I’m hardly Dear Abby, and I don’t normally turn something left in the comments section into a story, but this message, left in the comments section of a recent post I wrote, grabbed me and I couldn’t turn away:

I have been married for 12 years and have just been told by my husband that he has $68,000 in credit card debt. We have separate charge cards, and I have always had my charges under $10,000. He wants me to sign a contract for a 30-year loan to pay off his credit card debt only.

The loan would include rolling in our first and second mortgage as well as our car and truck. I told him, ‘No, you should try to contact the credit card companies and deal with them directly.’ Does anyone have any advice for me? I am 62, and my husband is 59.

With all the red flags this message contained, I just couldn’t ignore it. So I’m going to offer my advice — for what it’s worth — along with the insight of a couple of personal finance advisers. And in case anyone is curious, before deciding to publish my response, I e-mailed the commenter to let her know I’d be talking to some experts and turning her question into a story.

I don’t know the income level of our 62-year-old reader or her 59-year-old husband, which puts me at a disadvantage, but I figure this situation is probably common enough that I don’t need to know all the details in order to offer advice that will help.

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