Consumer debt vs HELOC

[disneysteve]

We did save for the wedding, but things just kept running over budget.

"Running over budget" either means you failed to budget properly and underestimated what things truly cost or you failed to stick to the budget you had set for yourselves. Last year, we held a $25,000 family affair. We budgeted $25,000. We spent a little under $25,000. There were lots and lots of ways we could have gone over our budget but chose not to because that was our budget and we were sticking to it. There were some things that got trimmed or cut in order to stay within the budget, but what's the point of a budget if you aren't going to follow it?

[maat55]

I shouldn't have to borrow in the future.
That's why I'm trying to fund 3 to 6 month's expenses as soon as possible.

Like Steve, I'm concerned that your mentality towards CC debt may not be fully developed towards PIF. You have to be very determined not to run up CC debt. You have to establish strict uses for the card(honeymoons and weddings etc. should not be applicable).

Is your situation one of two people not on the same page? If so, I highly recommend you focus intensely on paying off the debt without the HELOC. You can avoid interest the same by focusing all extra funds, extra work etc. towards the debt as apposed to a longer term HELOC payoff.

[EconoMutt]

Like Steve, I'm concerned that your mentality towards CC debt may not be fully developed towards PIF. You have to be very determined not to run up CC debt. You have to establish strict uses for the card(honeymoons and weddings etc. should not be applicable).

Is your situation one of two people not on the same page? If so, I highly recommend you focus intensely on paying off the debt without the HELOC. You can avoid interest the same by focusing all extra funds, extra work etc. towards the debt as apposed to a longer term HELOC payoff.

I'm the one that actually underestimated.
We had things like our flowers died and we had to scramble to get replacements.
Our fault. We put the flowers out the night before.
The car also had rust around the struts, so it was a safety issue.
My last two cars were Infiniti's. My new (used) car is a Chevy Malibu.
I'm committed to getting my debt under control.
A matter of fact, I'm planning on paying down $3,000 by November 15th.

[TurnDebtIntoDebt]

Use your home equity loan to payoff your debt. You have been offered good advice on using that but also not creating more debt in the process. After it has been transferred to your home equity loan, do what you can to pay it off so that you won't pay a lot more money from interest. And you can at the same time build your savings.