When you have four pockets ... ... and you know that there's no money in three of them ... ... into which pocket do you stick your hand when you need some? ... how often do you stick your hand into any one of the three pockets where you know that there's no money even when your hand gets all of the way to the bottom?? Memo ... to individuals, as to businesses (but most of the latter know it now) ... ... when you need money ... ... go where the money is! Like the credit card companies do. They may cancel the cards of folks who've been giving them a rough time, i.e., not paying. But they don't mind your payment being late - look at the large fee that they charge ... for what ... waiting an extra day or two for the payment? Suppose it's $100.00 payment ... at 10% annual rate, that's $10.00 per year, or about 3 cents per day. If your payment arrives 3 days late ... their cost is about a dime ... and they charge you a $20.00 late fee? Think they're about to cancel your card? Why would they?? They're making a very nice bucket of money off of you ... and others like you. You go over your credit limit? More of the same. So why would they shut you down?? You're a profit centre for them!! If so for them ... how about you?? If you blow an engine in your car tomorrow ... how will you pay for the repair? Or ... if you get laid off ... what will you live on? Have you ever had a pair of handcuffs snap around your wrists? I haven't either ... and I don't want any: I have absolutely no hankering for such an experience! I love my financial freedom!! If you don't have a financial cushion of some funds available in case of immediate drastic need, I claim that you have a pair of handcuffs lying on your dresser, right beside where you lay your wallet at night. Just waiting for an emergency need of money ... or a layoff ... to have them jump up and snap around your wrists. Financial freedom - that ain't!! Hope you all have a lovely weekend ... and if you'd be sweating blood if you don't get a paycheque ... or two ... ... please - do yourself a favour. Even though it may be a beautiful weekend, find a way to enjoy it while spending little or nothing. Start that savings fund ... build yourself a financial cushion. Aim at a minimum of 3 months' income available in case of emergency. Six months' earnings, or 9 months' ... or up to a year's worth, is even better. After 25 years or so as a personal financial advisor, I don't have it, myself, some of the time. Some of the time I have money in the bank, money market fund, etc., immediately available ... but sometimes not. I have a credit card that I don't use much, that I can use to fix my car, fly me home in case the travel co. goes broke and the hotel says pay - again - or go to jail, etc. And I have a Line of Credit at the bank, initiated several years ago at no fee, fully secured by stock or mutual fund certificates, in order to arrange a low interest rate ... and it lies there unused, most of the time (but there's no inactivity fee to pay). If I use the card for emergency ... I pay off the full balance prior to the due date, using my Line of Credit if the amount in my bank account, money market, etc. are short. Then ... pay off that loan (low interest - far lower than the rate charged on unpaid balances owing on the credit card) as soon as possible. I want my money working for me ... not be forced to use other folks' money ... and pay rent on it while I'm using it ... especially if it's the kind where they charge very high rates! I never want to have to darken the door of a payday loan company: their rates are ... *horrendous*! (By the way ... have you read my thread about the differences between a paycheque and a pension cheque?) ole joyful

comkow some ideas to think about. are you going to be replacing appliances also? If so check to see if the credit card you use automatically extends the warranty when we bought the washer,dryer and fridge for our new house we put them on our Amex even though we had the cash.(we paid the bill in full when it came in) 3 months after the manufacturer's warranty expired so did the ice maker Amex paid for the repair . it seems that Amex doubles the original warranty. Most of your platinum cards offer this service I have saved allot of money using the card instead of buying extended warranties that only give me an additional year Another idea would be if you can estimate the time frame of the various stages of the remodel you might be able to put the money in short term CD's for example: you know the tile will be installed in 2 months and will cost $1000 put the $1000 in a 2 month CD. The appliances will need to be here in 3 months do a 3 month CD . so after you charge the appliances to your card that extends the warranty the CD will come due and you can pay off the card with the cash. We did this with the money we put aside from our income tax refund to pay our property taxes. We pay our taxes in December to get the discount so we have the money in a 6 month CD. that way we know our tax money is there we are earning a higher interest and most of all it removes the temptation to use it lol Karla p.s. my husband tells people my favoriate things to talk about are credit,greyhounds and plants. tee hee

Here goes with my financial advice. I believe it's simpler than it sounds and just requires you to get your interest rates from all of your accounts in order to make your choices. First suggestion: do as celticmoon suggests and fix that $515K first mortgage immediately! As I'm sure you're aware, the fixed variable rates of now are worse than a year or two ago, but much better than the 12-19% that they were in the past. In my opinion, fix it now and pay for any closing costs out of your savings, which is presumably earning the worst interest rate. Speaking of....what savings rate is your $15K earning? If it's less than 9% (almost a sure bet), and you have liquidatable cash in assets (which you say you do) to cover an emergency fund, then using that cash to invest in your house is giving you a 9% rate of return in your house investment, which is far better than the 3-4% of a typical savings account. If you choose not to do that, then I present my second suggestion (which I still think you should consider, w/ or w/o the $15K in the equation) DH and I just went through a similar process, although with one house, and we paid off a motorcycle and a timeshare (each at ~9%), rather than CC debt. This plan mirrors our own, with different dollar amounts: Roll both HELOCs into one and LOCK your rate up now. In my opinion, it's only going to go up. You should be able to get a much better rate with a higher consolidation balance (we got 7.5% by consolidating our two loans along with our original HELOC). 65K + 30K = 95K = 11.9% of the first house or 19% of the second house. If you keep your loan:value ratio below 20%, you'll get a better deal on rates. You may even ben required to keep it below 20%; I'm not sure. Keep thinking about that. The next option is to add the 25K of CC debt into the HELOC figure, for a total of 65K + 30K + 25K = 120K = 15% of the first house. Close that loan and pay off the CC debt immediately. You're now transferring the 8.9% of wasted CC interest into an investment into your house, in addition to the tax writeoff. The last think to consider is to stick with the 95K HELOC option and pay off the CC bill with your assets. Are any of your stock or mutual funds giving you returns better than 9%? If so, then keep them where they are and do the 120K HELOC option. If they're earning less than 9%, then I refer you back to the concept of my second paragraph. If you take your mutual fund money that is earning less than 9% and pay down your worst mortgage/HELOC/CC rate with that, you're making a huge investment in your house. Now, if you want to sit on your stocks, that's understandable. I hope that my advice not confusing, and that it's helpful to you. Lindsay

I am a merchant who accepts credit cards. On this end it's pretty cut and dry. I get a notice of a chargeback and I must produce my copy of the credit card receipt with their signature on it. It must be either imprinted or through a terminal. With online sales I must produce the hard copy of the order. I have 5 business days to either send or fax my copy proving the charge, or the money is automatically deducted from my bank. Plus a $25 fee. I get chargebacks because I'm an artist who does art and craft fairs throughout the northeast and there are times people in say, New Jersey see a charge from a company they never heard of in Vermont. "I've never been to Vermont!" So they challenge. I produce the receipt and a note they made a purchase at such and such craft fair, and it's done. Go to your credit Union in person and talk to someone who can actually help you. Have someone with some authority help you. You're finding out phone tag doesn't work. Go up the chain of command at the CU to get things done. You have 24 months from the date of the alleged charge to challenge it. The merchant has 5 business days to answer.