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Personal Financing Planner > Mortgages > How to access your home equity
Mortgages

How to access your home equity

June 17, 2025 15 Min Read
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15 Min Read
How to access your home equity
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Table of Contents

Toggle
  • Key takeout
  • 3 Ways to Remove Equity from Your Home
    • Home Equity Loan
    • Strong Points
    • Cons
      • When that makes sense
    • helic
    • Strong Points
    • Cons
      • When that makes sense
    • Cash-out refinance
    • Strong Points
    • Cons
      • When that makes sense
  • How to choose the best home equity method for you
  • How to calculate the fairness you have in your home
  • How fair is it Can I borrow it myself? house?
  • Advantages and disadvantages of accessing home equity
    • The advantages of stealing fairness from your home
    • The risk of stealing fairness from your home
  • Other considerations when tapping Home Equity
  • Next steps to access home equity
  • FAQs about extracting home equity

Key takeout

  • Three ways to access home equity are home equity loans, home equity line credit or cash out refinance.

  • Tapping these funds will often allow you to access your cash at a lower fee than your personal loan or credit card.

  • There are risks associated with removing fairness from your home: if you default, increase the load of your debt and lose its place.

If you want to borrow money, tapping on capital in your home can be a lower cost route than credit cards or other forms of funding. That’s good, but do you actually achieve that? Can I rent the value of your home for cash? Here are the basics to remove fairness from your home and how to choose the best way to do it.

$302,000

The average amount of housing capital held by homeowners holding US mortgages in the first quarter of 2025.

Source: cotality

3 Ways to Remove Equity from Your Home

There are three common ways to convert your stock into cash.

Home Equity Loan

Home equity loans are repaid over a set period that can take up to 20 or 30 years, using a fixed amount at a fixed interest rate. Just like mortgages, debt is either secured or supported by the fairness of the home.

Home equity loans are second mortgages and typically have higher interest rates than the first mortgage (as of mid-March, the benchmark $30,000 loan averages 8.4%, while 6.68% of 30-year fixed-rate mortgages are 6.68%). The difference is due to the lender’s position in the creditor’s order. If the loan defaults and the home is foreclosed, the home equity lender claims revenue from home sales, but only after the major mortgage lender has regained the money.

Strong Points

  • Good for people who own most of the house completely
  • Suitable for cases where you need a lump sum or an exact amount
Red circle with x inside

Cons

  • Not ideal for those whose homes are already functioning as collateral for large outstanding mortgages
  • It’s not ideal if you need money just for essential discretionary costs

When that makes sense

To cover the costs of a single home renovation project or another high cost, or to repay a high profit credit card.

helic

Home Equity’s credit line (Heloc) has a revolving balance like a credit card. It will be approved for a certain amount, but you do not need to borrow everything. Use what you need. HELOC has different interest rates depending on the prime rate, but some lenders can convert some of the HELOC balance to a fixed rate.

HELOCs often have two stages of lending over 30 years. The first decade is a draw period where the credit line is open and usually only takes on the responsibility of paying interest. Once the draw period ends, your funds will no longer be accessible. After that, there will be 20 years to repay both the principal and the interest.

Green circle with a check mark inside

Strong Points

  • It’s fine if you want the freedom to withdraw funds if necessary
  • It’s good if you have a long-term obligation or don’t know exactly how much you need.
Red circle with x inside

Cons

  • It’s not ideal if you don’t want a variety of interest rates or payment fluctuations
  • It’s not ideal if you want to pay only minimal interest

When that makes sense

To fund long-term, multi-faceted housing improvement projects, you can either cover ongoing tertiary education costs or fund new business ventures.

Cash-out refinance

Cash-out refinance allows you to refinance your current mortgage beyond your outstanding balance, making cash differences. Cash-out refinance will replace existing mortgages, so depending on the market situation, you may be able to get lower fees or better terms on a new loan.

Green circle with a check mark inside

Strong Points

  • It’s fine if you were thinking about replacing your mortgage anyway.
  • It’s good if you want to have one big loan instead of two
Red circle with x inside

Cons

  • Not ideal if you don’t have a lot of fairness in your home
  • It’s not ideal if you don’t qualify for a lower rate than you currently have

When that makes sense

If you can get a lower or equivalent interest rate on your current mortgage and need cash for a single, large expense.

How to choose the best home equity method for you

The best home equity options depend heavily on what you are going to do with money. Consider the following scenario:

  • Pay off your debt: Whether it’s credit card medical costs, loans, or other temporary expenses, you may be better off getting a home equity loan to pay off your high-profit debt. This way you can borrow the exact amount you need to cover these outstanding balances. Additionally, you can secure monthly payments with a fixed interest rate that is easy to budget. However, for certain types of debt, such as student loans and car loans, it is best to compare terms before proceeding. This is because it could be better than what is offered in a household capital borrowing.
  • University Tuition Fees: HELOC may be a good option for tuition and other costs of higher education. We know that these bills will occur with some degree of regularity for at least a few years, so it may make more sense to withdraw funds at the root if necessary.
  • Home improvements: The best options for this scenario will depend on your project and whether you know the exact amount you need. For example, for a single item or project, such as replacing an HVAC system or installing a swimming pool, consider getting a home equity loan or refinancing a cash out. However, if you’re working on a multiphase mod with ongoing costs and an indefinite timeline, like the whole thing added, HELOC might be better. This will allow you to pay the contractor in installments and deliver it in case the project is over budget.

How to calculate the fairness you have in your home

You can calculate the fairness of your home by subtracting your excellent mortgage balance from the valued value of your property. For example, if your home is valued at $200,000 and you are owing $120,000 on a loan, you have $80,000 in stock in your home. The lender will charge you the maximum amount you can borrow from your stock.

How fair is it Can I borrow it myself? house?

Essentially, it depends on the fairness you have and the standards of your lender against the borrower. The lender will analyze you:

  • The value of the house
  • Credit score
  • Credit History
  • Income Level/Assets
  • DTI Ratio/Debt, especially other home loans

Regardless of your creditworthiness, you will not have access to the full amount of your stock interests. On paper, your stock may be worth $100,000, for example, but your tapable equity (the total you actually get) is significantly less. Most lenders can rent between 80% and 85% of the valued value of your home, even if you own the entire location entirely. If you have $100,000 in stock, you cannot borrow $100,000. This means $80,000 to $85,000 will be the maximum. Some lenders may have up to $90,000.

Advantages and disadvantages of accessing home equity

Like any other financial strategy, there are pros and cons to borrowing the value of your home.

The advantages of stealing fairness from your home

If you need to cover a large amount of expenses, such as home renovations or university tuition fees, using home equity is a sensible way to earn funds for several reasons.

  • Low interest rate: In many cases, you can access cash at a rate that is much lower than your personal loan or credit card rate. “Home equity is one of the cheapest forms of funding available, but it depends on the individual,” says Michael Micheletti of Rock Technologies, a home equity investment company. “You’re eligible and at a lower rate than that on a personal loan, that might be a good option.”
  • Improved flexibility: Helocs and Home Equity Loans have few restrictions. You can use your funds freely as you wish.
  • Possible tax benefits: If you invest your money into a home improvement from a home equity loan or credit line, the interest you pay may be tax-deductible. According to the IRS, deductions are generally permitted when you use money to “buy, build, or significantly improve” a home. You will also need to itemize tax returns deductions.

The risk of stealing fairness from your home

There are benefits to stealing equity from your home, but it’s not without risk.

  • Your home is collateral: Your home is collateral for debt, so household capital rates are low. So, “If you can’t make payments on a loan, you risk for foreclosure or losing your home,” says Micheletti.
  • Possible credit and borrowing results: If your home is being seized, your credit score can drop significantly. The foreclosure will remain on your credit report for seven years from the date you first missed your mortgage payment. After that, the lender may not allow you to borrow money for several years. You can even be judged as shortage. This is a court order that allows the lender to collect additional money from you. The lender can decorate your wages and place a lien on other property you own or collect a bank account.
  • Additional debt: Your borrowing for fairness will turn your assets into liabilities. You are exchanging what you owe with what you owe and you are added to your unpaid obligation each month. It could also be an issue to sell your home or get additional funding, especially if there is a recession due to the local real estate market or the general economic recession (see below).

Other considerations when tapping Home Equity

If you think you’re ready to use Home Equity, keep the following in mind:

  • Home equity rates are relatively low: Because they are secured debt (backed by collateral – that is, your home), HELOC and home equity loan rates are often far lower than those on credit cards and other types of loans. However, it is usually a few percentage points higher than cash-out refinance interest rates.
  • The value of the home may be reduced: One reason to be aware of home equity loans is that the home value fluctuates. If you extract the value of your home with a big loan, you can ultimately pay to exceed the amount your home is worth. This is known as “upside down” or “underwater.” A housing market conflict in 2007-08 caused millions of borrowers to be stuck in a home that they couldn’t sell to. This is because the value of the home has sunk and the mortgage debt has exceeded the value of the home.
  • Your home is on the line: If you buy or refinance a home when the rate is low, you can opt for Heroa or Heroa over a cash-out refinance. I

Next steps to access home equity

If you are considering renting an equity from your home, the next step is to estimate how much your home is worth. Next, take the balance of your existing mortgage and split it up by the value of your home to figure out whether it may be eligible for a home equity loan or refinance.

Next, develop a plan that deals with why you want to remove equity from your home and how and when to pay it back. Perfect for those with specific purposes that have positive financial recovery. This can be anything from consolidating other debts at lower interest rates to increasing the value of your home through major housing improvement projects.

Finally, whether you choose to refinance your HELOC, home equity loan or cash out, you’ll shop to get your options. Bankrate home equity lenders reviews can help you compare.

FAQs about extracting home equity

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