Many people are turning to their homes these days to tap into a resource they have worked hard to get: equity. They are looking to Home Equity Loans and Home Equity Lines of Credit to solve their financial problems. Let me first explain how each of the two products work: a Home Equity Loan (also called a HELOAN) and a Home Equity Line of Credit (also called a HELOC). Both of these products are using your home as collateral, so to obtain one you have to own your home and have some equity available as well. There are benefits of both, but also each has drawbacks. Personally I believe that you must make the decision on which one (if any) is a good idea for you to do. The Home Equity Loan is a FIXED amount of money borrowed for a FIXED interest rate over a FIXED amount of time. The payments each month include both principle and interest. This would be a good choice for someone who knows exactly how much money they need to borrow and for how [...]