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I am assuming that the debt you are talking about is unsecured debt, like credit cards. Or possible a secured debt like a car or other vehicle loan. If that is true then you would be very foolish to borrow against your home and turn unsecured debt into secured debt which is secured by your house. Since none of your income is going towards rent or mortgage, it is not that hard to pay off your debts over time. You just have to make the decision to do it. First you need to stop spending money that you don't have. Please do not consolidate or use a debt reduction company . It is not free, they will lower your payments by increasing the length of time until you are debt free, and you will take a hit on your credit score. Or they negotiate your debt down after telling you not to pay for awhile adding another hit to your credit score. Student loans are the only debt that can garnish your wages for non payment without taking you to court first. Just list them out on a piece of paper or a spreadsheet and follow the plan. If you work the plan, the plan will work for you. A. Have a garage sale and sell anything that you no longer need or want. B.Get a temporary part time job, if you have one, get another. The wife too. When my kids were small, I worked at night to bring in extra money so that I would still be there for them during the day. Here is a plan that can help you. If you work the plan, the plan will work for you: 1. Make a budget. Make the budget a week before you get paid. A budget is not a punishment! It is a tool which will free you from ever having to worry about money again. Put everything in your budget. Especially those annual, biannual, or quarterly bills like car registration, insurance, etc. Give every dollar you are going to bring home the name of where it is going. Add an "emergency fund" category to your budget for 25 dollars and save up until you have 1000-1250 dollars. Your emergency fund will help keep you from getting into new debt because of an emergency. If you can, set up a direct transfer to a savings account for your emergency fund. That way it moves automatically and you don't even have to worry about it. You must cut your spending and live on less than you make. 2.First get current on all of you debts and make no more late payments. Stop using your credit cards immediately. Do not take on any more debt. Credit cards are like quicksand only the death is much slower. Make a list of all of your debts in order of highest interest rate to lowest interest. Use cash only for your spending from now on. 3.Pay the minimum due on all of your debts and then put your extra money towards paying off the highest interest one first. After you get that one paid off, you put the money you were paying on debt #1 (the minimum payment and the extra payment) towards debt #2. That will pay debt #2 off faster. When that is paid off, you put all three payments towards card #3 and that one will be paid off pretty quickly. As an example: To start : Debt #1 (highest interest): minimum payment+ extra payment Debt #2 (middle interest): minimum payment Debt #3(lowest interest): minimum payment Debt #1: paid off Debt #2: minimum payment from Debt #1+ Minimum payment from Debt #2 +extra payment Debt #3: minimum payment Debt #1: paid off Debt #2: paid off Debt #3:Minimum payment from card #1+ minimum payment from Debt #2+ minimum payment from Debt #3+ extra payment. That way, you will get them all paid off, on time, and pay the least interest. It will also help towards rebuilding your credit since you will no longer have any late payments. This works no matter how many different debts you may have. 4. After you get all of your debts paid off, add to your emergency fund until you have 6-12 months of income saved up. Put that emergency fund money into a liquid money market fund or into a Bank of America no-risk CD so that if you need the money you can take it out without penalty. 5a. When you have your emergency fund in place, add a category for "fun" to your budget. Save for a holiday, a vacation, a big screen, or dinners out, whatever goal you want. Remember to enjoy your life. 5b. When you have your emergency fund in place, start saving for your retirement. Join the 401(k) plan at work and contribute the maximum. Your employer probably matches at least part of your contribution so why give up free money? Open a Roth IRA and contribute the maximum on a monthly basis. If you start saving for your retirement now, you will probably retire a millionaire. 5c. When you have your emergency fund in place, start saving for your next car. Only buy cars, or other things that depreciate, with cash. Save up for a nicer car. That way you get the interest instead of paying the interest. You can do it and it isn't as hard as you think. Just follow the plan.

by Jeanne R

1 month ago

Asker's Rating: 

Yes, simply apply for a loan, I don't know if you can take out a reverse mortgage, not really recommended, but if your home is free and clear, anyone, just about, will lend you money, because they can always take the home away if you don't make the payments, if you fully default on the loan, but maybe not even like that, with the current crisis. Contact a hard money investor or lender.

by Fair & Savvy- 1 month ago

Closing costs - remember those when taking out a loan on your house. No matter how small the amount your house will have to go through appraisal and title search, lien search etc... Closing costs for us ran $5,000 US dollars. Reverse mortages are even worse with the fees. /

by Judy- 1 month ago

Do your homework before you take a loan. Do you deal with a specific bank or credit union? Our credit union waives the appraisal and closing cost fees when we do a home equity loan,so ask questions. Go to several lenders and talk to them about your situation. There are a few loans out there. There is the traditional home equity loan that you borrow a specific amount and pay back a specific amount over x amount of time. There is also a home equity line of credit which will give you access to all of your equity as needed and you pay a set amount each month. The reverse mortgage is for people over the age of 62 I believe and unless you need it to survive because your elderly and cannot work I wouldn't even consider it.

by JG- 1 month ago

If the debt is a relatively small amount (less than $15,000) I would go with a home equity line of credit. The transaction fees for these are much lower than a full house refinancing, and you can pay it off over a relatively shorter time than a full house refinance. If you do want to do a full refi, the I recommend you look into ING Direct, an online bank. They offer a 3.99% five year mortgage with biweekly payments. It is an extremely good rate if you only need to borrow less than $15,000.

by Lauren F- 1 month ago

listen, you would only get yourself in more debt. struggle to pay off the debt, but try not to mortgage the house to clear up debt because the you will still be in debt.

by susta1951- 1 month ago

Taking out another loan doesn't get you outta debt. Just knuckle down with a written budget and pay it off. Debt free is a good place to be.

by heybulldog- 1 month ago

because your self employed its not as easy, but still doable. I would suggest not asking for more then you need to pay bills off. with a free & clear house that does make it look a lot better to an underwriter. To answer your question clear & plain. Yes there is hope, and a very good chance it will be approved. Go in ready to apply with at least 2 years of tax returns (personal & business) and proof of any other income you may have. The key with using you home to pay bills is to realize your house is not an ATM...the plan only works if you do not run your bills up again.

by Taildog Ω- 1 month ago

Ask lenders for agreement to delete this items from your credit report when paying them. I recommend to get such agreement thru credit repair agency, for example this one - credit-report-score.10001mb.com

by Victor- 1 month ago