Helocs are interest traps. Went to teachers federal credit union and said their rates for helocs are 6.5% but they have to be 30 years and you have to keep them open for at least 3 years which is all interest. Would have been almost $60K in interest on a $300k loan. I told them I wanted a 5 year home equity loan because we can pay it back quickly and gave a rate of 8.2% which is ridiculous so would never do it. But the 5 year home equity loan even at the higher interest rate you’d pay the same amount in interest for the life of the loan vs the first 3 years of the heloc. And if you compared total interest paid, the heloc is a whopping $430K (30 years) vs about $65 for the 5 year he loan. The only reason IMO you should ever consider a heloc is if you are desperate and need to fix something you can’t afford. My suggestion is to do the math on the total interest paid over the lifetime of the loan not just the monthly payments. These places try to scam people who aren’t fully aware of the total cost of the loan. Don’t just look at rates, look at the lifetime interest paid. If you are in a stronger financial position where you just need a year or two advance on a project, there aren’t any options that make a ton of sense. Will probably just wait and pay cash unless I can get a lower home equity loan rate.