Dying of leukemia, Lisa K.'s husband worked quickly to get the family's financial "ducks in a row" for the benefit of his surviving wife and children. But as an e-mail from Lisa made clear, no matter how diligent you think you are problems can spring from anywhere. In Lisa's case it was in not understanding the implications of the way the beneficiary designations were filled in on her husband's life insurance policy. The oversight has stuck Lisa with having to account to a court every six months, being visited by court representatives every three years and working with a guardian ad litem appointed for her children.

You've found your dream house and now all you need is a loan. Hold everything, even if you've been through this drill before. When interest rates are rising and lenders' business is slowing down, they often get desperate. The result: You may be pitched a loan that's totally inappropriate for your needs. "A loan is a product, and just as in any business where you make money by selling a product, [loan officers] overreach in their sales pitches," says Michael McCann, a California attorney specializing in banking law.

For some home buyers, purchasing that new home involves selling an old one. That's why some borrowers look for a "bridge loan" to span the gap between the two transactions. Terms of a bridge loan can vary. Some are structured so that they completely pay off the old home's first mortgage, while others pile the new debt on top of the old.

With interest rates at their lowest levels in years, mortgage brokers and bankers are taking more calls than New York's quit-smoking hotline. But don't let the frenzy lure you into the wrong type of mortgage. You've got several options to choose from, and believe it or not everyone should go with a 30-year fixed-rate mortgage, even if it is at a rock-bottom rate. To help you figure out which mortgage is right for you, we've created profiles of six common mortgage shoppers, from someone who is temporarily cash-poor to someone in search of a "jumbo" mortgage of more than $359,650 ($539,475 in Alaska and Hawaii). Everybody's situation, of course, is different and yours might not be perfectly matched here. But this approach is a good way to learn about who uses the different types of loans available and where the best place is to get them.

At some point, most of us will feel a little strapped for cash. Maybe we didn't set aside enough money for our kids' college tuition. Perhaps the balance on those credit cards is larger than we'd like to admit. Or, it's finally time to update that harvest-gold kitchen. Whatever the need, tapping into the equity built up in a home offers an inexpensive way to access funds. Most homeowners can do this in one of two ways: either by taking out a home-equity loan, sometimes known as a second mortgage, or by setting up a line of credit. Both carry very competitive interest rates right now, and in most cases homeowners can write off the interest on a loan up to $100,000 -- no matter what the proceeds are spent on. And thanks to a slowing, but still strong real-estate market, most homeowners are sitting on more equity than they realize. Just remember, the stakes are pretty high. If you default, you could lose your home.

If your down payment on a home is less than 20 percent of the appraised value or sale price, you must obtain mortgage insurance. Mortgage insurance sometimes is referred to as private mortgage insurance, or PMI, to distinguish it from FHA and VA insurance, which are run by government programs. The cost of mortgage insurance varies depending on the size of the down payment and the loan, but it typically amounts to about one-half of 1 percent of the loan.

Once you've narrowed the lender field to a short list of finalists, it's time to compare their offers. Here are the 10 key questions to ask at application time to help you find the best overall mortgage loan. If you have already selected a lender and are ready to apply, make sure you have the answers to these questions first.

Your mortgage lender will want to know a lot about you before approving your loan application, and justifiably so; they and their underwriters want to be assured that you meet their minimum level of creditworthiness before lending you money.

Whether you are buying a home or are refinancing your current mortgage, you eventually have to apply for a loan and compare offers. You will need to gather a lot of paperwork, satisfy a list of credit requirements, negotiate the best possible loan terms and make sense of the good-faith estimate. You will be asked to supply a lot of paperwork when you apply. Then you'll get some paperwork in return. Of the documents you receive, the most important is the good-faith estimate of closing costs. The lender might shorten that to "good-faith estimate" or GFE. Here we will call it the good-faith estimate.

When evaluating you for a loan against your equity, lenders assess you for a warm smile, winning personality, dancing ability and willingness to fetch coffee. Make sure you ask if the loan officer wants cream or sugar. Just seeing if you're paying attention. The lending institution considers your creditworthiness when deciding whether to extend a loan and how much of an interest rate you will pay. Your creditworthiness boils down to three things: your credit history, your income and the loan-to-value ratio.