Credit Cards vs. Home Equity Loan Calculator
Compare the true cost of keeping your credit card balances against consolidating them with a home equity loan — monthly payment, payoff time, and total interest.
Your Numbers
Side-by-Side Comparison
💳 Keep paying the cards
🏠 Consolidate with home equity
Estimates for comparison only. Actual rates, payments, fees and approval depend on your equity, property, income, credit profile and lender criteria.
How This Calculator Works
The credit card side simulates your payoff month by month: interest accrues at your card rate on the remaining balance, and your fixed payment chips away at the rest. The home equity side uses standard amortization: monthly payment = principal × i ÷ (1 − (1 + i)−n), where i is the monthly rate and n the number of months. Setup costs are added to the amount borrowed, so the comparison reflects the true all-in cost of both paths.
The Minimum-Payment Trap
At typical Canadian card rates of 19–29%, a minimum payment of around 3% of the balance sends most of your money to interest. On $25,000 at 21.99%, roughly $458 of your first monthly payment is interest alone. If your payment barely covers interest, the balance hardly moves — which is why balances that “never seem to go down” are so common. Consolidating at a lower secured rate redirects more of the same monthly payment toward principal.
Frequently Asked Questions
Lenders CreditReboot works with typically go up to 80% of your home’s appraised value across all mortgages. If your home is worth $800,000 and you owe $500,000, you may access up to $140,000 — usually far more than enough to clear card debt.
Paying off card balances drops your credit utilization, which is one of the largest score factors — many people see improvement within a few statement cycles. The application may involve an inquiry and adds a new tradeline. Try our credit utilization calculator to see your before-and-after ratio.
Rates vary widely with your equity position, property, income and credit profile, and between B lenders and private lenders. The default in this calculator is illustrative only — a broker can quote your actual options after a free assessment.
It’s a real trade-off worth understanding: consolidation converts unsecured debt into debt secured by your home, so missed payments carry more serious consequences. It works best paired with a budget that prevents card balances from building again. An honest broker will tell you if consolidation is the wrong move for your situation.
Generally no — keeping cards open with zero balances helps your credit utilization and account age. The key is not running the balances back up.
Related: Credit Utilization Calculator · Debt Consolidation for Homeowners · Home Equity Loans · More Calculators
This tool is provided by CreditReboot Mortgages for educational purposes only and is not financial advice. All results are estimates; actual loan amounts, rates, payments, fees and savings vary by lender and approval. Consolidating unsecured debt against your home carries risk — consider your full situation. Your inputs stay in your browser only.