Reverse Mortgage

• One option that you may want to consider is a reverse mortgage. Reverse mortgages are only available to individuals over the age of 62. With this type of loan, you receive monthly payments from the mortgage lender or get a lump sum of money on the front end. They can also be set up to provide you with a line of credit. The attractive feature of reverse mortgages is that you don't have to pay them back while you're alive.
  
  

Assistance Programs

• If you have a relatively low amount of income, you may be able to get some financial assistance from the Low Income Home Energy Assistance Program. With this program, government agencies provide you with money to help pay for your electric and home heating bills. By eliminating this expense, more of your money can go towards paying off your debt on a monthly basis.
  
  

Credit Counseling

• Another option to consider is credit counseling, in which you work with a nonprofit organization to set up a payment plan for your debts. The credit counselor contacts all of your creditors and negotiates lower interest rates on your behalf. Then you make a single monthly payment to the credit counseling agency, which is distributed to your creditors. This helps you save money in paying back your debt and gives you a monthly plan to work with.
  
  

Considerations

• When you are a senior citizen, you may be concerned about the amount of debt that you pass on to your heirs. In reality, your debt will not pass on to your beneficiaries when you die. This means that if you have a significant amount of debt, it will simply be forgiven when you pass away. Instead of focusing all your efforts on paying off a debt that will be written off anyway, you may want to only make the minimum payments.