A home equity loan offers homeowners an affordable way to borrow large sums of money right now. Marcia Straub/Getty Images

Less than 10%. That's what a $30,000 home equity loan would be equivalent to now, when borrowed from the average homeowner's equity level. With the median amount there around $313,000 currently, a loan worth $30,000 would leave more than 90% remaining for future use.

But that's not the only benefit of a home equity loan in this amount. Homeowners can use the funds for a wide range of expenses, and if they use it to make certain home repairs and improvements, they may even be eligible to deduct the interest paid on the loan from their taxes for the years in which it was used.

And now, with the Federal Reserve cutting interest rates in September , an

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