Q. I have an FHA first mortgage at 5% and a balance of $124,000 and recently took on a second mortgage for $55,000. In an effort to lower monthly payments, I applied to consolidate both mortgages into an interest-only loan. But now I'm not sure this refinancing was a good idea. The new loan is for 6.5% and it's adding another $10,000 to my debt. Should I go through with this?

A.You didn't provide all of the information we'd need to run the numbers and make a financial comparison of your current loans and the proposed refinancing. But we can certainly understand why you're having second thoughts. Here are the things that struck us about your pending deal:

The 5% FHA loan is the best mortgage you'll ever have. We don't know how much you're paying on that second mortgage, but it would have to be awfully expensive to justify refinancing out of that primary mortgage. Do you know how much your new monthly payments will be?

We understand that you're refinancing to lower your total monthly payments. But interest-only loans use a gimmick to accomplish that. They don't require you to repay any of the debt for the loan's introductory period. So you may be writing a mortgage check every month, but you won't be getting out of debt.

Many interest-only loans are also adjustable-rate mortgages. Do you know if that's the case with this loan? And if it is an ARM, when do the rates start resetting? One or two adjustments could make your monthly payments more than what you're paying now.

If you're not getting any cash from this refinancing, the $10,000 being added to your debt is probably for fees and closings costs being rolled into the loan. That's a lot. Please tell us you're not spending any money above and beyond that to close this deal.

We don't know how much your home is worth, but between the $55,000 you borrowed in January and the additional $10,000 you're borrowing now, we have to wonder how much equity you'll be left with. This is a dangerous time to be borrowing anywhere near the full value of any home. Prices are falling in many parts of the country and many homeowners who borrowed 100% of what their home was worth, are now upside-down -- they owe more than their homes are currently worth. That makes it virtually impossible for them to sell or refinance again.

If you have less than 20% equity left in your home you'll probably have to buy private mortgage insurance, which protects the lender in case you default. (Subtract $189,000 from the appraised value of your home, divide that by the value and multiply by 100 to get the percent equity.) Has anyone mentioned such a cost to you?

If you are uncertain about any of this, you need to find a real estate attorney right away. If you don't know one, look in the Yellow Pages for a real estate attorney, call one, explain your situation, gather all your paperwork and insist that he or she see you right away.

Yes, that will cost a few hundred dollars. But you're clearly worried about what you're getting into. This is probably the biggest financial deal you'll ever sign and you need to be certain that you're doing the right thing.