Two points.
1. People who can only afford the minimum payment on credit card debt should not have credit cards. Like giving whiskey and car keys to a teenage boy.
2. Taking unsecured credit card debt and transforming it into secured debt against the equity (real or illusory) in one's house seems very foolish. Hounding collection agency calls about unpaid credit card bills is different than foreclosure on a mortgage that cannot be paid.
Yes, but I've known people to fall behind on their house because of high credit card bills.
Before: $800 mortgage, $800 credit cards = $1600/mo
After: $1008 mortgage, $0 credit cards = $1008/mo
Now, ASSUMING their new mortgage payment in such a scenario is well within affordability for them, it's not a bad option. The problem arises when their new mortgage is $1435 and they only bring home $1100 every two weeks and can't make a single payment with one paycheck.