Should I get a home equity loan at 7+% or keep moving credit bal. to new cards with 0% intro rates, 3%fixed?

Question

I owe about 20k in credit card debt,
8k of that is at 2.9% or 3.9% til paid off!
The rest is at 0% til April '08.
By then I'll get more offers for new cards, with bal. transfers free, and often 18 months at 0%
I could keep moving the balances and not worry, since I've done this for years and it doesn't seem to have affected credit score enough to matter.
I know there are tax advantages for home equity loans, and I
could easily get one, but is it worth paying 7+%?
Is there a math calculation to figure this out?
Another factor: I'll probably sell the house within 10 years and pay everything off.
A complete cash out refi. doesn't look good because my mortgage is at 5.38% and would surely go up to at least 6%

Answer 1

if i were you i would keep transferring them while paying them down. i, myself would be too scared to play that strategy but since its workin for you then keep doin it but pay it down while youre at it. if you do the equity loan.. well thats not gonna be "transferrable" until you sell the house so youll have to pay it every month no matter what! and it depends on your situation of course but taking out a loan could break some peoples bank and cause them to come up short every month which would makes them spend more on credit cards! so now they have to pay the loan plus more credit cards which were supposed to be paid by the loan anyway and that defeats the purpose!! the tax deduction wouldnt be worth it if the loan makes you come up short of the monthly payments!
so thats what i would do if i were you, but again as myself i would probably take the loan because id be afraid to try and keep transferrin my balances because ive never done anything like that before but youre a pro at it so...

Answer 2

If you are planning to sell, why should it matter if your interest goes up? As long as it does not go up past 3.9%. A refi would be better than a HELOC. Especially if it is refi'd through a Company that allows free bi-weekly payments. I have been in my new mortgage for 7 months. In these seven months, I have paid more to principal than I did in the whole year of the previous refi. By the end of this year, I will have paid almost 4k to principal. This covers almost all fees to complete this loan and it is bi-weekly payments. This is a 30 yr fixed and if I do not add anypayments it will be paid in 22 yrs. We do not plan to stay til then but we are increasing equity much faster than we ever did before with any"normal" banks and mortgage companies. Very satisfied.

Answer 3

Don't blow your mortgage. Transfer them to lower apr. Most important is stop creating new debt. Get rid of the debt you have.

Answer 4

Continue till you can. Don't you thnik this a crime?