re: Line of credit or Signature Loan

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BTW: CC's have been destroyed. I had two bank cards and two gas cards, wife had 3 bank cards and a old navy.

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Good move!! Congrats on doing that!

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1st home, VA loan no money down

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That is why I started my first post by saying, "If you have any equity in your home....."

You can probably forget what I advised in that case.

This probably also means you and your wife won't qualify for a bank signature loan of any appreciable amount unless you have someone, like a parent or other relative, to co-sign for you on a signature loan. Bummer!

So, pay the minimum payment on the lowest interest cards you have and pay the maximum you can afford to pay on the highest interest card. Then when the highest interest card is paid off, pay the max on the next highest interest card, and so on and on. If you get a tax refund, put all of it on the cards.

You have already done the hardest thing and that is cutting off the addiction to charge cards. Best of luck to you!

I've been doing that with my Chase CC since '08 and have had them lower it to one so far. I call every other month and have even had the customer service people tell me "That sucks". My biggest mistake was counting for my end of year bonus (usually $4k-$6), which I've always used to pay off CC balances. This year nobody recieved one, but thats another story I dont even want to go into.

Try one of the federal credit unions. In no particular order:

penfed.org
andrewsfcu.org
dcu.org

All these have personal loans starting at 6.99% and they easily approve if you have good credit and a steady job.
If your car is paid off, you can "refinance" it for a lower interest rate (as low as 3.49%) and get some money back. Hope this helps.

I think most of the CC out there are variable rate's and at the end of the promotion period they go up to the service rate, usually around 12-13% APR now. I have one card that is 8.99% and has been for the past 3 or 4 years that I transferred higher APR CC balances too in order to pay them off quicker. I do not want another card that will raise my rate because they feel like they can. I have cut up all the ones I had and have decided I will never own another (may have one with a $1k or 2k limit that I know I can pay off in a couple months for emergences).

Issue of not getting the yearend bonus and wife working less (pregnant, she is due at the end of April). My income alone is just getting us by. I have budgeted our money and after all bills and money taken out for groceries and gas, we have about $150 every two weeks in discretionary funds. I don’t think now is the time to ask for a raise (although I deserve one, it’s been two years since I asked for my last one and I have taken on a lot of responsibility and work longer hours) My subtle attempt at self gratification.

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Have you thought about selling your truck, buying an old reliable pickup, and using the difference to pay some debt?

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I have, but that makes me thinking about it. have to have internet as wife will be working from home. Have not had cable TV in over a year. I just cancelled our cell phone plan, that was $150/month.

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I just took out a HELOC last week.Iberia Bank very painless $150.00 fee,1% above prime intrest rate.60K for whatever I need,bought a vehicle with some of it,able to write off the intrest.Its a no-brainer if you can qualify.