Tapping Into Home Equity to Deal With Credit Card Debt

A Statistics Canada report released on Monday presents some startling facts about the level of household debt that we as Canadians have taken on. In total, household debt among Canadians has reached $1.5 trillion. This equates to $176,461 for each two-child household. While we have long taken pride in being more fiscally responsible than Americans, we now share an identical 147% household debt to disposable income ratio.
An effective solution to your own personal debt issues might be to exploit the equity in your home, either through a home equity loan or a home equity line of credit. Whereas low interest credit card interest rates are usually a few percentage points above prime while standard credit card rates hover at 20%, home equity loans typically charge no more than one percentage point above prime.