IT feels like a no-brainer – shift expensive credit cards and loans onto a cheap mortgage and, bazinga, you’re quids in. While it seems simple, there are hidden pitfalls that leave some in negative equity or cost others their home. Here are the six key things you need to know: 1. Mortgages are secured debts, cards and loans unsecured. While secured borrowing sounds better, it’s the lender, not you, who gets the security. It means if you can’t repay, it can take your home – it’s the reason why mortgage rates can be much lower than other borrowing. By increasing your mortgage to repay credit cards, you convert unsecured debt into secured. If you can’t repay your home is at risk.

2. Many can slash borrowing costs without using their mortgage – how does shifting debts to my mortgage, compare to just shifting them to cheaper credit cards or loan deals? If the difference isn’t big, unsecured wins. Compare your mortgage rate to the following: Balance transfer credit cards at moneysavingexpert.com/bts. Do the credit card shuffle – call existing card providers to ask if you can shift debts from other cards to them.

3. It’s the interest’s cost, not rate, that counts. The cost of borrowing isn’t just about the rate, it’s about how long you borrow for. The longer, the costlier – and most mortgages are over much longer periods than loan or credit cards (provided you’re repaying a decent amount). It pays to do the sums – see moneysavingexpert.

com/mortgagecalculator.

4. Is there room to add debt to your mortgage? The key mortgage metric is your LTV, loan to value ratio, which refers to the size of your borrowing compared to your home’s current value. The lower the LTV, the better mortgage deal you are usually able to get.

5. Shift debts to a mortgage, keep up current repayments. If you take the plunge, while it’s tempting to see it as a way to reduce your total monthly repayments too, it could increase the long-term cost.

6. Only do this once. I met a couple who’d inherited a house, got a mortgage to clear some of their credit cards. Once that habit started, they kept doing it until they ended up selling the place and coming out with nothing.