2.18.20 Reverse mortgages are disastrous; Fake high-interest bank accounts; Money-saving travel tips

Reverse mortgages have been a caller topic for Clark for 2 decades. When people are house rich and cash poor, reverse mortgage -wherein the mortgage company sends you a check every month while you still live in the home, appears to be a solution. Routinely Clark goes through a checklist to determine the severity of the financial situation, and warns of the high fees involved. USA Today investigated the industry, finding many bad players looking to steal people’s homes via foreclosures. This opened a floodgate of people confirming this was their experience. The reverse mortgage market has been dirty forever. Ads with trusted spokespersons lure people into this. There are situations where a reverse mortgage does make sense. But any legit lender has you go through independent third party financial counseling for evaluation to see if reverse mortgage really is appropriate. Have a knowledgeable family member or lawyer review any documents before signing up for a reverse mortgage because of thievery is so prevalent. Shame upon them. They know this is wrong and do not care. 

Special Warning: Ads in print and online for CDs with high interest rates are appearing. But they’re not really CDs and the rates of 4.5 to 5.5% aren’t that high historically. These are NOT CDs, NOT FDIC insured. Your money is at risk. This is a version of a promissory note and many people over the years have been burned by this. Some of these offerings are from crooks, others from fly by night outfits. In either case you can end up losing ALL the money.

Clark went into the travel agency business at age 25, sold out his chain of agencies at 31 and essentially retired. Circumstances brought him into broadcasting. The industry has changed greatly since he sold his agency in 1987. Travel is much more popular today, and we can book ourselves. But most of us travel infrequently and become bogged down in details when trying to plan travel. See our updated guide to make planning easier, the Clark Howard way. Barring work travel, Clark’s key rule is that everything is driven by finding a deal. By so doing, he has been to every continent except Antarctica. For those with wanderlust – there are so many deals! Follow the bargains, have to guts to go to new places and see the world. Follow deals so great you’ve got to buy them. That’s the Clark Howard way!

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