Thanks for all the info! It was a hard step to take out that equity loan because I knew that it is eating up the house. But I really saw no other alternative. I think I will call the CC that are sending me the "interest" bills to make sure I can get them paid off in 1 sweep. [Interest on a $20 balance that is never going to get paid off? That's the problem if I can't get an exact amount on an exact date].I am hoping that by doing this we'll have more $$ to put towards the equity loan and mortgage to pay them down-even if it's only a little bit each time. I do pay all my bills online (i.e. electronically) through their websites. I found out the hard way a few yars ago that to try to set it up from my bank that even though I put in the date I wanted something paid - it wasn't until the company came and "drew" the $$ (that the bank had put a hold on) which made a few bills late-took up to 5 days. So by paying them though the company's site I get a payment date on the date I request. I didn't set up the bi-weekly mortgage though Wells Fargo (even though they were offering it free) becuase I didn't want them "holding" my $$ for 2 wks until the 2nd draw then pay to the mortgage. I now am putting it in a separate bank account and I will electronically pay it each month-with me deciding to add the extra. (And this way if I can't afford extra the $$ is there for my emergencies). [Like the $432 vet bill for one of our dogs this week-unexpected illness yuck!] RA

Everything I've seen/heard about this is not to cancel credit cards. Cancelling them does affect your credit scores. That said, at one point I had 3 separate credit cards issued by the same bank. I use only one and pay the balance in full every month. I have received letters from the bank requesting that I either use the cards or said cards would be cancelled effective 30 days of the receipt of said letter. I didn't use them, and those accounts have been cancelled. DH hates credit cards and prefers to pay cash for purchases. I did check with the 3 credit bureaus regarding whether the cancellation by the bank for lack of use of those two cards would affect our credit scores. All three claimed that it would not, and I did manage to obtain fax confirmation of that assurance. I did pull reports at 90 days after their cancellation, and our scores hadn't changed. Unless the card company contacts you about cancelling for lack of use, I wouldn't cancel.

Pamghatten: Not ALL standards have tightened .. but the documentation requirements have greatly changed, thankfully. Well, I'm not quite as thankful as you are since an underwriter rejected my mortgage application one week before the scheduled closing. Before I get into the particulars, let me give a little primer to those of you not familiar with federal employment and retirement: Although separate agencies within the federal government hire and employ their employees based on their own rules and regulations, there is one central personnel agency that handles benefits such as retirement for everyone: the Office of Personnel Management (OPM). When an employee is getting ready to retire, their own agency can provide a benefits statement indicating what the estimated annuity will be, but it is subject to review by OPM and is not official until OPM performs their own calculations, sometimes 6-8 weeks after you retire. I'm sure that you can see where this is going.... My agency's HR department provided a memo to Bank of America indicating what my "estimated" annuity will be, down to the penny. The memo literally said that my present annual salary is xxx,xxx and that the gross annuity would be x,xxx.83 per month and the net after taxes and other deductions would be x,xxx.71 per month. Once OPM conducts their own review this could change by a few dollars a month; however, we are talking about a possible change of .001 of the total amount. Nevertheless, because my agency (or any federal agency) is only allowed to say that the amount is an "estimate," the underwriter would not approve the loan at this point in time. Oh, did I mention the fact that I was already putting down over $200,000 (~50%) and also have a FICO of 800? Fortunately, the proceeds from the sale of my house in Bethesda last November were still in a money-market account and were more than enough to pay cash for the house in Las Vegas, otherwise I would have had to sell equities to purchase the house (either that, or let the sale fall through). We've gone from an era where underwriters would approve loans to anyone with a heartbeat, to one where people with guaranteed incomes for life and a seven-figure net worth can't qualify for a loan

Is it any wonder why judges in several states are forcing banks and other lending providers to prove they own the properties in question? Wall Street girds for battle on accounting rules July 02, 2008 NEW YORK/WASHINGTON (Reuters)"In the middle of a credit crisis that only seems to get worse, Wall Street is mustering its lobbying clout to delay tougher accounting rules that would force banks to add $5 trillion to their balance sheets. For years, accounting standards allowed U.S. banks to keep certain loans, such as those linked to risky subprime mortgages, in off-balance sheet vehicles. But members of the Financial Accounting Standards Board (FASB), which sets U.S. accounting rules, have become convinced that approach hid the true risks banks faced from these vehicles, and that standards must be fundamentally altered. Under FASB's current thinking, analysts estimate financial institutions could be forced to book $5 trillion, which would most likely include troubled loans. That would skew capital ratios, force banks to stash away cash to offset their risks, and hit their liquidity at the worst possible time. "These drastic measures are being rushed and could single-handedly erase the efforts of policymakers to provide stability and restore liquidity to our markets," said Brendan Reilly, senior vice president with the Commercial Mortgage Securities Assn. "Any changes must be delayed until all options and consequences are carefully examined," he said. However, under direction of the Securities and Exchange Commission, FASB must revamp the accounting standard, known as FAS 140, by 2009. It could release a proposal on the new rule in the next few months.