<prompt> Human: Ill cut to the chase: After talking with my Dad this evening, he owes 119,000 on his house as of Sept 1st, 2016. Facts:--He bought the house in 1998 for 65,000--He refinanced once in early 2000s--Both times interest rates were 10 It was normal back then--He thinks he took on additional debt when he refinanced for home repairs, etc...but assured me it would have been in the 5-10k range--Additionally, he has 2 more bankruptcy payments until complete. Declared 5 years agoNow, my Dad has always been awful with money, but for the life of me, I absolutely cannot wrap my mind around how he owes more now than he did back then. Can someone please help explain this to me??He needs a lot of help and I am doing my best, but this is so utterly depressing I dont even know what to think right now. edit for formattingAssistant: He needs a lot of help Im guessing his pride is preventing him from leveling with his son about how much money was taken out and what it was used for.Human: Even then, how the hell does your mortgage go up...after nearly 20 years of payments???  <response>: The value of his home went up quite a lot, probably a good bit above 120,000. And he took out all of that value as a second mortgage. This was especially popular to do before the financial crisis hit. 