[Pudding]

DH and I make a healthy living so we are not sure if this will do us any good. We completely depleted our savings to pay for our first adoption and we have been working hard to save for the second but I fear that we are going to fall several thousand short. We are very hesitant to refinance the house because interest rates are climbing and we have a good interest rate. Home equity loans always hit you hard for early payoff. Sometimes the penalty is $500.00. Have any of you been successful obtaining either a grant or a low interest loan from one of the adoption charities on the internet. I really do not know if this would even be a consideration for us. Feel free to PM me if you have any information that you would like to share or questions to ask. I am open to any kind of creative financing ideas. I alway appreciate your collective brain storming.

Beth

[dlwcfp1]

I had a few thoughts as I read your email. If you have already thought of these please disregard.

First - have you factored in what you will "save" in taxes when you apply for the adoption credit when the adoption is final? It is about $10,900 for 2006.

Have you considered getting the home equity, taking advantage of the tax advantages on the interest and rather than paying off your HE loan maybe you could pay off other debt that does not offer tax advantages like your car(s) or credit cards. You may also consider a home equity line of credit as opposed to a home equity loan. Typically the rate on a LOC fluctuates so in a market where interest rates are going up that isn't great, but if you plan on paying it off early it may still be a viable option. Those typically don't have a prepayment penalty.

You may also want to consider borrowing from a 401k plan if you have one and have enough in it to borrow. Depending on the plan administrator they usually let a person borrow up to 50% of the value of the account. The interest that you pay back you pay back to yourself. The downside is that if the market is performing at a higher interest rate than what you are paying back to yourself in interest you are missing out on some growth.

You may also play the credit card "game" depending on your available line of credit. Alot of times they will offer low interest rates for fixed periods of time and when the time runs out move the balance to another card. Just be aware that you have to be extra diligent on making sure you make payments on time or they will raise your interest rate. If you adjust your with-holdings to have less money with-held for taxes (after your adoption is final) to counter act the adoption credit the difference could provide you with the monthly payment with money you are not used to in your budget. (Consult your CPA/tax advisor) Just a few ideas....

[TyAva]

Also you may want to check into a home equity line of credit. You can borrow against it and pay back with out penalty...some banks allow you to close these after the 1st year if you have a zero balance and don't want to keep it in place any longer. (Ours cost nothing to put in place.)

[Pudding]

Bumping up!