Managing your HELOC

[Shane C Tack]

I have a HELOC on my personal residence that I'm currently in the process of remodeling. I have good equity in the house so I pulled out a HELOC to help with the remodel expenses. Over the last year the interest rate has gone from 5% up to 10%. I feel like everyone always talks about using HELOCs to buy more house or remodel, but no one ever talks about managing the high costs of borrowing the money. I don't want to just be paying interest everyone month and not be making a dent in the principal. I have some cash saved up but would rather keep that as an emergency fund. Would be great to hear how people actually manage their lines of credit. Thanks!