credit card company

You can take the money as a lump sum payment, a monthly payment, a credit line, or any combination of the three. My parents took a lump sum payment to pay off all of their outstanding debt and then kept a line of credit in case of emergency.

Now that they are free of the old mortgage, home equity loan, and credit card debt, their modest pension and Social Security money is enough for them to live on.

Of course there is a downside. They no longer have as much equity in the house as they once did. That hurts after they spent so many years paying for it. I know they also feel bad that there will be less left for me and my sister when they pass, but I don ' t care about an inheritance. I ' d rather they live comfortably and have more cash flow of their own now than have to struggle just to get by.