Eldercare Funding Options - Part 1

Helping a loved one accept the need for senior care services is a big accomplishment, helping them to find funding to pay for those services is an even bigger accomplishment! How to pay for the monthly costs is in most cases the driving factor in determining what services you and your family will utilize.

The following is the 1st article in a 5 part series on Eldercare Funding Options. This series will explore funding options for senior care services, including in-home, adult day health and senior housing.

Senior Living Line of Credit

You know your loved one would be served better in a safe, yet stimulating community setting. But you aren’t sure how to pay for it. Often, families’ are confronted with the issue of how to pay for care until they sell (liquidate) a loved one’s asset such as home or stock or even CDs that need to mature. Before rushing to sell a home at the first low-ball offer, or selling stock when it may be far below a price you find acceptable in todays down market, take a minute to understand your senior living payment options which include:

1. Senior Living Line of Credit
2. Veterans Aid and Attendance Benefit
3. Reverse Mortgage
4.Long-term Care Insurance
5. Life Settlements

Today’s article will focus on a Senior Living Line of Credit which is increasingly relied upon by families when a loved one moves into a senior living community. Thousands of communities across the country offer and accept this option. A Senior Living Line of Credit offers several unique features to families specifically in a senior living situation, making it a very worthy option especially when compared with what families traditionally had to do: sell a home at a lower than acceptable price because you are in a rush; use credit card cash advance checks which, while they may carry low teaser rates should you make a late payment, that friendly initial rate is now in the high twenty’s and not so friendly; or rely on putting your own home equity at risk without siblings’ support and after all, didn’t mom or dad take care of all of you and if so, why should one sibling carry the cost burden instead of the all siblings coming together to support mom or dad?

Let’s take the issue of selling a loved one’s home for example which traditionally many families relied upon to cover senior housing and care but in today’s environment, is a little more time-consuming and challenging. If you sold the home today as is, without making improvements, what price do you think the home can sell for? If you had time to remodel, clean, spruce up the yard and gardens, sort through important possessions, paint and stage it, would the home command a higher price? In many cases, the answer would be yes, but at the price of spending tens of thousands of dollars. A Senior Living Line of Credit can be perfect in this situation. Now let’s move on to the “what ifs”… What if mom or dad’s stock needs time to rebound? What if the siblings are arguing about who should subsidize mom or dad until that asset is sold? The Senior Living Line of Credit provides answers to the “what if’s.”

Benefits of a Senior Living Line of Credit

1. Borrow only what you need as you need it in a line of credit format
2. Smaller monthly payments on funds used while you wait for that house to
sell at a good price
3. Offers same day decision and fast funding (24 to 48 hours)
4. Typically unsecured, requiring no collateral in amounts up to $50,000,
5. Enables up to six persons to apply together so one sibling doesn’t have to carry the burden
6. Funds sent directly to the community each month to ensure the line is used for housing
7. Flexible repayment terms of three to five years, more than enough time to sell a home
8. Line of Credit documents make it clear this is for mom or dad’s housing and care

Typically adult children may need to co-sign with mom or dad which most families do not find to be an issue because they know an asset will eventually be sold to repay the line of credit. Thousands of assisted living and senior living communities across the country accept this growing option, which remarkably, few adult children know about. It is proving to be a helpful private pay option for countless families who want senior housing and care immediately and the convenience of smaller monthly payments. Ask the senior living community if they accept payment through a Senior Living Line of Credit. It could take stress off the entire family, enable mom to make the move, and give you the breathing room and time you need to get tens of thousands of dollars more for the house by making it look its best. We have a car loan, a student loan, a mortgage, which help us segment and keep track of our obligations. Now, a Senior Living Line of Credit can help a family keep track of mom or dad’s care expenses, and give your family a little peace of mind.