im thinking of pulling a 3rd mortgage from my personal residence to pay off my personal credit debt along with my wife's debt. majority of my credit cards have high APR's and interest rate from college.

i dont want to refinance yet since i still have a 1 year prepayment penalty left.

is this the smart thing to do?

Alvin will your current 2nd mortgage lender let you refi the secoond with them? Does it also have a pre-pay on it? A 3rd lein is gonna be tough to get.

yes both the 1st and 2nd have a 2 year pre pay. i still have 1 year left before i can refi

sounds like it's the 3rd mortgage. Let me know who does it for you, and how the process goes. Laws are different in other states so it might be a viable option in Cali

You might want to think about this---credit cards are unsecured. Putting up your home as security for credit cards is very risky, and if you can't make the payments you could lose the home. If you can't make payments on a credit cards, not as much risk. Check into a lower rate card with balance transfer. I am not a financial person, but I heard this on a tv show!

Look in the wall street journal for lenders with the lowest credit card rates nationwide. You will be able to transfer your balances to some of these cards with less headache and a lower rate than a 3rd mortgage.

3rd mortgage rates are horrible Alvin.

But, if you need to lower your payments and increase cash flow in order to prevent late pays then consider it.

Tax deductible interest versus not...

Plus if I am not mistaken you need stated income which will be impossible on a 3rd mortgage..

On your 80/20 your 2nd may not have a pre-pay though. Look at that and consider refinancing your 2nd instead. And even if it does it may be worth paying it depending on how much you save.

What is the mid score for you 2 now?