As debt mounts, is it worth tapping a home equity line of credit?

The holiday season usually means Americans are running up their credit card debt. Come January, lenders are typically fielding a plethora of inquiries for home equity lines of credit for people seeking to consolidate their debt.

A home equity line of credit or HELOC may help you to coral debt, knock credit card interest rate down and improve a cash-flow situation.

First, consider the credit card challenge driven by inflation and depleted savings.

The average American owes somewhere between $6,300 and $7,500 in credit card debt, depending on the data source.

As of December, the average credit card interest rate is nearly 24%, according to Lending Tree.

As of the third quarter, Americans owe $1.23 trillion in credit card debt, an all-time high, the New York Fed says. That’s an increase