This paper links the literatures on the life cycle hypothesis, homeownership, home equity, and pensions. Empirically, the focus is on the E.U. and U.S. It explores the extent that seniors extract their home equity and discusses the financial instruments available for equity extraction. We use...

Households borrow against home equity through different types of mortgages: closed end home equity loans or revolving lines of credit, cash-out refinancing, and—for senior homeowners—reverse mortgages. The objective of this study is to identify how borrowing constraints and the lending...

Housing wealth is a largely untapped resource that can help older adults supplement their incomes and buffer financial shocks in retirement. The federally insured reverse mortgage offers adults age 62 and older access to home equity with no required monthly payment, and protection for homeowners...

This paper examines how the extraction of home equity, including but not limited to equity extracted through reverse mortgages, affects credit outcomes of senior households. We use data from the Federal Reserve Bank of New York/Equifax Consumer Credit Panel, supplemented with our unique credit...

Over the past decade, concerns have been raised about the extent to which Americans as a whole are sufficiently financially literate to make the complex decisions required in the ever-changing financial marketplace. In response to these concerns, financial education, which aims to make consumers...

Millions of minority homeowners are at risk of losing their homes as a result of the housing crisis due to mortgage foreclosure and home repossession. One consumer-oriented policy response to this crisis is mortgage default counseling for borrowers. This study examines the rate at which minority...