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Reverse mortgages have carried a negative reputation for years, especially among Christians who are cautious about debt. But as with any financial tool, faithful stewardship calls us to understand how it works before deciding whether it belongs in a financial plan.

Harlan Accola leads the reverse mortgage team at Movement Mortgage, a FaithFi underwriter. He joined the show today to explain why reverse mortgages remain controversial, how today’s Home Equity Conversion Mortgage (HECM) differs from older products, and when it might play a useful role in retirement planning.

For many believers, the hesitation begins with debt itself. Scripture repeatedly encourages wisdom, contentment, and caution in financial matters, so borrowing against a home's equity can feel contrary to good stewardship.

There is also the lingering reputation of earlier reverse mortgage products. Many people remember stories involving high costs, confusing terms, or homeowners facing difficult circumstances later in life.

Accola says those concerns are understandable. “I felt the same way in the past before I understood them,” he said.

But he argues that many people are evaluating today’s federally insured reverse mortgages based on older versions of the product—or confusing them with other home-equity arrangements that work very differently.

That makes it important to understand exactly which product is being considered and how its protections, costs, and obligations work.

The most common type of reverse mortgage is the Home Equity Conversion Mortgage, or HECM, which is insured by the Federal Housing Administration.

Unlike a traditional mortgage, a HECM generally does not require the borrower to make monthly principal and interest payments. Instead, the loan balance typically grows over time and becomes due when the borrower no longer occupies the home as a principal residence, sells the property, or dies.

The homeowner still retains ownership of the home and remains responsible for obligations such as property taxes, homeowners insurance, and property maintenance.

HECMs also include protections designed specifically for older homeowners. Borrowers must complete independent counseling before obtaining the loan, and the loans are non-recourse, meaning the borrower or heirs generally will not owe more than the home's value when the loan is repaid.

Certain eligible non-borrowing spouses may also be able to remain in the home after the borrowing spouse dies, provided they meet program requirements.

Those features make today’s HECM significantly different from some of the products that contributed to reverse mortgages’ poor reputation in earlier decades.

For many retirees, a home represents one of their largest assets. Yet that wealth is often difficult to use without selling the property or taking on more debt.

A reverse mortgage can potentially convert a portion of that equity into accessible funds.

One possible benefit is improved monthly cash flow. Eliminating a required mortgage payment could help a retiree living on reduced income balance a budget without turning to credit cards or other higher-cost borrowing.

Reverse mortgage proceeds may also provide additional resources for expenses such as home repairs, healthcare, or long-term care.

A HECM line of credit can offer another form of flexibility. For example, retirees may be able to draw from home equity during a market downturn rather than selling investments after they have declined in value. Used carefully, that could give an investment portfolio more time to recover.

Home equity might also help preserve

Ever lose your electricity at home? It’s surprising how much we depend on it. We know the power’s out but, when we walk into a room, what do we automatically reach for? The light switch. Muscle memory. We take that connection for granted. Today on A NEW BEGINNING, Pastor Greg Laurie points out the connection we each have with God through prayer. And when we ignore that connection, it starts to feel like the lights are out in our faith. Good encouragement coming from the book of Acts today.

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I remember the time that my son got in real late. And I remember because that really wasn't his usual style. And, of course, I was waiting calmly and patiently for him to get home and, you know, waiting to hear his explanation; except for the hand cuffs and the bright light that I greeted him with. Now, he had good reasons. There were car problems, and there were people who really did have to be dropped off before he was, and, oh yeah, they got lost. It all checked out, but I was still an unhappy father for one important thing that he missed. Can you guess what it is? Uh-huh, "You didn't call!" Every parent knows, and most teenagers learn that you're making a big mistake when you don't call home.

I'm Ron Hutchcraft and I want to have A Word With You today about "Neglecting to Call Home."

I'm going to read our word for today from the Word of God from 1 Chronicles 14. David is in his unstoppable years; everything he does works, and there are secrets here to being unstoppable. Verse 10 says, "David inquired of God, 'Shall I go and attack the Philistines?' And the Lord answered him, 'Go and I will hand them over to you.'" In verse 14, it says, "David inquired of God again." And in this case he happens to be asking Him about a strategy for defeating the Philistines. You see, David checked with the Lord apparently on everything...well, almost everything.

One day he did a great thing. He had the ark of the covenant moved from the suburbs so to speak, the outer country, to where it would be in the center of things. But it was only to be handled by the Levites. That's the law of God! And they didn't do it God's way and a man died while transporting that ark. Now we read in chapter 15 of 1 Chronicles, "You are the heads of the Levitical families. You and your fellow Levites are to consecrate yourselves and bring up the ark of the Lord to the place I have prepared for it. It was because you, the Levites, did not bring it up the first time that the Lord our God broke out in anger against us." Now listen to this. "We did not inquire of Him about how to do it in the prescribed way."

In other words, David is saying, "We messed up because we didn't call our Father; we didn't check to see how God wanted this done." Our tendency is to pray about something, and then check in, same time, same station maybe tomorrow. Or pray when we're losing the battle. Can we learn a lesson from David when he was in his unstoppable years? Pray first about which battles to fight. Not every battle is one God wants you to be involved in. Get His orders before you get involved.

Then ask the Lord about how to fight the battle. Pray until you start to feel His plan for that battle unfolding. The ark incident teaches us that you can do a good thing in a way God doesn't want it done. Good thing, wrong way, and it won't work.

Too often, this guy's got to confess to you, I will pray about something in the morning, and then I'll put myself on cruise control and just kind of go ahead and not check in again until I hit a crisis. I'm a victim of my own momentum. Our Father expects us to check with Him frequently, regularly, all through the day, before a call, before an email, before a text, before a signature, before we drive, before we park, before we make a decision about where we're going to go next. "What do You want me to do, Lord?" "How do You want me to do it?"

You can be unstoppable if you move through all your day's choices in consultation with your Heavenly Father. Like earthly kids, we tend to get in a mess, and then come into the Father's presence with our head hanging. And our Father says, "You didn't call."