Thinking about getting one to consolidate alot of little bills here and there. First time owning a home (had it for a year now). Can someone tell me the pros and cons of this and can any of it be written off on your taxes. Also is there any "Buyer bewares" of any sort thanks.

Damn all you guys rent and not own?

Yup, that's a great idea.  Check out ditech.com for the calculator.  Consolidating unsecured debts into your home loan causes the debts to become secured.  In other words, you jack up the loan and default, you lose the house.  You default on unsecured debts and you lose your good credit rating.

It's far better, in my opinion, to tack the debts onto the home loan for tax purposes.  You can deduct the interest on your home lona, but not one bit of the credit card debt.  With the Federal Reserve raising rates so much and the uncertain impact of Katrina, I'd say do it soon.

Well I am going to go and talk with a reputable company. I thank you for your response. But I'm not going to take anything word for word info wise from the internet. So many people with so many opinons and sure (no offense). But what I was wanting was personal experiences and people just commenting on them because it might make me think of questions to ask when that time comes. I was told by someone at work that you can't write off home equity loans unless you did something with the money to improve your house like a room addition or something like that. But I would really like to hear anything else you guys have to say. Espically what question I need to ask in order not to get burned. Thanks.