If you've been thinking about accepting credit cards, you may want to check in to the fees and upfront costs of doing so. You will of course have to pay for the machine and the monthly maintenance on it. Then there is the discount fee that the bank will charge you for each transaction. This fee is based on your annual sales volume (the higher your sales, the lower your fee will be). You may even have to use a "middle man" to process your transactions (more fees). It can take several days for your money to reach your account. I just want to mention this, because these fees and costs can really eat in to your bottom line. Also, if you agree to accept credit cards, then you must do so for every transaction (meaning you can't say, well I'll just accept credit cards for the lower dollar transactions and not have to pay the discount fees on the higher ones). There are several rules and regulations you have to follow. Janet is right, most people come to the markets with cash. It's still very old school. We even barter with other vendors sometimes at our market.

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.

I never order from those kind of sights, or from those tv commercials. I want leggings, but I want ones that are straight legs, or boot cut. I have no waist, or no hips! one or the other! lol I have a boy shape. Unfortunately, the 40 pounds that I gained with chemo have gone back in to my apple shape! lol I've always had slim legs. I've always had a hard time getting pants that fit right. Now that they have come out with different styles, like, curved, slim, straight etc. for women's diff. shapes it's been better. Funny thing is, I tried on jeans for a curvy body, and jeans for a straight body, and the curvey ones were sooo funny, the waist was too big, the hips and legs were like balloons! BUT the same size for straight, the waist was too small. I would have thought the waist would have been the same! The hips were great, and the legs were better, a little big.... Guess I should just continue wearing my 2 pairs that fit and pray they last til I lose my weight again. I should say, there ARE probably jeans out there that will fit but I can NOT afford to pay the $100 or more. I need cheap! ahahahahahaha.... I knew these would be too good to be true! and the tops of these pjs look awful, and I would NEVER have tucked in a top, I thought the legs looked okay... LOL oh well. I always figure, if the item is good enough it will show up in stores soon enough. In one of those as seen on tv aisles. Although I've not seen too much quality when they DO show up in stores! LOL thanks! I was hoping someone had these. lol