You may also want to ask you mortgage broker if they have a mortgage only program. Even though you may have below 500 credit scores, with a good mortgage payment history you may be able to refinance and pay off some of the negative debt on your credit report.

If you decide to refinance into a loan that will allow you to pay off your credit cards faster, you will more than likely be able to skip a month of your mortgage payment. Use the money saved from making that payment, and apply it to one of your credit cards. Remember that once the credit cards are paid down or destroyed to not close out the account. This will help your credit score in the long run. The credit bureaus like to see accounts with a zero balance that have been open for a long period of time.

If you are paying the minimum payment on your maxed out credit cards every month, it could take 15 to 22 years to pay off those cards. Consolidating credit cards with higher rates, such as 16%, 18% or 21%, into your refinanced mortgage with a rate of, say 6.25%, you could dramatically decrease your total monthly payments. The money you save every month could be used to pay off other credit cards or other loans quicker. At that point, the extra money you have every month could be paid to reduce the principal on your mortgage or you could refinance into a shorter term loan, say 15 years, at a lower rate and pay off your home much quicker.

If you refinance to pay off credit cards it is wise to have the limit’s on the credit cards lowered to avoid the same situation you are refinancing out of. Unless you have many cards open avoid closing the accounts. If they have been open for a long time closing them could negatively impact your credit.

Remember, you have a three (business) day right of recession before you can receive the cash from your refinance.

Another option if you do not have enough equity in your home to pay off your credit cards is to refinance to a pay option arm. The money you can save by making minimum payments on your mortgage can be applied to your credit cards to help pay them down quicker.

If you want to use a refinance loan to consolidate some of your debts, you’re going to have to borrow more than the actual amount remaining on the loan that you’re refinancing. This additional amount will be used to pay off those debts that are being consolidated and will affect the monthly payment of your refinanced loan. By doing this, however, you can make your finances and outstanding debts much more manageable and will likely become debt-free much faster.

If you have poor credit our should strive to improve your credit rating after securing a mortgage. This will allow you to refinance at a conforming rate and save you money every month.

A fico credit score below 500 will dramatically limit your ability to obtain a mortgage to purchase a home or refinance your existing home loan. The highest loan to value you might expect with a credit score under 500 would 65% before closing costs, meaning you can borrow $65,000 for every $100,000 of property value (the market value of your home).

A good measurement for considering a refinance or second mortgage to pay off credit cards would be the time in which you would be able to pay off the credit debt. Because of compounding interest if your credit debt would remain unpaid after three years of payments, consolidating your debt would most likely be beneficial.