Are you a senior citizen that is struggling to cope with your monthly expenditure and bills due to a decrease in income? Or perhaps you know a senior citizen who could be in this predicament? If yes is your answer, one solution that you might want to consider is the reverse mortgage option  Reverse mortgage may be a foreign term to many, but it is one that may help eliminate all your cash flow complications in the later portion of your life, provided you do it right  Many senior citizens have utilized reverse mortgage as a valuable and effective tool to supplement retirement incomes, and you could be one of them as well! Nevertheless, you need to be confident that you first qualify for this solution, and that the reverse mortgage process is the option that you want to undertake to solve your cash woes  Senior reverse mortgage is basically a special loan that is only available to seniors against the equity of a home  The amount of equity in the home that you live in is converted into cash that would then be paid to you by a lender  The method of payment varies in accordance to your preference; you could opt for a lump sum payment, or the more common option of monthly payments  You could also opt to transform the equity into a line of credit that you could withdraw at any time convenient to you  It is advisable only to consider this option if you have completely paid off your home, or you only have a small balance that you owe to your lender when you consider reverse mortgage  To qualify in terms of legality, you need to be at least 62 years old to be able to take advantage of this opportunity  How much you can borrow is determined by factors such as your age, how much your home is actually worth and the current interest rate to name a few  Is it advisable to consider reverse mortgages for seniors? Let us look at the benefits and drawbacks of this solution first before we draw any conclusion, starting with the advantages  If you opt for the monthly payment option, you practically enhance your monthly cash flow immediately to supplement your current income  And if you have a traditional mortgage left that you have not paid off, you could probably settle that loan with the proceeds from your reverse mortgage  In accordance to the rules of reverse mortgage, you do not have to repay the money to your lender as long as you continue to physically live in the home  Your payments are postponed until you either pass away, or you sell the home to another party  You would also probably have to repay your lender if you fail to live in your home for a year at a stretch  The lender would usually not question you about what you are about to do with the cash that you obtain, thus you are free to spend it as you see appropriate  The senior would continue to keep ownership of the home as well  On the other hand, if you are looking to move out of your current home in the near future, the option of reverse mortgage might not be too appealing to you  This is due to the fact that you would have to repay the amount to your lender once you move out  Closing costs attached to reverse mortgages are considerably high as well, thus you might want to reconsider this option if you are planning to move out of your home in the next couple of years  And it is definitely not advisable if you are planning to invest the amount that you obtain from reverse mortgage into a risky investment venture  The loan amount is usually only a portion of the value of the home, thus you do not have the guarantee of being able to utilize all the equity that you own within the home  In a world where pensions and social security allowances no longer support a senior citizens daily expenditure, the option of reverse mortgages must certainly be seriously considered  $$$ Receive monthly payments as long as at least one borrower lives and continues to occupy the property as a principal residence  A borrower's heirs can also repay their lender by refinancing the loan or liquidating other assets  Lenders do not dictate how reverse mortgages are repaid; they only require that the funds are repaid in a reasonable amount of time  To allow one's children to inherit the family home, some borrowers also purchase life insurance policies that cover the balance of their reverse mortgage  While researching reverse mortgage information, seniors should look into the many different options their heirs will have for repaying their loan in the future  printingdigitalphoto com]reverse mortgage usa Many consumers also worry about tapping into their home equity too soon  Borrowing against ones equity is always a risk  To lessen this risk, consumers are urged to consider whether now is the right time to take a reverse mortgage  However, it is important to remember that todays low interest rates might not last forever  While seeking reverse mortgage information, consumers should carefully determine the best time to get a loan  A lot of reverse mortgage companies employ a really old trick in the book  Use a lot of complicated jargon and terms to confuse the client, and then slip in a clause or two about very high fees, interest rates and other such things  Don't ever put your signature on a contract that has even one part that you don't understand, and always, always, always read the fine print  A Few Prevalent Misunderstandings About Reverse Mortgages