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New Reverse Mortgage Protections For Spouses

It used to be the non-borrowing spouse was simply out of luck. No more.

GREENSBORO, NC -- You spend a lifetime paying on your mortgage so you can own your house outright. But then you own your house, and you have no cash, now what? for some--the answer is a reverse mortgage.

The AARP defines a reverse mortgage as a loan you borrow against your home. You don't pay it back until you die or move. In the past, a big problem occurred when the homeowner died or moved to a nursing home--and the living spouse-- was left with no place to live, a big loan to pay or facing foreclosure.

The Federal Housing Administration is now putting into law more protections for the non-borrowing surviving spouses including delaying foreclosure until the surviving spouse dies.

"If you're in the situation now, see an attorney, especially if you're having difficulty, " advises Attorney Robert Lefkowitz. "You can potentially contact the AARP because I know they've been very active in this. And then the third thing is to just be very careful."

Be careful goes without saying, right? But in this case, we wanted to make sure you didn't miss it. Reverse mortgages, the new policies and all the paperwork is complicated-- and you're dealing with a whole lot of money.

The ONLY reverse mortgage insured by the U.S. Federal Government is called a Home Equity Conversion Mortgage or HECM. The government page has many resources for seniors and their families.

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