In the past week we’ve seen on a couple of occasions snippets announcing a free downloadable reverse mortgage calculator to help seniors considering a reverse mortgage.

Initially, we were encouraged. Had someone really created a quality open source reverse mortgage calculator that could handle the complexities of reverse mortgages and provide reasonably accurate results? Such a tool could be quite a useful alternative for seniors otherwise reliant on the proprietary reverse mortgage calculators typically located on lenders’ websites.

But our enthusiasm turned to disappointment when we downloaded the Reverse Mortgage For Senior 1 calculator script for a test run. It turns out the Reverse Mortgage For Senior 1 calculator is nothing more than a simple loan calculator having no relevance whatsoever to reverse mortgages.

Here’s a screen shot showing what the “reverse mortgage calculator” looked like after we downloaded it:

 Here’s a screen shot showing the results you get after inputting data:

And here’s a quote from the description page for the Reverse Mortgage For Senior 1 calculator:

Program Description

When looking at the various reverse mortgage products that are offered by the different financial institutions, it can be a little difficult when looking beyond the basic numbers to decide which one is best for you. This is where the reverse mortgage for senior calculator comes in. It runs extremely quickly and will allow you to run various sets of numbers through it in a very short period of time.

As with any type of financial instrument, a good reverse mortgage is dependent upon the details. The actual building blocks of the product be on the headline rates is invariably what’s really important. This is an even more central issue when it comes to reverse mortgage as there are even more variables. For example, whether you release all or only part of the equity in your home and whether the money will be paid to you in a lump sum or as regular payments over a period of years. A reverse mortgage can be ideal as long as you get one that fits in with what you are trying to achieve.

Huh? Nothing about borrower’s age, home location, loan limits, origination fees or any other key factors needed to obtain useful reverse mortgage calculations. The calculated “Monthly Payment” result makes little sense in the realm of reverse mortgages (which have no monthly payments). It seems to be a play upon the growing popularity of the term reverse mortgage without bothering to understand how they work.

While the so-called “reverse mortgage calculator” is free and may be useful to someone shopping a car loan or a traditional “forward” mortgage, we fear that some potential reverse mortgage borrowers may attempt to rely on this tool and, a) waste a lot of their time or, b) become confused about a product that is complex and difficult to understand even with the right tools.

So, if you come across search results looking like the one below, our suggestion would be to take a pass.

For now, if you want to use a reverse mortgage calculator that gives useful results, we recommend you visit www.top-reverse-mortgage-lenders-weekly-review.org for an up to date list of what’s available.

To learn more about some of the ins and outs of reverse mortgage calculators, you can read our earlier articles on the topic shown below.

Social tagging: Reverse Mortgage Calculator > Reverse Mortgage Scams

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