Reverse mortgages continue to be a hot topic in the mainstream media ever since the Office of the Comptroller of the Currency’s John Dugan expressed his concern about reverse mortgages at the American Bankers Association’s Regulatory Compliance Conference. Earlier this week, the coverage continued with both the CBS Early Show and NBC’s Today Show airing segments on reverse mortgages.
During the CBS segment, Julie Chen spoke with Vera Gibbons about when it’s a good idea to use a reverse mortgage. Despite being called a Loan of Last Resort, it was pretty positive.
On NBC, Ann Curry speaks with real estate agent Barbara Corcoran who shares tips for people considering a reverse mortgage in these tough economic times. I’d say that this one was less positive than CBS due to Ms. Corcoran’s statement:
It’s very expensive on the front end, it used to be a total ripoff that lenders were doing to older people. Today, its been limited by the federal government as to how much of a ripoff it can be.
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I understand these type of segments are never going to be perfect and even with a few negative comments from people, I still think it’s good for the industry because it increases awareness. What do you think?