Phear The Reverse Mortgage Salesman!

[Synthaholic]

Can I stop Phearing Tha Phred?

Law & Order: Mortgage Victims Unit (Starring Fred Thompson)

The actor/presidential wannabe's latest role: pitchman for a company charged with preying on the elderly.

— By Andy Kroll

For six years, former presidential hopeful Fred Thompson played Arthur Branch, the gruff, straight-shooting district attorney in the television series Law and Order. Thompson's character had an unflinching commitment to the letter of the law. The same can't be said for a firm that Thompson has been pitching for lately in TV ads: a mortgage company that's landed in hot water in a half-dozen states for allegedly preying on elderly Americans and, in some cases, violating state law.

This spring, Thompson, a jowly ex-GOP senator from Tennessee, signed on to serve as the national spokesman for American Advisors Group (AAG). In an ad for the company, Thompson stands in front of a charming white house with an American flag flying out front and sings the praises of a lesser-known mortgage product called a reverse mortgage: "Join hundreds of thousands of other Americans who have used a reverse mortgage as a safe, effective financial tool," he implores viewers.

Thompson's new employer, however, has a troubled track record. Regulators in Florida, Illinois, Maryland, Massachusetts, Virginia, and Washington State have cracked down on the firm for deceptive marketing and consumer fraud. In February, for instance, the Illinois attorney general, Lisa Madigan, sued AAG and its president for direct-mail solicitations that Madigan described as "extremely misleading." That same month, the state of Massachusetts temporarily banned the company from doing business in the state.

*snip*​

More at the link, including Thompson's other shady spokeman deals.

You Regressives sure know how to pick 'em!

 

[Synthaholic]

Can I stop Phearing Tha Phred?

Law & Order: Mortgage Victims Unit (Starring Fred Thompson)

The actor/presidential wannabe's latest role: pitchman for a company charged with preying on the elderly.

— By Andy Kroll

For six years, former presidential hopeful Fred Thompson played Arthur Branch, the gruff, straight-shooting district attorney in the television series Law and Order. Thompson's character had an unflinching commitment to the letter of the law. The same can't be said for a firm that Thompson has been pitching for lately in TV ads: a mortgage company that's landed in hot water in a half-dozen states for allegedly preying on elderly Americans and, in some cases, violating state law.

This spring, Thompson, a jowly ex-GOP senator from Tennessee, signed on to serve as the national spokesman for American Advisors Group (AAG). In an ad for the company, Thompson stands in front of a charming white house with an American flag flying out front and sings the praises of a lesser-known mortgage product called a reverse mortgage: "Join hundreds of thousands of other Americans who have used a reverse mortgage as a safe, effective financial tool," he implores viewers.

Thompson's new employer, however, has a troubled track record. Regulators in Florida, Illinois, Maryland, Massachusetts, Virginia, and Washington State have cracked down on the firm for deceptive marketing and consumer fraud. In February, for instance, the Illinois attorney general, Lisa Madigan, sued AAG and its president for direct-mail solicitations that Madigan described as "extremely misleading." That same month, the state of Massachusetts temporarily banned the company from doing business in the state.

*snip*​

More at the link, including Thompson's other shady spokeman deals.

You Regressives sure know how to pick 'em!

Holy shit! 34 views and nobody is gonna comment on how the 'Ultra-Conservative', Just What America Wants, Second-Coming Of Reagan - Fred Thompson - is now a TV pitchman for a company with a shady past, ripping off the elderly?

Are you Regressives that morally bankrupt?

 

[loosecannon]

Tho I couldn't give a shit about the Fred Thompson role in this, and it seems to have already been revealed as a scam, I would bet both my nuts, both eyes and one ear that this reverse mortgage idea has legs.

It's like Lotto in reverse, and every bit as reasonable and sensible as Lotto or the derivatives trade, or even investing your 401K funds into the stock market.

Plus it will find it's share of willing participants once the big banks design an airtight legal industry around it.

We will be a nation of paupers and slaves before you know it with this kind of entrepreneurialism at play.

BEST THREAD TODAY!

 

[uscitizen]

I guess Thompson IS a true conservative after all.

 

[Missourian]

Everyone is a victim.

Here is a novel idea (for liberals)...don't sign anything unless you have read and understand it.

 

[uscitizen]

Everyone is a victim.

Here is a novel idea (for liberals)...don't sign anything unless you have read and understand it.

Yeha well older folks are easier to confuse and not as familiar with modern finiancing and such as younger folks.
They need more protection to keep the profit vultures from picking their bones clean.
It is no coincidence that FL is a scam artist haven.

 

[Synthaholic]

Everyone is a victim.

Here is a novel idea (for liberals)...don't sign anything unless you have read and understand it.

Yeha well older folks are easier to confuse and not as familiar with modern finiancing and such as younger folks.
They need more protection to keep the profit vultures from picking their bones clean.
It is no coincidence that FL is a scam artist haven.

Plus, I know of $600 non-refundable charges to get them to inspect and OK your house. If they don't like it, they are not obligated to give you a RM, and you lose the $600.

 

[Revere]

It's a government program.

HUD Wants HECM Saver to Represent 30% of All Reverse Mortgages | Reverse Mortgage Daily

 

[Revere]

Everyone is a victim.

Here is a novel idea (for liberals)...don't sign anything unless you have read and understand it.

Yeha well older folks are easier to confuse and not as familiar with modern finiancing and such as younger folks.
They need more protection to keep the profit vultures from picking their bones clean.
It is no coincidence that FL is a scam artist haven.

Plus, I know of $600 non-refundable charges to get them to inspect and OK your house. If they don't like it, they are not obligated to give you a RM, and you lose the $600.

That's no different from any other mortgage, but some lenders do eat that.

 

[uscitizen]

It is permitted by the govt. Not sure if it is really a govt program or not.
Who makes money from it?

 

[Revere]

It is permitted by the govt. Not sure if it is really a govt program or not.
Who makes money from it?

No, it's backed by the full faith and credit of the US government, FHA, HUD.

Who cares who makes money?

 

[Synthaholic]

It is permitted by the govt. Not sure if it is really a govt program or not.
Who makes money from it?

Fred Thompson, for one.

 

[uscitizen]

Umm what happens if you have a reverse mortgage and within 5 years you wind up in a rest home on medicaid?

 

[Revere]

Do you know why the government created them?

 

[Revere]

Umm what happens if you have a reverse mortgage and within 5 years you wind up in a rest home on medicaid?

You don't qualify for Medicaid if you have assets, i.e., equity in a home.

 

[uscitizen]

Umm what happens if you have a reverse mortgage and within 5 years you wind up in a rest home on medicaid?

You don't qualify for Medicaid if you have assets, i.e., equity in a home.

Umm right it has to be sold. And they can go back 5 years.
How does that work with a reverse mortgage?

 

[uscitizen]

Do you know why the government created them?

Of course, so business could get more money from the old before they die.

 

[Revere]

Umm what happens if you have a reverse mortgage and within 5 years you wind up in a rest home on medicaid?

You don't qualify for Medicaid if you have assets, i.e., equity in a home.

Umm right it has to be sold. How does that work with a reverse mortgage?

Here's the HUD Q&A.

Frequently Asked Questions About HUD's Reverse Mortgages

 

[Revere]

Do you know why the government created them?

Of course, so business could get more money from the old before they die.

Shouldn't you expect to be paid for services you sell?

 

[uscitizen]

Do you know why the government created them?

Of course, so business could get more money from the old before they die.

Shouldn't you expect to be paid for services you sell?

I guess that attitude goes all the way down to the gutters and drug pushers and such...