conversation: User (fluffytuff): "Hello everyone,  \n  \nI've been married for 15 years, and my wife has always been a homemaker due to having a severely autistic son that needed 24/7 care. I've always been the breadwinner of the household, and we've barely made ends meet, living paycheck to paycheck for the entire time. Recently, I got a promotion that gave us a little more breathing room, and she got a job as well. Our income went from 60k a year in the household, to 98k a year earlier this month.  \n  \nNow, we currently own a trailer outright, which isn't worth much (I bought it new for 40k 12 years ago) so I can't imagine it's worth much now. It's damn near falling apart, and I don't want to dump more money into it than I have to. Now that we can afford to, we want to buy a home that we can safely afford with her income (since mine is sufficient enough to pay the bills, hers will go straight to the mortgage). The problem with this is, after years of beating up my credit, I'm only at around 600. I have about $6,000 worth of credit card debt spread across 11 cards. I need your help in cleaning up this mess, and I don't know where to begin that will start getting us into a house the fastest possible way (I'm not joking when I say the trailer is falling apart.)  \n  \nThe way I see it is, I have 2 options:  \n  \nA. Use her checks to start paying these credit cards down (she gets paid weekly), and after 6-8 months, we'll have them paid down enough to hopefully have my credit fixed to the point we can start house shopping.  \n  \nB. Get a debt consolidation loan for the $6,000 and pay that down. I'm already approved for a signature loan for $5,500 but at 33% interest. I'm leaning more against that route.  \n  \nDo you have any other suggestions? From what I understand, you need at least a 650 credit score for banks to even start to talk to you about mortgages. I'm also banking on USDA or FHA loans to minimize down payments, and then use grants from my state to pay for the leftovers.  \n  \nHelp? Thanks!"
  Self: "Oh man, please don't take out a 33% interest loan.  You make plenty of money.  Please cut your living expenses and pay off the card.\n\nCan you sell the trailer for anything?  Could you sell it and use the money to pay off the card?"
  