I am thinking about taking a $100,000 retirement account and using it to pay down $71000 of unsecured debt. I am 57, so in addition to the 20% tax taken out, there is a 10% penalty, which will leave just about enough to take care of the debt. this will save me about $8900 a year just in interest and eliminate about $1600 a month in payments. Everything I read says using retirement money to pay down debt is a bad idea, but I am not sure. Any thoughts?