<prompt> Human: Hi there rpersonalfinance. I know its not usually recommended to pull out money from a 401k to pay for things, however, I wonder which would ultimately be in my best interest in this case. I have a very small 3,500 401k from a previous employer that I have recently left still technically on the books so I cant touch it just yet, and about 7,000 in credit card debt hooray, divorce which is costing me a considerable amount in interest each month. Given these two factors, would it be better to take the potential tax hit to pay off half of my credit card debt? I figure the tax hike I will incur next year will be less than the interest Im currently paying on the credit cards, so I feel like it would be in my best interest to go ahead and pay those off rather than rolling the 401k over to my new employer, but I wanted to see if any of you had some thoughts for me.Thanks!  <response>: No. Use your income to pay down your debt. Let your retirement savings grow untouched you will thank yourself later. 