Love Them or Loathe... Him? Ron Lieber on Reverse Mortgages - Mandelman Matters

``HELOCs are absolutely terrible loans for retirees because they start out being interest only and after 10 years start requiring fully amortized payments, which means the monthly payment jumps up quite a bit at that point... when a retiree would be 10 years older. Does that make them "radioactive?" No, it just makes them a really bad idea for retirees. A reverse mortgage line of credit, however, doesn't require the borrower to make any payments whatsoever during his or her lifetimes, so even if rates rise, there's no risk of the loan becoming a burden to someone's income. ''