You may want to consider choosing a home loan provider before you start shopping for a home. This will allow you to determine in advance how much you can spend on your new home. Pre-qualifying for a home loan can save you time and trouble while you go through process of buying a home. A pre-approval is an excellent tool when making an offer to buy a home. Sellers like security of knowing your mortgage is already approved and will often negotiate with a pre-approved buyer more readily than with a buyer who must search for a lender after making an offer to purchase home.

Compare mortgage lenders and lending practices to find best possible home loan for you and your family. The interest rate you receive will directly affect amount of your monthly mortgage payments. A little research can save you thousands of dollars over life of your mortgage.

A home equity line-of-credit is usually better choice. With this type of loan, you will be able to write 'checks' against amount of line-of-credit, which may be as much as 125% of value of your home. For example, if you obtain a $10,000 line of credit secured by equity in your home, and use $2,000 of it to pay off an outstanding credit card balance, you've essentially only borrowed $2,000, and that's amount on which you'll pay interest.

When looking for your loan, it's essential that you shop around--not only for best interest rates and terms, but for a company that you can trust. Ask for referrals from your bank, friends and coworkers. In addition, you can check them out on Internet.

You will need to determine value of your home so will know how much money you will able to borrow against it. It's a good idea to get a current appraisal of your home, and always smart to have it appraised by several different companies.

Finally, in order for you to get most out of your home equity loan, you will need to choose lender that offers you best interest rates. Remember that fees and other charges can vary widely from company to company, so make sure you do some comparisons.

Once you've been approved, you can use all or part of your home equity loan to pay off your current unsecured debt. Keep in mind that you'll only STAY out of debt if you avoid temptation to run those credit card balances up again!