Can I withdrawl from my 401K for financial matters

You can get money from your 401 in a few ways. You can get a disbursment but it costs penalties and major taxes. Sometimes it is as much as 2000-3000 dollars.

You can inquire with your work and see if they offer 401 loans. You won't inur taxes and penalties and you would be paying yourself the interest.

There is one more option. Have you thought about refinancing your house. There many options that would be beneficial to this case. If you take the payment out of your 401, and catch up on your mortgage, you will eventually be in the same boat that you are now.

Refinancing offers options that would permantatly lower your house payment

Yes. Generally, there are few exceptions that will allow you to take a withdrawal from your 401K plan. It depends on your plan rules, which are dictated by your companies plan.

Contact the financial company that holds your 401K and ask them what reasons qualify for a early withdrawal. To pay past due rent or mortgage payment is almost always on the list of qualified reasons to make an early withdrawal.

You may be subject to an early withdrawal penalty by the state and/or federal government. Federal is usually 20% and state up to 10%. When you call the company that holds/directs your 401K, you can ask them what if any penalties will apply for this type of early withdrawal.

If you no longer work for the company, you can roll your 401K in to a traditional IRA, and then you can take an early withdrawal and not pay the penalties up front, but instead be taxed at the end of the year as income...this way, you can possibly offset with write offs, which would give you more money upfront. :)