Help for senior friend
My friend Sondra is 82 years old. She is in a condo with a mortgage remaining around 85K. I think the value of her place is well into 200K.
She is drowning in credit card debt….Target is taking her to court and will start garnishing her wages.
She has to work to cover her expenses.
I want her to get a reverse mortgage and get on credit counseling.
Is a reverse mortgage a good idea ? I told her to ask her mortgage lender if they will offer that for her.
She’s never missed or been late on that payment.
I’ve helped her as much as I can but it’s beyond what I can help with.
She doesn’t have a computer.
I’m not much help of steering her into the right way to go.
Any help will be greatly appreciated.
Her friend Kathryn
Terry Says
OK, I will give you two resources. The first thing she should do is contact the National Foundation for Credit Counseling at 800-388-2227. That will connect her to the nearest local agency of this non-profit. You can trust them. I suggest you join her, much as you would go with her to a doctor appt.
Second, or maybe even first, contact David Hochberg, my mortgage expert, at david@56david.com. Please do use my name, and give him all this information. Frankly, I’m not sure she could even do a reverse mortgage with such a large existing mortgage. But David will tell you right away. When I post this, I’ll send him a link to this answer.
Third, this is an insane situation for an 82 year old woman. Trust the credit counselor, but let me give you a couple of ideas.
First, she could sell the condo and put the money in the bank — and rent a smaller, rent reduced senior living apartment.
Second, if she has two bedrooms, she could work through her church to find another woman in similar situation to rent a room — and use that money to pay down her debt.
I really feel for women in this situation. Please do write back and let me know what happens. And thank you for being such a good friend.
