Comments about ‘Senior trap: Reverse mortgages can help or hurt older people’

My reason for declining a reverse mortgage years ago was after listening to all the talk, I judged it to be a scam to rob the American taxpayer. We seemed to have provided for our retirement adequately and had no need.

Now after years of supporting parts of my extended family, I will probably regret not joining in. Our home has been a source of income to help give us the good life, but now is very close to a zero equity situation. And our retirement saving my disappear before my wife and I.

If I had done as the financial advisor wanted, we would have missed out on the declining value of our home and had another income for life. When we did die, the home loan would be so high that the selling of the home would not pay it off. As a government guaranteed loan the government would pay and the bank would not suffer any loss.

I don’t understand why the government allows reverse mortgages to exist.

The absolute best advice is to get a modest home and get it paid for. Just taxes and insurance, along with maintenance is expensive enough that one doesn't need principal and interest payments on top of that. THEN----STAY OUT of debt---no "second mortgages," "reverse mortgages" etc. Wasn't it hard enough to pay off your home mortage in the first place? Why would you want to just give that back to some quick-talking mortage expert? Why get behind again? Quit looking at your house as an investment to be flipped or sold at will and look at it as a basic commodity that should only need to be purchased once. You'll sleep better at night if you do that (and have a place to sleep as well).

Appreciate this information. I've seen the ads on TV & contemplated reverse mortgage, but didn't really know what it entails or how it would work.

Read the fine print.

One more unregulated scam foisted on honest Americans by the One Percent and their friends.

Indignant about reverse home mortgages and blasé about the sovereign debt which is a national reverse mortgage. Go figure.

Owl????

Please explain.

old man,
which one percenter held a gun to anyone's head and forced them to sign away the equity in their home?

How long has BO been president and done nothing to stop it?

Tell me how the CFPB, set up under dudd-frank to protect consumers, has stopped this fleecing?

blaming it on the one percent is a PERFECT example of repeating DNC hate speech.

I agree these things are a scam, but when has it ever been good to remove personal responsibility from anyone? It appears from Ultra Bob's comment that he may have never let his extended family bear personal responsibility - I could be mistaken, but if he was continually bailing them out, perhaps he was facilitating poor behavior rather than helping?? I could very well be reading waaaayy too much into his comment.