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Thumb of Michigan | Not sure why some think you have a life style or financial problem. Well, unless they believe everything Ramsey says.
I don't see the problem. You have debt. I don't care at all what the debt is, it has to be paid. By reading some of your other posts, I don't at all get the feeling that you feel your debt is unmanageable. You can pay less interest by doing a refi on current debt to pay current debt- never saw anywhere that you were going to speculate on a pet rock factory or go on vacation with the proceeds.
I guess its easy to get wrapped up in the house is good debt and the cars are bad debt discussion. All that does is muddy the water. As I said before, the debt is there and needs to be paid. Sounds like you know that. I'm going to assume that the payments are maybe even coming from the same check book. Makes no difference, its up to you to make the payment. No matter what. Forget the interest deduction thing, although that is an important consideration: I don't think the decision is all that complicated. If you can swing the payments and make it all work, go for it. I like the idea of stopping more expensive debt with cheaper debt. I also don't necessarily believe that any debt is bad debt. If I can borrow a buck, pay back the principal and the interest and have an extra 5o cents left, I'm going to declare that a good thing. I can sleep at night as long as I can do that.
I should also admit that I'm one of those a-holes that lump a house and a car kind of in the same category- they're liabilities, not assets. The useful life of the liability is the only difference from a pure balance sheet perspective. Well, that is, unless something like a corp owns the liability. Then they get to be on the balance sheet side of things. But thats a discussion for a different time.
Not trying to be hard on Ramsey, but I guess I'm also one who doesn't see the greatness in his advice some do. He probably offers more info than whats available in high schools all over the US, but I sure wouldn't want to run a business based on his theories.
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House refi - cash out option
