Dug1

Many thanks to all who replied and to explain the lack of response so far I'm currently laid low with a nasty flu virus and feeling really not up to deciding what's the best route to follow. Our circumstances are not as dire as it may have seemed from my post but we do need to protect the cushion of savings that we have as they're slowly but steadily being eroded. So no decision yet, we are considering all aspects of the advice kindly offered by you all and realise we must act before our hand is forced by being unable to pay bills. It really seems odd that it could be so difficult to raise around £15,000 to clear the high interest credit card balance that we can only pay the interest on when a secured loan on our house would have been at much lower rates with the possibility of paying off completely.I'm sorry if it came across as a stupid question, I think the disparity of views and advice offers belies that.         

Hi to all: My wife and I live in a rented house in England and work in England too, I'm very nearly 60, my wife's 54. To safeguard our retirement years and because we could not afford to buy a house in England we cheaply bought a building plot in France and had a wood framed kit built house built for us on the plot. However due to the £s fall against the Euro the staggered payments for the house build went £1000s over the allowed for costs. We now have a (finally) finished house that we own totally with no mortgage or loans against it that needs furnishing and kitting out but don't have resources to cover. We're fully maxxed out on credit cards and have 2 other unsecured loans, but it's the credit cards that are really hurting as we're paying interest only. Could anyone recommend the best course of action for us to clear our credit card loans by using the French house as collateral and if so can anyone recommend a lender? Regards Doug Smith