Trump Treasury pick Steven Mnuchin has a 'widow foreclosure' problem

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Trump Treasury pick Steven Mnuchin has a 'widow foreclosure' problem

Reverse mortgages are advertised as a way for elderly homeowners to get the cash they need and stay in their homes for the rest of their lives.

They don't have to make payments as long as they live in the home, so few ever worry about foreclosure.

But a bank formerly run by Steven Mnuchin, President-elect Donald Trump's nominee for treasury secretary, has a record of aggressively foreclosing on these homeowners, according to some borrowers and fair housing advocates.

The practice is known as a "widow foreclosure," and it was far more common at Mnuchin's bank than at other lenders, according to housing rights advocates.

http://money.cnn.com/2016/12/15/news/companies/mnuchin-reverse-mortgage-foreclosure/index.html

Widow Foreclosures

The primary and most obvious drawback to reverse mortgages is that (for married couples), usually only one spouse is listed as the "borrower" on reverse mortgage documents. And typically, that spouse is the older of the two partners. From the bank's perspective, the older partner is more likely to pass away first, which means the bank obtains that property more quickly.Putting aside for a second the ethical implications of that scenario, this also creates an even larger problem. Often times, especially in regards to older couples from earlier generations, only one spouse handles the finances and bills. Frequently, that spouse is the older spouse, and the one that passes away first. This means that every year, thousands of widows find themselves reeling when they receive a foreclosure notice mere days after their partner passes away. This, in a nutshell, is a widow foreclosure.

http://www.jtlegalgroup.com/reverse-mortgage-widow-foreclosures/