Spinoff to debt consolidation: home equity loans

I was just reading emilain's post about using debt consolidation companies and I was wondering if any homeowners have instead used a home equity loan to pay off credit card debt? It's something I've just been wondering about since we still have a pretty significant amount of debt on the cards from our wedding expenses. We're chipping away at it little by little, but those high rates are a real setback, and it would be nice to just pay it off in one lump sum and be finished with that cc debt at least. I was thinking of the debt consolidation companies a while ago, but I also heard that it is not the best thing for your credit rating and I'm not comfortable with someone else making payments on my behalf. I really don't know anything about home equity loans though, so I was just curious if anyone else used this approach to pay off debts, or if you have any info about it. Thanks!

- Helena

Re: Spinoff to debt consolidation: home equity loans

My husband actually used to work for Chase doing home equities and 9x out of 10 this was the reason people were doing it. Basically, even with a variable rate on a home equity it is still significantly less than say a 22% rate on a credit card and you receive the tax benefits of the interest on the loan. The other option is to refinance your mortgage all together to make one lump payment and eliminate that credit card debt. Feel free to FM me with any questions. DH doesn't do home equities anymore but has plenty of experience in the industry and home loans.

Re: Spinoff to debt consolidation: home equity loans

thanks, that's helpful! We actually did refinance last year, but not to consolidate the credit cards - we just found a broker who gave us a lower rate. The only thing I wonder is will applying for a HEL look strange when we just refinanced?

Re: Spinoff to debt consolidation: home equity loans

You have FM

Re: Spinoff to debt consolidation: home equity loans

yes we did a HELOC 3 years ago and have paid off about 10K of cc debt. I am now refinancing inot one payment. Totally worth it. It would have taken me years to pay off 10K through the cc company itself.

Good luck!