Older single woman misses relationship
with the tellers
By Maralyn Lois Polak
You’re an older single woman. You get a phone call from your bank. Your CD is maturing. This will be your retirement fund. But you don’t like the caller’s pitch. He’s slick and glib. His math is fuzzy.
You feel the bank has betrayed your interests. You decide you must break up with your bank.
My bank and I have had a long-term, exclusive relationship, during which I forswore all others. We had a sacred trust, my bank and I, but, as years went on, the bank betrayed that — and I felt violated.
ATMs unlike tellers
There comes a time in many relationships, I guess, where one party begins to take the other for granted.
Let me tell you, breaking up with your bank is hard to do. After nearly a decade together, our resources are deeply entwined. The CDs. The Money Market. The savings account. The checking account. The safe deposit box.
A big incentive to the relationship, I must admit, was their tiny, tidy, room-within-a-room where I could cash my checks immediately, and make deposits with NO WAITING! This sacred shrine to financial worship, a place for private banking, for those who have benefited in life from the stock market, a cushy job, their parents’ largesse.
And the terrific tellers who make the most ordinary transaction into a wonderfully pleasant, personal occasion.
Besides beating an ATM any day, by never running out of money in a blizzard, they give great compliments. Not once have I had an ATM pay me a compliment for anything.
Similar to divorce
But a teller praised me lavishly after I finally stopped biting my nails at midlife, took seaweed to make them grow looooong and gave myself a real manicure with shiny salmon-colored polish. She noticed!
That level of attentiveness will be missed.
For a long time, it was very good for both my bank and me. But now it’s not. First they started seeing others. Too many others. Then came the brief bout of lying and cheating. And so I decided, after we break up, my bank and me, I will open an account in a much smaller bank in my own neighborhood, one that promises it won’t try to sell me questionable annuities.
Although it may not cash my checks without requiring I deposit them first — not like my old bank.
Apparently breaking up with your bank is an almost universal trauma. A friend sympathizes: “I know about divorcing business connections. When my husband got sick, I divorced our accountant and financial planner, who I believe were taking advantage of a woman making money decisions.”
Now I must revisit that little room one last time — the shrine to money, where the tellers dispense new currency like Communion — and bid farewell.
This is another in the series of ‘Focus on Finance’ columns written by specialists in the field. Views expressed do not necessarily reflect those of Milestones or PCA.
By Jessica Owens-Sylvester
Many seniors know about reverse mortgages but are afraid to make a move, fearing to put in jeopardy what is most likely their most prized possession, their home. These programs, however, are not designed to take anyone’s home, but rather to help relieve financial pressures on seniors.
Available to homeowners 62 and older, a reverse mortgage can tap into the equity built into your home, while eliminating a monthly payment by paying off an existing mortgage. Equity available is based on a combination of factors, including interest rate, location, the home’s value and your age.
Depending on which loan program you choose, the equity is converted into tax-free funds, available through a lump sum payment, a line of credit, set monthly payments or all three.
There are no restrictions on what is done with the tax-free proceeds, so the money can be used to meet simple living expenses, cover healthcare costs, complete home improvements or to take that long overdue vacation.
To help ensure that you are not pressured by any lender and that all questions or concerns are addressed, the Federal Government offers not only free counseling, but has actually made counseling a loan requirement. The counseling, completed by a third-party counselor, can be viewed as a checkpoint, established to help you make informed decisions and to protect you from predatory lending practices. Once the counseling session has been completed, the counselor will issue a program-specific certificate that is required to complete any reverse mortgage.
Although structured differently, a reverse mortgage can be compared to other home loans. The homeowner remains on title, always retaining ownership of the property, and like a forward mortgage, the reverse mortgage creates a lien on the property. It is this lien that becomes due when you die, sell the home or leave the property for 12 consecutive months.
But what will you owe? A reverse mortgage is a non-recourse loan, meaning you or your heirs will never owe more than the value of the home. So, even if the property value declines and the loan is greater than the market value, the lender has only the property as security, there is no personal liability, and you will not be on the hook for more than the home’s current value.
Like any mortgage, the interest rates and costs with a reverse mortgage vary. Many of the costs can be financed through the loan, but it is important to be sure that the time you plan on remaining in the home warrants the fees. For example, if you plan to stay in your home for only a few years, you may want to consider other financial options, but if you plan to stay in your home for a longer period, a reverse mortgage may help make that a possible or simply more pleasurable option.