Need to raise cash - should I use ISA money or remortgage?

fluffpot

Hi

I need to raise £20K for medical treatment. My question is do I take this from my ISA (currently £30K) or should I remortgage - I have a lot of equity in the house.

The dilemma arises because my partner is unemployed and I am 2 years self employed and I don't know whether it's better to have some spare cash in case of other emergencies (eg my work drying up, more medical costs) or not to add to the mortgage repayments which I can cover now, but I don't have masses of spare cash left over after this. I'm also not sure if we can remortgage given our employment situation?

If I used the ISA money, I guess I'd then have about £15K left.

Can anyone make any suggestions?
Thanks
Fluffpot

PS I'm posting this also on the mortgage board as I think it is relevant there.

Kay_Peel

Have you thought about selling your house and downsizing?

You would free up some cash. I see little point in building up equity in your present property just for the sake of it.

And no, I wouldn't touch your ISA nest-egg if I were you.

fluffpot

Kay

Good advice, but I think not for us as I couldn't cope with the added stress of buying/selling on top of the health stuff

Thanks

Fluffpot

bandraoi

I think you need to look at the numbers.
What can you get in terms of a loan? How long do you think it would take to pay back? How much can you pay back/put back into savings each month?

fluffpot

I guess I was thinking that the remortgage might be cheaper than a loan.

I guess if I really worked hard, I could put £750 -500 per month aside, but being self employed in the building trade I worry about a downturn in work. So that's probably 3-4 years to pay off the loan (how depressing!)

I don't think my other half will be returning to work any time soon

Kay_Peel

Oh dear - sorry to hear about your plight.

I assume that the medical treatment is not available on the NHS.

I say that I would be reluctant to dip into a nest-egg because it is probably equivalent to about a year's income for two people. You might need that cushion to see you though unemployment, ill-health and a down-turn in the property market. For the same reason, I would be reluctant to take on a loan/re-mortgage.

I hope you get some good advice before you do anything.

Kay

cells

fluffpot wrote: »

Hi
I need to raise £20K for medical treatment.

might sound a stupid question, but a lot of medical treatments can be done on the NHS for near enough free "well you pay for it through your tax"

is the NHS not a possible route?

fluffpot

Thanks for replies folks. The treatment is available on the NHS, but I think if we had to wait 6 months it would all be too late (don't want to go into details, sorry)

I suppose the way I see it is it's better to be healthy and poor than to be rich and possibly dead.

I've had some advice on the same post which I put in the mortgage forum, and think I'll use for the ISA money as it will be so much easier to access (need it in next month). We have in the past rented out rooms in our house, so if money gets tight we always have this option.

Thanks for your ideas though - they've been really helpful, esp when I had to work out the loan payments which was a bit scary!

Kay_Peel

Good luck, Fluffpot. It's only money.