Here are some hints regarding how to investigate credit card fraud

Smart Ways to Consolidate Debt : Home Equity Loans Can Help Lower Monthly Credit Card Payments

All debt is bad debt right? Wrong! Although it may sound counter-intuitive, there is such a thing as good debt. Good debt is investment debt that creates value; for example student loans, real estate loans, home mortgages, second mortgage loans, and business loans, says Eric Gelb, CEO of Gateway Financial Advisors and author of Getting Started in Asset Allocation, in a recent article on Bankrate.

Bad debt, on the other hand, is debt incurred for items that decrease in value, such as cars, clothes, plasma TVs. Credit cards are typically the culprit behind creating bad debt. Interest rates on credit cards are usually very high, and if your balance isnt paid in full each month, you end up paying more for items that are continually decreasing in value.

By refinancing your high interest credit card debt into a home equity loan, you can turn that bad debt into good debt and heres the best part save money each month! If you take a home equity loan because you have a 17 percent credit card, and you go with a 6 percent loan thats tax-deductible, thats good debt, says Robert D. Manning, a professor of finance at the Rochester Institute of Technology, in a recent article on Bankrate. The lower interest rate of a home equity loan may even allow you to pay off the balance quicker than if you were making minimum payments on several different credit cards each month.

Lets not forget that debt consolidation isnt just for those with bad debt. In some cases, your good debt can be made even better by refinancing your mortgage. Combining a first and second mortgage through refinancing can lower your mortgage payment, and therefore save you money each month. Refinancing your adjustable rate mortgage into a fixed rate mortgage or switching your interest only loan into a more traditional mortgage may also allow you a little more disposable income.

There are many equity loan options out there when it comes to debt consolidation. As with any financial decision, you should do your homework and find out what will work best for you and your family. Remember that, ultimately, the goal is to turn that bad debt into good debt and let that good debt keep growing in value.

Jennifer is a famous web editor and writer who has published many home mortgage and real estate related articles for Equity Loans & Second Mortgages & Fixed Rate Home Equity Loans. If you need more information regarding debt consolidation or current home interest rates, please visit the Second Mortgage Consolidation.

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More Useful Resource and Updates on how to investigate credit card fraud

• Couple pleads innocent to fraud involving credit card (Daily Inter Lake)
  A Kalispell couple pleaded innocent Thursday to stealing a woman's credit card information and then using it to wrack up more than $6,000 worth of charges at businesses around Flathead County.



• Bryan Police Search for Credit Card Thief (KBTX 3 Bryan - College Station)
  Bryan Police need your help to solve a case involving credit card abuse.



• Target tightens credit terms more for card holders (AP via Yahoo! News)
  Target Corp., facing slower sales and rising delinquencies in its credit card business, said Thursday it's further tightening finance terms for its card holders ? even those with good standing.



• Records: Kilpatrick curbed city-issued credit card use late in tenure (Detroit Free Press)
  Former Detroit Mayor Kwame Kilpatrick sharply reduced use of his taxpayer-funded credit card in his last five years in office compared to his profligate use in his first 33 months in office, according to city records.



• Man Uses Credit Card Stolen From Mail (Fox 12 Oregon)
  CLACKAMAS, Ore. -- Police are searching for a man who they said stole a credit card out of the mail and then tried to use it at a store. Police said the thief took off before they could arrest him.



• Beaten Anchor's Credit Card Used at Shell After Attack (Fox News)
  The credit card of a television anchor woman left in critical condition after a brutal beating in her home was used in the minutes following the attack.



• DETROIT: Globe-trotting Kilpatrick slashed use of credit card (Detroit Free Press)
  Former Detroit Mayor Kwame Kilpatrick promised after his narrow 2005 re-election to inform the public when he traveled on city business. Records of the taxpayer-funded credit card he had as mayor that were released Friday showed he repeatedly failed to keep that promise.



• Judge sentences ex-Park City waitress who doctored credit card receipts (The Salt Lake Tribune)
  Posted: 2:53 PM- PARK CITY - A former waitress is spending a long weekend in the Summit County Jail after admitting to doctoring credit card receipts to boost her tips at an upscale Kimball Junction restaurant.



• Credit card payment defaults on the rise (Philstar.com via Yahoo! Philippines News)
  The Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas (BSP) reported yesterday a 20.50 percent increase in past-due receivables during the second quarter of the year, indicating that credit card holders are having a harder time keeping their personal finances straight.



• Stolen Credit Card Leads To Child Porn Arrest (CBS 5 Phoenix)
  A stolen credit card leads Tempe police to arrest a Mesa man on child pornography charges.

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