A government-backed reverse-mortgage program intended to help seniors tap their home equity ran into problems as interest rates rose, pushing one of the largest participating lenders into bankruptcy last fall, recent court documents show. 

Reverse Mortgage Investment Trust Inc. filed for chapter 11 in November as it faced a liquidity crunch, and the 116,000 loans on its books are now being managed by the U.S. government. RMIT’s bankruptcy filings reveal how the government-backed loan program worked against the company’s survival….