Homeowners should avoid borrowing from their home equity without first calculating the repayment costs. Getty Images/iStockphoto

If you were looking to borrow a large amount of money from your home but had a variable rate product that could change each month, would it be worth doing? With your home serving as collateral , this inherently sounds a bit risky. But what if interest rates were declining again, as they are now after the Federal Reserve cut rates ? And what if it was with a product, in this case a home equity line of credit (HELOC) , that saw rates drop by more than two full percentage points in just a year?

These are the questions homeowners in need of extra financing find themselves grappling with now, especially after the average HELOC rate fell below 8%

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