[jIM_Ohio]

You are not in a bad spot. A little late coming to the game compared to some, but we have seen much worse situations posted here.

Welcome and I wish you much success! I'd wish you luck, but the man upstairs has more control over that than me.

Here is what I would do:

1) Get about 10% of your income going to 401k or Roth's. Make sure you get at least the match from the 401k, and make sure at least 10% of what you make gets set aside for retirement.

2) I would create a household budget based on new take home income (10% less, because you did #1).

3) I would use the bonus to pay off the cc. If you can scrounge some more money, pay the whole thing off.

3a) with the extra money in budget from paying off the cc (guessing a payment of around $150-$350/month??), I would do the following:

Put 1/3 of payment into cash account each month (this is emergency fund- add this to current savings)
Put 1/3 of payment into paying down car
Put 1/3 of payment into a moderate mutual fund. This is the anti PMI fund.

4) You will have a month without a mortgage payment when you refinance. Take the entire mortgage payment you save (see budget in #2 above) and open an "anti PMI fund". What you are looking for is a mutual fund which can generate an after tax return of around 6-8%. A 40-60 fund like Vanguard Wellington or Wellesley would make sense here. A bond fund like T Rowe Price Spectrum Income (RPSIX) also makes sense. A moderate allocation fund like Permanent Portfolio PRPFX would also work. I own T Rowe Spectrum Income and Permanent Portfolio. Spectrum Income is in my IRA and Permanent Portfolio is my mortgage paydown fund.

The "anti PMI fund" serves 3 purposes
1) it supplements your emergency fund
2) when you get enough in the fund to payoff 20% of house, do it
3) it can cover your mortgage payments for you if you lose a job

I suggest investing as opposed to paying down mortgage because
a) PMI will stay on until you have 20% equity. The ammortization schedule you get at closing will probably have PMI on payment until you are at 22% equity.
b) if you pay down mortgage to 20% yourself, you can call bank, tell them what you are doing and get PMI waived sooner- probably.
c) if b) does not work, you can use the investment to assist with another refinance, and get 20% down payment needed to avoid PMI
d) My guess- you would have 20% equity on current ammortization schedule in around 9-12 years. By investing and setting aside some money, my guess is you ave enough for 20% in about 4-7 years.

When you cash out the investment, my suggestion is to keep investing the PMI payment even after you get 20% equity.