Hello Vickie,With a line of credit reverse mortgage, you can access any amount you wish, up to the full amount available to you under the program, without having to take the full loan amount. So, the specific answer to your question is yes, you can get a reverse mortgage and choose to take a smaller amount, even if more money is available to you with the loan.Furthermore, there is never a payment required on the loan while you still live in the home and abide by the loan terms. However, you can make payments in any amount if you choose to do so. This means you don't have to make any payments, but if you want to keep the balance lower, you have the option to make payments without any prepayment penalty.Another great feature of the loan is that the principal limit, or the loan amount available to you, grows on the unused balance over time at the same rate as the interest and mortgage insurance premium (MIP) accrues. In other words, if you still have $100,000 left on the line that you haven't used, you are not accruing interest on that line because you haven't borrowed those funds. Additionally, the amount available to you is growing on that unused balance. For example, if the interest and MIP total 6.5%, over the year that you did not use the $100,000 line, the next year you would have $106,500 available to borrow.The available amount will continue to grow every year as long as there is still money available on the line of credit. If you never use the money, you never have to repay it. But if you ever need it, it's reassuring to know that it's there. Unlike a bank HELOC loan, it cannot be frozen or closed as long as you live in the home and keep paying your taxes and insurance in a timely manner.

Hello Paul,Let me start by saying that I am a reverse mortgage lender, so one could argue that I have a "dog in this hunt". But since you have already started with another lender, I really don't have one in this case. Also, I have not always been a reverse mortgage lender. I have been a mortgage banker for about 47 years (boy, that hurts me to admit that ). I only started doing reverse mortgages when my mom came to me almost 20 years ago and wanted to know what I thought of them. I honestly didn't know what to tell her at the time, I had never originated a single one and had never researched them, so I had to tell her I needed a little time to look into them. It was a great option for her, and I ended up helping her get the loan. We were already a HUD-approved lender, so we obtained our approval to originate and close reverse mortgages as well, and shortly after that, my family and I switched our company to originating and closing only reverse mortgages and have done nothing else for the past 17 years because we believe in the program and have seen the good it has done for so many borrowers.It allowed my mom total independence while letting her make improvements to the home and giving her the added income she needed so that she didn't hit the middle of each month and run out of money (it turned out she was going without things and not making improvements that she would not share with us because she knew we would insist on helping and she didn't want us to feel obligated). She was active and in good health, and she went without at times or skipped activities she loved while sitting on a mountain of equity. Did the reverse mortgage mean that there was less of an inheritance for my siblings and me? Yes, it did, but that was never "ours" to begin with, and we were not counting on it. We always wanted my mom to have a happy life and said we would rather she spend every nickel and be happy than scrimp and go without each month so that there was a larger inheritance for us. She was able to make the repairs in her home that were needed, and have a small line of credit for when she needed cash. It also gave her a monthly payment that saw her through each month when she usually ran out of cash. The loan was perfect for her needs.We do not advocate that reverse mortgages are suitable in all cases or for all borrowers. Each borrower is different, and everyone has their own needs and goals. If your goal is to leave the highest asset to your heirs, paying down the current loan and leaving a free and clear property might be your best action plan. If making that monthly payment is leaving you short, though, if you are skipping things you would like to do because of a shortage of funds, or if you find that not making a payment would give you more money for anything you haven't been able to do (travel, spend on grandkids while you are still around to watch them enjoy it, remodel the house, etc.), a reverse mortgage requires no monthly payments which free up cash for you to use as you desire. And what many people don't know is that while a monthly payment is not required, you can choose to make a payment in any amount at any time because there is never a prepayment penalty if you want to. You can pay monthly, quarterly, annually, every so often, or not at all; it's your choice. And the home always belongs to you or your heirs after you pass. The interest does accrue on the unpaid balance, but the home still belongs to you or whoever you leave the home to after you pass.I don't know your finances, your son's fears, how much he knows about the loan, or his motives for advising against the loan. Many people hear the words reverse mortgage and are immediately reminded of some horror story they heard or read on the internet (or heard third hand that usually contains false information). Most of the terrible situations I hear about are from instances that result from someone who finds a way to take off with the reverse mortgage borrower's funds (and then it's usually someone very close to the borrower who is a trusted caregiver or family member). If you draw all the money early in the loan term, you will accrue more interest on the loan. Borrowers who are careful with how they draw their funds will use less of their equity with interest accrual. Borrowers who make some repayments will also keep the interest accrual lower. And then, some borrowers are not at all concerned about interest accrual. Many tell me that they have no heirs or that their children are doing very well on their own and don't need the equity in their parents' house (which quite often, when split among multiple siblings, is not a huge amount but can make a world of difference in the parents' lifestyle). In such cases, kids often tell them not to worry, to use their equity to live their lives as they choose and to find a way to use their equity (as we did with my mom). We have also seen some instances where children do not want parents to consider a reverse mortgage as they do want the asset and, in those cases, I have encouraged them to try to establish a "family reverse mortgage," where the adult children can fund their parents' needs against the future inheritance of the home. Some families are happy with this arrangement as it saves interest. Some adult children are unwilling or unable to put funds aside for their parents' use. In some cases, parents are unwilling to participate in a venture where they feel they need "permission" to get a loan on their property from their children. Again, it depends on your circumstances, relationship with your children, and what you want to accomplish. At any rate, there is no right answer or wrong answer. The choice is yours. Only you can decide which works best for you, depending on your goals and circumstances.