Aging in Place Research Study - Survey Concepts
Terms and Abbreviations Specific to this survey
Interviewers should become familiar with these the terms and their definitions. This is part of the necessary familiarity that takes place BEFORE actually conducting telephone interviews.
| GENERAL COUNSELING TERMS | |
|---|---|
| Counseling | For this study, counseling refers to the reverse mortgage counseling session completed with CredAbility, also known as, Consumer Credit Counseling Services of Atlanta (CCCS). The counseling session was most likely completed over the telephone, and provided an overview of reverse mortgages, discussing different options available regarding a reverse mortgage. |
| Creditors | A business or person to whom a debt is owed. |
| CredAbility | Also known as Consumer Credit Counseling Services of Atlanta, or CCCS. This is the nonprofit housing counseling agency who provided reverse mortgage counseling for survey respondents within the last 6 years. CredAbility is a partner in this research study. |
| Financial Planner/Advisor | A person paid to help with an individual’s personal finances, not limited to the reverse mortgage. |
| Housing/Reverse Mortgage Counselor | The person providing the counseling for the reverse mortgage, defined above. |
| DEBT PAYMENT/COLLECTION TERMS | |
| Bankruptcy | Bankruptcy is the filing of a petition to obtain protection from collection efforts of creditors. It is normally triggered when an individual's debts exceed current income and property. At the end of bankruptcy, some or all of the individual's debts will be cancelled. |
| Foreclosure | A legal process by which a bower in default transfers their collateral to the lender in compensation for failure to pay their debts. |
| Power of Attorney | A legal term by which one person has authority to make financial and other life-decisions on behalf of another. Note: though the term refers to an “Attorney” one need not be a lawyer to hold “Power of Attorney.” |
| MORTGAGE/LOAN TERMS | |
| Closing | Time at which all terms of a loan are officially agreed to and the proceeds borrowed are received by the borrower from the lender. |
| Credit Line | For a reverse mortgage, a credit line allows a borrower to draw funds over time, up-to a certain agreed maximum. |
| Deed | A contract describing the ownership of an asset (usually a home or other piece of real estate/land). |
| Forward Mortgage | This is the most common type of mortgage on a home, where a borrower pays off the loan with monthly payments over a fixed period of time (typically 15 or 30 years). |
| Home Equity Loan/Second Mortgage | A credit line that is secured by a second mortgage on a house. Equity lines of credit are revolving accounts that work like a credit card, which can be paid down or charged up for the term of the loan. |
| Homeowner’s Insurance | A type of insurance which provides liability coverage for a homeowner in the event of damage to their house or possessions within the house. |
| Installment Loans | Borrowed money that is repaid in equal, periodic payments. |
| Loan Officer | The official representing the lender (usually a bank) in any loan agreement, such as a mortgage. |
| Lump Sum | For a reverse mortgage, this is a term referring to way proceeds of the loan are received. Specifically, “lump sum” refers to the amount of money that the borrower receives up front, at the time a loan is agreed to (see “closing”). |
| Mortgage | A legal document that pledges a property to the lender as collateral (security) for payment of a debt. |
| Payday/Store loans | Payday loans are short-term cash loans based on personal checks held for future deposit or electronic access to the borrower's bank account. Borrowers write a personal check for the amount borrowed plus the finance charge and receive cash. Lenders hold checks until the next payday when payment is due. Borrowers can redeem the check for cash, allow the check to be deposited, or pay the finance charge to roll the loan over for another pay period. |
| OTHER INCOME OR INVESTMENT RELATED TERMS | |
| Bond | An agreement by which individuals lend money to public companies or governments in return for a series of interest payments. The final payment includes the return of borrowed principal. |
| CD / Certificate of Deposit | A term-deposit with restrictions regarding withdrawal, and a better interest rate that for traditional demand deposits (savings or checking accounts). |
| Credit Card | A credit card allows a person to make partial payments for purchases, but charges interest on the amount owed. |
| Dividends | A payment, in the form of cash or stock, by a company to its shareholders. |
| Escrow | A financial account held by a third party on behalf of two other parties in a transaction, often used to hold funds for future payments. For a mortgage, an escrow account is commonly held by the lender to collect property tax and insurance payments on behalf of the borrower. |
| Gross Liabilities | The sum of all that you owe |
| Gross Household Income | The total of all income from all sources received by all members of a household. |
| Inheritance | Money or other assets transferred from one party to another following the death of the first party. |
| Insurance Premium | Payments made to an insurer in order to be covered by an insurance plan. |
| Interest | An amount paid to compensate a lender for having borrowed money. |
| Interest Rate | Interest rate describes the particular amount that should be paid in dollars per hundred within a specific time period (typical time periods include: a day, month, quarter or year). |
| Living Will | A will written by an individual in which they indicate their preferred medical treatment options should they become incapacitated. |
| Long Term Care Insurance | A broadly defined type of insurance that offers benefits in the case of a need for long term care (typically a need for an in-home nurse or aid, the need to live in an assisted care facility or a nursing home. Such policies can either cover expenses by type or offer a cash payment of fixed amount per month. |
| Medicaid | A government program that provides health insurance/health care to people with very low levels of income and wealth (net assets). |
| Medicare | A government program that provides basic hospital insurance (Part A) and offers options for additional coverage for routine medical expenses (Parts B and C) and/or help afford prescription drugs (Part D). |
| Mutual Funds | An investment company that pools money from shareholders and invests in a variety of securities, including stocks, bonds and money market securities. |
| Stocks | Certificates describing units of partial ownership of a public company (corporation). |
| RETIREMENT TERMS | |
| AARP | An organization which advocates on behalf of it’s members, age 50 and above. Previously the term AARP stood for “American Association of Retired Persons” but it no longer has that specific meaning. |
| Assisted Living Facility | A facility designed to help those having difficulty with normal activities such as cooking, eating, drinking, bathing, toileting, managing household chores and finances. One can live in such a facilities on a temporary or permanent basis, depending on the nature of the difficulties faced. |
| 401k | A retirement plan that allows employees in private companies to make contributions of pre-tax dollars to a company pool that is then invested in stocks, bonds, or money markets. |
| 403b | A retirement plan similar to a 401(k) plan, but one which is offered by non-profit organizations, such as universities and some charitable organizations, rather than corporations. |
| 457 | An additional tax preferred account that can be used in tandem with a 403b to increase the amount saved for retirement. |
| Champus/ChampVA | A federal health benefit program offered to members of the military. |
| Disability | A chronic injury or debilitating medical condition that prevents one from working, in full or part (“partial disability”). |
| IRA | An Individual retirement account is a self-funded retirement plan that allows a person to contribute a limited yearly sum toward his/her retirement. |
| Pensions | A form of funding which aims to support the individual after they have retired from work. |
| Retirement Community | A community in which only retired persons live. Such communities offer the opportunity to engage others in one’s own age bracket (once retired) and most offer amenities and social programs that are tailored to the interests of recreating elders. |
| Social Security | A retirement pension program run by the federal government which may begin as early as the age of 62 and continues providing benefits until the end of life. |
| Social Security Disability | A program within the broader Social Security system which provides financial support for people who are disabled and incapable of work. |
| COMMON SURVEY TERMS/DEFINITIONS | |
| Completion Rate | The percentage of people who complete the entire interview,
# of people who complete interview
Defined as: ---------------------------------------
# of people who agree to participate
|
| DK | "Don't know." You will hear and use this as a response in the Web survey. |
| Field Period | The time during which you are on site doing interviews. There are 12-month long field periods in this particular study. |
| I | Interviewer (that's you!). |
| Population | The pool of people we are interested in studying and about whom we want to draw valid conclusions. |
| Probe | Question or technique used to get a single answer to the question you're asking, even if the participant hesitates or seems unsure. It is especially useful when a respondent uses DK. |
| R | When you see "R", it means Respondent. |
| Random sampling | The process we use to choose which members of a population are selected to participate in a study. |
| Respondent | The person you have randomly selected to take the interview. |
| Response Rate | The percentage of people who agree to do the interview,
# of people who agree
Defined as: ---------------------------
# of people approached
|
| RF / Refuse | R has refused to answer the question. You will see this in the survey. |
| Sample | Sample is the subset of people who actually complete the survey. |
| Sampled interview | One which was chosen using our random sampling procedure, and for which we provide a telephone number to use when selecting the respondent. |
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Table of Contents
Module 5: Survey Justifications |