Thursday, March 27, 2014
The new mortgage scam comes to fruition.
Everybody has seen the ads of famous geezers, including a notorious ex-Senator, peddling the latest bad idea to other geezers as a way to stay in their homes. Reverse mortgages are supposed to give you the money you need and not come due until you die. There are some other rules , but these are not always being honored by the latest gang of dishonest banksters.
Similar scenes are being played out throughout an aging America, where the children of elderly borrowers are learning that their parents’ reverse mortgages are now threatening their own inheritances. Reverse mortgages, which allow homeowners 62 and older to borrow money against the value of their homes that need not be paid back until they move out or die, have long posed pitfalls for older borrowers.Reverse mortgages do have a place, for a very small number of retirees, but if you want to make money, you need a lot more than that. After all, the prize is a home probably worth more than the mortgage and heirs who have no clue. And if that geezer ex-Senator wasn't clue enough, he was touting a company that was sanctioned and prohibited from doing business in several states for their sleazy practices. But The Fonze and Robert Wagner are so good looking, how could anything go wrong.
Now many like Ms. Santos are discovering that reverse mortgages can also come up with a harsh sting for their heirs.
Under federal rules, survivors are supposed to be offered the option to settle the loan for a percentage of the full amount. Instead, reverse mortgage companies are increasingly threatening to foreclose unless heirs pay the mortgages in full, according to interviews with more than four dozen housing counselors, state regulators and 25 families whose elderly parents took out reverse mortgages.
Some lenders are moving to foreclose just weeks after the borrower dies, many families say. The complaints are echoed by borrowers across the country, according to a review of federal and state court lawsuits against reverse mortgage lenders.
Others say that they don’t get that far. Soon after their parents die, the heirs say they are plunged into a bureaucratic maze as they try to get lenders to provide them with details about how to keep their family homes.
Comments:
<< Home
I'm so glad you posted this, those obnoxious ads have been getting more and more frequent. That ex-Senator never impressed me, the Fonz did literally jump the shark, and I think Robert Wagner is skeevy. But I fear my feelings are the minority; I've heard of widows tossed into the streets within a month of the man of the reverse-mortgaged house dying.
Subscribe to Post Comments [Atom]
<< Home
Subscribe to Posts [Atom]
Post a Comment