O.K., I'm not proud of this, but there is one section of my financial picture I am concerned about. I have a HELOC of about 35k on my house. We got phased out of the student loan deduction and paid our loans off with it. Now the thing is, it's a variable rate loan, and with Mr. Greenspan raising rates every quarter, the payment is constantly going up. Plus, the minimum payment is interest only, so we aren't getting anywhere if we only pay that. Right now it's at ~6.25% and payments are around 180/month. I can fix it at 7% for 20 years with a payment of about $270. As a side bar, I have 15k just parked in EmigrantDirect at 4% that I guess I could close out and pay down this HELOC during the refinance process for a payment of ~$180, or just lump it on and keep going with what I've got. The one thing I don't like about that option is that would leave us with just the 12 grand in savings for emergencies (plus the IRAs and 401ks, but I'd really hate to tap those!). Advice, anyone?