refinance mortgage

notrichenough
Sun, 15 Apr 2012 11:40:45 +0000

Is it worthwhile to take out extra to consolidate bills?

While your total payment may be lower, you’ve extended the payment period by years. Paying for that meal or outfit you charged on your credit card for the next 15 or 30 years doesn’t make a lot of sense.

Do you itemize deductions on your taxes?

Cash-out loans are tough to get these days, unless you have lot of equity. The rate might be higher than what you could get for a regular re-fi.

What can make sense is, instead of paying the lower amount, pay extra every month to equal what you were paying, and mentally count the extra against the amount of credit card debt and other debt you rolled into the mortgage. Once that “debt” has been paid off, then you can enjoy the lower payments.

If you don’t have the discipline to stop carrying a credit card balance, you will just wind up further in debt.