Question:
Dear Steve,
We got scammed out of lots of money. It started with borrowing from husbands life insurance, then I went ‘all in’ on my own to make it all back, I have over 30K on credit cards.
Some have gotten their money back, but I was in since Dec 2016 so they say the time for dispute has expired.
The FTC stepped in but not enough $ to go around, I am 62 years old this was to secure a bright retirement. Looking at home refinance. $69K at 4.5 for 15 years or 4.625 for 10 years. Both scenarios I plan to pay and get it paid in 5, We only had about 3.5 years left to pay off now.
I also wondered about just not paying the 3 cards in my name. My husband would still have good credit if we needed anything.
Carol
Answer:
Dear Carol,
Sorry to hear about the scam you got caught up in. That is so unfortunate.
It sounds as if you have a significant amount of equity in your home to use for some purpose. As far as paying off a loan, I prefer to see people go for the longer term possible and pay the loan off early. This gives you a lower monthly payment to fall back on in case you find yourself in a tight month then you won’t default, hopefully, with the lower payment.
But purely from the information, you provided. I’m wondering if looking at settling your credit card debt for about $17,500 with fees is a better way to resolve the debt situation and preserve equity that can eventually be used towards retirement.
I’m not clear why you would need to borrow $69K to resolve $30K of credit card debt. Is there something else you need to pay off? Why borrow so much?
Please update me in the comments section below and let’s get this figured out.
Steve Rhode
Get Out of Debt Guy – Twitter, G+, Facebook
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This article by Steve Rhode first appeared on Get Out of Debt Guy and was distributed by the Personal Finance Syndication Network.
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