So with all of the recent excitement that came from the Federal Reserves decision to cut the interest rate by 3/4 of a percent I, of course, started debating whether I should consider taking advantage of some favorable mortgage offers.

But after spending some time thinking things through – I have decided that now is not the time for me – even though it may be more doable rate-wise. Here are my reasons for passing – in no particular order:

• I have little to no savings
• I’m in the middle of my big credit card paydown plan, so I haven’t really been worried about building my savings at all. I’m planning to use some tax refund money to bring my emergency fund back up to $1000, however the rest will go to debt and I plan to keep my focus there for the near future.

• I don’t know if I’m here for the long-term
• I was born and raised near Boston, went to school in Boston and have worked and lived in Boston since. Part of me likes it – and wants to remain close to my family, but another part of me knows that the longer I wait to move somewhere and try something different – the more difficult it will become. Sure I could buy a house, live in it for a few years and try to sell – but I’m not going to pretend that I know what I’m doing and that it would be that easy. I could rent it out from out of state – but that too would most likely proof to be difficult.

• Less than desirable credit score
• I pulled my annual free credit report this week and can’t say I was surprised. I have a lot of debt – we all know that. I’m currently paying it off and not opening new accounts, so I know my score will only go up in the future*. But for now, my score is a 705 and that makes the rates that I would be able to get on my own less than desirable.

• Property taxes, etc…
• As a current renter, I have no idea really what to expect with home ownership. Sure I can read and ask people questions, but each situation is different and I want to be sure that some minor (or major) setback won’t absolutely kill me or my finances.

So, it looks like no home purchase for me. Don’t get me wrong – I may still look and even go to an open house or two, but I won’t be buying anything soon.

* I say that I know that my credit score will only go up in the future, but that may not necessarily be true. Only because I have a strong desire to cancel a lot of my credit card accounts. Especially the most recent ones – that way I still have the long-standing credit history that comes with some of my first accounts and I limit my risk to identity theft (a.k.a. absolute disaster). I know a lot of people will say that closing accounts is a bad idea – but, my thought is that if you don’t use your credit cards – already have a fixed mortgage and can afford a 7-10 year wait for credit score improvement – why not?

According to a report on Bankrate.com, 34% of people asked had no idea what type of mortgage they had on their homes. …What? …Really? How is that possible?

I know there is an alarming amount of people that don’t really care about personal finance and that’s fine, I can understand that – but 34% of people went through the process of “purchasing” a home and just didn’t pay attention to what they were doing or being sold? I can’t imagine that.

What’s more believable is that:

“9 percent have some variety of an adjustable-rate mortgage. Homeowners in the poll who knew they had an adjustable-rate mortgage (ARM) were asked what they planned to do when the interest rate adjusts, 34 percent said they didn’t know what they’d do.”

It’s one thing to not think about the future or pose a ‘what if’ to yourself – but to just not know and pay anyway is amazing to me.

The article blames the lack of personal knowledge exhibited by this 34% on the over-abundance of product choice leading to consumer confusion. However, all interest in personal finance aside – or lack thereof, I still don’t buy it. We live in (sorry to be cliche) the information age. With all of the books, sites, calculators, and advice available to anyone that can use Google I just don’t see how that many people can not know what they’re paying for every month.

Heck – I’m a renter and even I know what I’ll be doing once the time comes for me to buy a house (it will be through a fixed-rate mortgage – unless the rates are so high it makes sense to get an ARM in hopes they fall again).

I don’t think it was a matter of too much choice or confusion. I think that – like most everything that is a ‘major purchase’ – these people were bullied or talked into whatever they currently have by being told by an “expert” that it was a good deal or the only way to do it. Oh well – I guess it’s more motivation to learn as much as you can about whatever you’re getting yourself into.