What to do with all this debt?

[MattH]

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@Anonymous wrote:

rmily is correct, do NOT refi.   If you live in a state with non-recourse mortgages, you lose that protection if you refi out of your initial mortgage (refi's are recourse loans - the lender can come after you for the repayment).   You probably can't get a decent equity line these days (with the current credit climate) anyway, so try serious budgeting, credit counseling, GW letters, 2nd job, everything you can think of.  You can get out from under this debt, but it's going to take work.

Good luck!

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Excellent point about how in some states PRIMARY mortgages, but only PRIMARY mortgages, are non-recourse (unlike for example car loans), so if OP lives in one of those States should NOT do a refi.  Where I live mortgages are generally NOT non-recourse, so OP should check local laws, where I live it is entirely possible to lose a house AND then have wages garnished for years afterward.

[itzateach]

Cash out refi was the best thing I have done. It paid off ALL my ccards, lowered my house payment 500 bucks a month, my car payment 100 bucks a month and I still have 15k in equity left in the house. Fha will loan up to 95 percent of what your house appraises at. For me, my house appraised at 320k and with closing costs, etc. (which you do lose versus selling) I am at 309k. I owed 273k. It made it so now I can meet my bills with a little breathing room. It also, SO FAR, has raised my score from 644 to 682 with 2 more accounts still to update at 0.

[Anonymous]

A cash our refi will only help if you are willing and capable to stop runnign up credit card debt.  Personally, I think rolling shrot erm debt into long term debt is generally a bad idea.  It can be OK, but not usually.  What happens generally is that 24 months later you got a bunch of cards maxed out again and are too tied up on the mortgage to do so.  All this stuff you had to put into the house, welcome to home ownership.  Expect to spend 5K or more per year on upkeep and that is not counting major itmes like furnaces and A/C units.  What you really need to do is live in such a way that you can get debts paid off, not add more.  In this case, you are not likely to lower your house payment any or much, you will roll over short term debt into a long term note, you will be paying closing costs that could go towards paying down the credit, etc.

If you have money to be spending on xams, you should be able to pay off at least one of the small cards in the next 2 months.  I agree that debt loads need to be kept in check over xmas gifts and I do have 2 small kids and am in similiar situation trying to pay off about 550 in CC debt and a 3000 collection by June.