value of your projected property charges over the youngest borrower’s life expectancy, and it directly reduces the funds available to you.⁹ On a property with $6,000 in annual taxes and insurance, a LESA for a 70-year-old could easily run into five figures. That money stays in the loan to be disbursed to tax and insurance collectors on your behalf. You never see it as cash.

A Younger Non-Borrowing Spouse Lowers the Factor

Because HUD uses the youngest person’s age, having a younger non-borrowing spouse lowers the factor and reduces the payout. A 72-year-old borrower married to a 64-year-old non-borrowing spouse would have the factor calculated based on age 64, which can cut the gross Principal Limit by several percentage points.

That trade-off buys an important protection. If the borrowing spouse dies, an eligible non-borrowing spouse can remain in the home under a Deferral Period rather than facing immediate repayment. To qualify, the non-borrowing spouse must have been married to the borrower at closing, properly disclosed and named in the loan documents, and must have occupied the home as a principal residence continuously.¹⁰ A spouse who was not disclosed at origination cannot later become eligible for deferral, so getting the paperwork right up front matters even though it lowers the initial payout.

1
Consumer Financial Protection Bureau. Reverse Mortgages Key Terms
2
Consumer Financial Protection Bureau. Can Anyone Take Out a Reverse Mortgage Loan
3
eCFR. Title 24 CFR 206.3
4
U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development. HECM Calculator – Steps for Processing
5
U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development. Mortgagee Letter 2024-22 – 2025 Home Equity Conversion Mortgage (HECM) Limits
6
U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development. HUD Federal Housing Administration Announces 2026 Loan Limits
7
eCFR. Title 24 – Home Equity Conversion Mortgage Insurance, Part 206
8
U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development. Mortgagee Letter 2014-21
9
U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development. HECM Financial Assessment and Property Charge Guide
10
eCFR. 24 CFR 206.55 – Deferral of Due and Payable Status for Eligible Non-Borrowing Spouses