Does this make sense? I'd like to use a credit card "convenience check" that is offering 1.99% APR for 12 months to pay down some of our home equity loan that is hovering at 8.25%. Assuming I am very diligent and do not miss any minimum monthly payments on the credit card, can't I just pay off the credit card balance in 12 months with the HELOC? That way I get 12 months of a lower interest rate? This seems so simple, yet I can't find good guidance via Google, etc.

How would a private UK citizen, living and working in the UK, with no financial connection to the US, go about buying a few thousand dollars of shares in a NASDAQ-listed company? Talk to my broker, right? Where should my broker be? In the US or the UK? Any specific broker recommendations? Any tax/duty issues of which I need to be aware? Any other advice?

How soon is too soon to get a home equity loan? We've been in the house one year. I am already getting home equity loan solicitations, practically every week. How soon is too soon to take out a home equity loan? Yes, it's a lot of money. But we (meaning he) has OLD debt at sky-high rates I'd love to pay off, as well as some remodeling projects our house desperately needs. I am aware that banks have rules about how soon/how much has been paid before they will allow a loan. I am just curious as to the conventional wisdom regarding the notion of borrowing against a house that we've only been in 12 months, give or take.