One of the biggest problems with any scheme to pay off credit cards by using more credit is most people do NOT change their spending habits. The average consumer will take out a home equity loan to pay off outstanding balances and then only 2 or 3 years later find themselves with a home equity loan and credit cards at their max again. That doesn't solve the problem; it makes it worse. Plus there is the potential to lose you home if you fail to make payments on the home equity loan. In my humble opinion, this is not the best solution to your problem unless you and your significant other make some changes in your spending habits. Switching from one low/no interest credit card can be very damaging to your credit score. One of the components of a credit score is how long your current accounts have been open. Longer is better. New credit cards every 6 months will lower your score which means you pay higher rates or cannot qualify for those "teaser" rates. Also, be aware that the teaser rates will escalate very rapidly if you are ever late with a payment. The solution that I suggest to the personal financial management classses I teach is to stop using credit cards for any daily expenses. Save them for emergencies (a death in the family, an earthquake destroys your house, a hurricane is coming and you have to evacuate). Concentrate on paying off one card by paying extra on that card every month but continue to make the minimum payments on every card you have. When that card is paid off, apply that payment to the next card until it is paid off. If you have trouble avoiding temptation with credit cards, put them in a ziplock bag and seal it. Put that bag in another bag and fill it with water. Put both bags in the freezer and leave it there. Anytime you need a card it is available, but you have to wait to thaw it out to use it which means you have time to think about whether or not you really, really NEED what you plan to purchase with credit. While it sounds "dorky" and simplistic, it does work. Good luck

they keep changing their tune...(LONG - sorry!) I agree with most of the latter posts - do NOT close out you CC's, it will bring down your FICO (or so I've heard/read last couple-3 yrs) Some people will say close out your acct's when paid off. (I'm sure this is meant for financially "out-of-control" spending) The thing is (from what I've read recently) is that the more "available" credit you have (vs debt), higher your credit score. AND, the older the "available" credit, the better. I really don't know how to explain this better right now, but let's say you have TOTAL DEBT of $200,000, (mortgage pymt is all you owe), and you have total "available" credit of $1,000,000. (Anyone feel free to correct me as needed - I'm tired!) SO, you now have a 20% debt/ratio. Any CC you close out = LESS "available" credit. LESS available credit = HIGHER debt/ratio. For example - let's say you have a CC with $200,000 Credit line available, and you close it out. NOW you have a 25% debt/ratio. ($1,000,000-$200,000=$800,000) You have ONLY a mortgage balance of $200,000. But NOW you only have $800,000 "available credit". This will bring your FICO score DOWN. I know it doesn't seem right nor "fair". But, that's how it works (as far as I know TODAY). Wish I had known about this a few short years back. I applied for a CC to do balance trf. They wanted to give me like $3000. I only "needed" like $1800. "THEY" decided to give me $2300! PLUS - some other CC's automatically RAISED my limit. I would call them and have them DROP my limit back down! Little did I know that I "maybe" hurt myself doing these things! Unless you are POSITIVE you no longer need a high FICO - (or, have medical or other situations that want you to MAX-OUT), I say KEEP them. Just use them once every month or two or three. I've used mine at grocery store for as little as $6 or $7.00 - just to keep active - and pay off when bill arrives. (And about that Sear's Card - what a joke! I had one from the 70's with a $260.00 cr limit - (which was dumb - you'd think after about 30 years they'd raise the cr limit!). I got a notice one day that they were "replacing it with a "Sear's M/C". OK... I got the thing and a $15,000 credit line! I laughed about it - NO WAY! TOO much credit line. A year later (b'cuz I never USED the card) - out of the blue I get notice my CC has been cancelled due to "non-activity"! No warning...) FINE! Whatever! ANYWAY - I believe if your total MAXIMUM debt/ratio is 20% or LOWER, you are in really GREAT shape (as long as you have no recent late pays, etc.). I have recently heard the mortgage lenders are laxing off somewhat on loans (used to be about 30% ttl debt/ratio?) - but don't know for sure, as I have no reason to contact them for anything!

Sue, Please keep in mind that the states are not legally obligated to pony up and help out the cities. Also, if a muni is issued for a specific project, it's typically going to be paid back by the revenues of the project. For example, the Chicago Skyway was built and financed by revenue bonds in the late 1950's/early 1960's. The bonds went into default in 1964. Neither the City of Chicago nor the state of IL did anything to bail out the bonds/bondholders...nor were they obligated to. The bonds were in default for about 30 yrs. During that time, the city of Chicago paid/covered most of the operating costs and those funds weren't reimbursed. So, this has nothing to do with employee contracts being renegotiated. For any revenue bonds, general operating funds are not used to repay the debt and, therefore, cutting those operating costs won't make any difference. General obligation bonds, bonds which by definition are repaid by general tax collections, could be impacted by things like cutting expenses. But then there are also limited tax obligation bonds (repaid by just 1 tax - ie library bonds repaid by library tax collections and only cutting library employee expenses could affect repayment of those bonds). The trick is that when one says "municipal bonds", they are talking about a large category of tax-exempt debt and unless one knows how the legal agreements are structured regarding debt repayment, one will mess themself up when making generalizations. I just ended a 35 yr career working in/around munis - and I still get confused by them!

i have been credit card free since 2006, living only on cash. i have a small mortgage on my house and am still up 200% (had been 300+%) on it even here in orlando, bought early, put down a good payment, pay towards principle ea month etc... do have a car loan but learned from a mistake several yrs ago when i paid all cash for a 1yr grand cherokee. I should have gotten a loan w/ very low interest rate, put the cash in the bank earning interest off-setting the loan interest and set up auto pay and that is what i do now, i am making 2.5% over my loan interest and can still access that cash for an extreme huge emergency. the only justifiable kind of debt, other than a mortgage of 75% of current market value or less @ 5% or less, is education for a better job. most student loans should be coming in under 6% too, DH's is 2%. you also can not just study what you "like" that is what has sunk the younger generation you must study what is employable in the future. someone may like art history or literature but it is a waste of your $$ to study something you can not make atleast double a yr what your loans are. with the direction the world is going if you don't make enough $$ or have enough $$ right now you will need to make some major shift in your circumstances or your future only holds less $$. our spot in the world as controller of pricing is slipping down everyday, china and india are the controllers of the future and as demand goes up as they rise, our prices go up. those countries have been paying the price all these yrs for being the under dogs, we have always been the ones to drive up prices but now with the shift they will be. daniel pink wrote a good book several yrs ago on this trend and it is finally coming to fruition. i feel very blessed and lucky to have been raised to be a completely independent, self-supporting individual who has planned since age 19 to retire w/ enough cash on hand (not including stocks, gold or any assets) to earn a 6 figure income each yr in interest while in retirement, so far i'm on track... when my DH has his MS in Mechanical Engineering at the end of the yr i will be going back for my masters so i can make even more $$... ~ liz