Because so many, including lawmakers, counselors, tv "experts" and government officials have portrayed RMs as 'loans of last resort,' many of the seniors who come to us come either too late for us to help them at all, or too late to help them without significant problem solving.

Reverse mortgages are not for every senior, but every homeowning senior should look at them as a significant planning tool for their retirement years before they get into financial hot water or health difficulties. And every financial planner should begin looking at them in that way as well. They are not a sugar pill for all that ails a senior homeowner or a magic pie in the sky problem solving way to get money out of your home provided by the genie of the federal government. They are highly regulated loans against the senior(s)' homes which do not require payments. But the longer a senior holds off at looking at RMs and informing themselves of this option because of the negative publicity that has been generated, the more risk there is the last resort may not be available to them when they need it.

Maybe all of us, from the government to those who continue to knock the reverse mortgage product to those in our industry who have continually fought changing their advertising tactics should take a step back and review what we can do in today's climate to calm the rhetoric and help these seniors who are finding the job climate harsh and the lending climate bleak. A one time $250 Social Security payment is surely not the best we can do.

jamesanelson,

Despite your horrible alias, once in awhile, you come up with a very good idea. Who knows more about Medicare issues than seniors.

An originator I know did a reverse for an FBI volunteer. That senior helps the FBI with fraud against seniors that crosses state lines. He has received many awards and has some interesting stories. The work keeps him invigorated, vital, and involved.

Having a core of trained working desks would free up field investigators. Great idea, jamesanelson. Sometimes you are a blowhard and then others....

@thecritic, can't you just give a compliment? :)

Anyways, I agree with James! Send the seniors to track down the fraud! The more I read about Medicare fraud, the more it makes me cringe.

Andrew,

Whenever anyone who uses an alias on this website challenges Mr. Nelson, he always attacks their use of an alias. It never once dawned on him, until I pointed it out, that jamesanelson is an alias just like The Critic is one.

Mr. Nelson enjoys pontificating with language that no Pope that I am aware of has ever been quoted as using. Once in awhile, however, he comes up with some terrific ideas.

Critics say positive things and negative things about what others do or say in the public arena. Unfortunately people make their public expressions in a manner that cause critics to write more negative than positive.

As big gov. expands, fraud investigation should be an employment growth area.

Too bad it is not automatically a required appropriation. For every new provision, there should be a required appropriation to investigate the fraud that will begin occuring shortly before passage.

Ah, then we would need a department to investigate the investigators.