mrclose, what freedumb was pointing out is; you've traded unsecured debt for secured debt. Not always a bad thing, BUT you've now spread that debt over the life of your home loan. The interest in the aggregate could cost you more in the long run.
Personally I would prefer a shorter term, lower interest personal loan, to retire the debt quicker, but everyone has their plan. Good luck!!
KC
Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk
The loan is 5.75% interest for 15 years.
With all of the extra money that this has opened up to me, I can pay off this loan in 5 years or even less.
(There is no penalty for doubling or tripling up on the payments)
The credit cards, one that I could afford to pay only the minimum would have taken me 22 years to pay off.
That card was going up from 25% to 27% and possibly 29%.
My credit score was 750 and was lower than I wanted only because of credit card utilization.
I was near the max on two cards (75%) and that was hurting me.
Now I have $30,000.00 freed up as far as credit limits go and my 'utilization' is at 9%.
Woo Hoo .. credit scores will be rocketing!
I would have been a fool to keep paying 20+ percent interest on these cards.
Heck, even if I were to somehow get into trouble ..
paying $217.00 a month instead of $900.00 a month, my house is valued at $250,000.00 compared to my $90,000.00 of total debt.
In a fast sell I would still come out ahead.
Point is, our
fixed income, between my better half and I is over $36,000.00
a year and it would be almost impossible to default on this loan.
Heck, now our total monthly expenses, including bills, food and utilities is darn near what we were paying on those Two credit cards alone!
Like I said .. I would have been a fool Not to go this route.
NO I wont be using the cards again except for putting a tank of gas in the car every couple of months .. just to keep the cards active.
(Of course, I'll pay that tank of gas charge off at the end of the month)
It is Very important that you don't cancel your cards, keep them semi active if you care about your credit.