It’s a way to get quick cash, pay bills and buy the things you need or have wanted for a long time, but is it financial freedom or a step into a financial nightmare?  Joanne Bilyeu, 80, isn’t getting much sleep these days.  “I wake up at 3 o’clock in the morning and can’t go back to sleep,” she says.

The same is true for 69-year-old Erica baker. She tells the I-Team she can’t sleep at night.  These women live miles apart but they worry about the same thing — a reverse mortgage loan they took out on their homes.  They thought it would bring them financial freedom; instead it has been a financial nightmare.

A reverse home mortgage is exactly that. You get to pull out your equity in your home without selling it. You keep the title to your home. Your equity disappears but you have cash to spend. The I-Team found it comes with hidden costs.  Television ads selling these loans can be very persuasive and Bilyeu says so was her insurance agent when he signed her up for a reverse mortgage and then sold her an annuity, which is a common practice.  Bilyeu tells the I-Team the agent didn’t explain everything.  “I didn’t realize it would eat up my equity,” she says.  The 80-year-old widow also wasn’t aware that the annuity she was sold was a long term investment. If she needed money within 12 years, she would have to pay a heft penalty.

Financial elder abuse attorney, Ron Marron, says that tied up a lot of her cash flow. Marron has filed a class action lawsuit against Bilyeu’s insurance agent and Wells Fargo, the bank that approved the reverse mortgage. Marron claims they are in cahoots and tells the I-Team annuities bring in big bucks for the agents that sell them.  “The commissions are enormous,” he says.  In the lawsuit, Marron alleges the defendants were aware that the annuities being sold were inappropriate investments for seniors.  “It’s all about the money to them,” says Marron.

The I-Team dug deeper and looked into the insurance agent’s history. His name is Eddie Ybarra. He’s the person that advised Bilyeu to take out a reverse mortgage.  Earlier this year, in an unrelated case, the Insurance Commissioner of the State of California revoked his insurance license. According to the Insurance Commissioner’s report, Ybarra violated the trust of an elderly client.  The report says Ybarra promised a 75-year-old client he would invest $110,000 of her money, but didn’t.

According to the report, he pocketed $70,000 for himself and later admitted it.  We asked Ybarra about the license revocation. He told the I -Team, “I have no comment on that.”  We also asked him about Bilyeu’s case. Ybarra responded saying, “You’d have to speak to my attorney.”  Marron says annuities sold with reverse mortgages are a big problem.  “Financial elder abuse involving reverse mortgages and annuities is at epidemic levels right now,” he says.  It’s people like Bilyeu and Baker that are paying the price.  Baker was sold the same deal by a different company called Senior American Funding. They’re based in San Diego. In fees alone, she paid $17,000 for her reverse mortgage.  “I fell into it big time,” says baker.  Now she’s trying to dig herself out. With the help of Marron, Baker has filed a lawsuit against Senior American Funding alleging unfair, fraudulent and deceptive business practices.  Read complete 10 news article>

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