Q: My partner and I purchased a timeshare in June, 2005, and we love having it.

However, at the time of purchase, the interest rate was (and still is) 17.9 percent. Can I refinance a timeshare? If so, can you give me suggestions as to which lenders refinance timeshares?

If not, what would be your suggestion to drastically reduce this rate? I have looked on-line, but perhaps I have missed something.

A: I’m glad you and your partner like timeshares and I’m pleased that this one is working out for you.

Too bad your timeshare developer couldn’t do better than offer his customers a poor credit card rate when it comes to financing.

If you own your own house, and you have any equity built up, you might want to take out the equity and use it to pay off the timeshare loan. You’d do this with a home equity loan or home equity line of credit.

A home equity line of credit or home equity loan would cost you anywhere from 6.5 percent to 9 percent, but that’s a whole lot less than what you’re paying now.

If you don’t own your own home, then you need to look into taking out a personal loan. Unfortunately, I think you wouldn’t do much better interest-rate wise on a personal loan.