I am 36 years old and have $24,000 in a traditional IRA that I rolled over from a 401k account. I need to pay down some debt and am wondering what kind of costs including penalties I will have if I use all the money to pay debts. The purpose of all this is to get away from several monthly payments that I can't afford anymore and save my credit. I have other retirement accounts I share jointly with my wife and will be able to put more into a Roth IRA after my debts are paid.

Thanks

You will pay a 10% penalty plus the money will be added to your taxable income for the year.

This article may help:

Eight Ways to Avoid the 10% Early Withdrawal Fee on Your IRA (http://beginnersinvest.about.com/cs/iras/a/aairafees.htm)