Ric Romero from ABC 7, Los Angeles, CA recently ran a segment on how Reverse Mortgages could ruin your finance. According to Romero, the story is based on its investigation into reverse mortgages with Consumer Reports.
The report tells a sad story about 83 year old Arlene Schwemmer, who is no longer able to live on her own and has had to move. She’s devastated that she’ll get nothing from the sale of the home she shared with her late husband for 49 years.
Its not clear why she has to move, but Arlene’s daughter blames the reverse mortgage on a broker who reportedly persuaded her parents to take out the loan years ago and feels that the terms of the loan were complicated and hard to decipher.
"The decision on the reverse mortgage was one of the worst decisions I think my folks had ever made. It was tragic," said Diane Zaugg, Arlene’s daughter. I’d like to ask the daughter where was she when they decided that they needed to take out the reverse mortgage?
She also said the broker steered her parents into a poor investment, and Arlene has seen little of the money.
What’s frustrating about the segment is that the reverse mortgage is seen as the instrument for causing her to move out of the home. As we all know, a reverse mortgage does the exact opposite.
This segment is starting to pop up on local media outlets across the country, so don’t be surprised if it shows up on your local media station soon.
