Pros and Cons

Should I consolidate? Well one would think the answer would automatically YES, but there are some Pros and Cons. The following link is a page that can help answer this question.

The calculator provides two types of information about each of these options. One is the total monthly payment, which consists of mortgage payments, mortgage insurance premiums if any, and non-mortgage debt payments if any. Borrowers on tight budgets must be concerned with the monthly payment, but it should not be the major determinant of their choice. It fails to reflect differences in tax savings or debt reduction as between the options.

The second type of information the calculator provides about all the options is their total cost over a period specified by the user. If the user’s time horizon is, say, 5 years, the total cost of each option is the sum of the monthly payments over 5 years including lost interest, less the tax savings and reduction in total debt over that period. Minimizing this cost should be the borrower's major objective.

Here is the link to the article...