Conventional wisdom is that you don't want to incur long term debt for short term gain. In other words, don't mortgage your house to buy today's supper. Somehow, that hasn't stopped any of us from paying for supper with a credit card. After all, we know we're going to pay it off in full at the end of the month. Right! That's how we have those big balances that are subject to those huge interest rates and annual fees.
Though several of the provisions will take effect over time, the bulk of the new credit card laws go into effect on February 22, 2010. The most relevent, so far as real estate is concerned, is the provision that requires the credit card company to tell us how long it will take to pay off our balance based on minimum payments.
When we see that it will take ten or more years, paying the balance in full with a low interest, low closing cost, home equity loan might make a lot of sense. Basically, you will now see that you have been incurring long term debt for very short term gain. You may well be able to shorten the payoff period with a mortgage. Just remember - this won't help if you continue to bring the credit card to with you to the supermarket or restaurant!
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