Al OLLER

A social worker counseling a senior called me recently and asked what impact a Reverse Mortgage would have on the senior's ability to obtain local and county aid. Typically a RM will have no effect on federal benefits, however local, county or state social benefits(food stamps,utilities aid,etc.) may be affected. It pays to ask the question. Anyway....here is what I was able to find on that subject and I found it through the Source: AARP Foundation Reverse Mortgage Education Project | November 2008. There was no copyright on this article, so I hope I'm safe in presenting it.

Taxes, Estates, and Public Benefits

Reverse mortgages may have tax consequences, affect eligibility for assistance under Federal and State programs, and have an impact on the estate and heirs of the homeowner.

An American Bar Association guide states that generally "the IRS does not consider loan advances to be income." The guide explains that if you receive SSI, Medicaid, or other public benefits loan advances are counted as "liquid assets" if you keep them in an account past the end of the calendar month in which you receive them. If you do, you could lose your eligibility for these programs if your total liquid assets (for example, money you have in savings and checking accounts) are greater than these programs allow.

A question of Reverse Mortgages?

Why are Reverse Mortgages called reverse mortgages? While this may seem like a very simple question, the various answers one gets sometimes cause more confusion than necessary. So here is my definition of a Reverse Mortgage:

These mortgages work just the reverse of regular or "forward" mortgages. Under a traditional (or forward) mortgage, an individual borrows money to buy a house and makes periodic loan payments to a lender. Under a reverse mortgage, a homeowner borrows against the equity in their house and receives money from a lender. The financial results also are the reverse of a regular mortgage: with a regular mortgage your debt decreases and your home equity rises as loan payments are made; with a reverse mortgage, your debt increases and equity declines over the life of the loan.