Over the weekend, I wrote about how my credit card company is trying to get me to refinance my home with them, and take out some cash. For me, this is an obviously foolhardy move. Such offers usually go straight through the shredder.
But Sean left a comment that I feel is very pertinent to the idea of unsecured debt and secured debt:
Credit cards are “unsecured debt,” meaning that if you default or go bankrupt, they can’t take your house, car or stuff. They are last in line, behind secured debt, like your mortgage. When they see people getting in trouble, …read more

One of the more interesting retirement planning options is the reverse mortgage. With the importance of passing a home down from generation to generation diminishing, fewer retirees worry much about the equity in their homes. And this is creating a drive for a popular product known as the reverse mortgage.
Reverse mortgage
The reverse mortgage is kind of what it sounds like. You structure a home equity loan so that the bank makes mortgage payments to you. The money still has to be paid back, but it doesn’t happen until the home is sold. And the payback (interest included) is made with …read more

One of the more popular modes of debt consolidation is using one’s home equity loan. Debt consolidation can be an effective debt management technique, and it can be a good part of a debt plan that is made to get out of debt fast. However, a home equity loan debt consolidation can be a risky way to go about it.
Why home equity loan debt consolidation seems attractive
If you have a great deal of debt, home equity loan debt consolidation seems attractive because you would never be able to get a debt consolidation loan that would pay off such a large …read more