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HELOC Calculator

Estimate only

See how much you could borrow against your home's equity, and what the payments look like — interest-only during the draw period, then higher once repayment begins.

Reviewed by the ClearTally editorial team · Last updated July 26, 2026 · Methodology & sources

$
$
%

Lender's cap on total borrowing — often 80–90%.

$

How much of the line you'd draw.

%
yrs
yrs

Available credit line

$90,000

Up to 85% of your home value, minus your mortgage

Draw period payment

$354.17

Interest-only, per month

Repayment period payment

$433.91

Principal + interest, per month

Combined loan-to-value

75.0%

Mortgage + HELOC vs. home value

Total interest

$96,639

Over both phases

Heads up: when the draw period ends, the payment jumps about $79.74/month — from interest-only to paying down the balance. That step-up is the part HELOC borrowers most often get caught by.

HELOC rates are usually variable, so your real payment moves with rates over time — this holds the rate constant as a snapshot. It also assumes you draw the amount once up front; drawing gradually lowers early interest. Lender LTV caps, credit, and income all affect what you're actually offered. Estimate only, not a loan offer or financial advice.

Weighing how to tap your equity? A cash-out refinance replaces your whole mortgage instead of adding a second loan, and the mortgage payoff calculator shows how fast extra payments build the equity a HELOC borrows against.

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How it works

A home equity line of credit lets you borrow against the equity you've built, up to a limit set by your lender. That limit is your home's value times a maximum combined loan-to-value — often 80% to 90% — minus what you still owe on your mortgage. Whatever's left is your available credit line, which you can draw from as needed rather than taking as a lump sum.

A HELOC runs in two phases, and the gap between them is the thing to understand before you sign. During the draw period (commonly 10 years) many lenders let you pay interest only, which keeps payments low. When the repayment period begins, you can no longer draw and you start paying down the balance too — so the payment steps up, sometimes sharply. Because most HELOCs carry a variable rate tied to the prime rate, the real payment also moves as rates change; this calculator holds the rate steady as a snapshot.

Example:a $400,000 home with $250,000 left on the mortgage, at an 85% max LTV, gives about $90,000 of available credit (400,000 × 0.85 = 340,000, minus the 250,000 owed). Draw $50,000 at 8.5% and the interest-only payment during the draw period is roughly $354 a month. Once repayment starts over 20 years, it rises to about $434 — a jump of some $80 a month, and that's before any rate increase.

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FAQ

Take your home's value, multiply by your lender's maximum combined loan-to-value (typically 80–90%), and subtract your current mortgage balance. On a $400,000 home at 85% LTV, the lender caps total borrowing at $340,000; if you owe $250,000, that leaves about $90,000 available. 'Combined' matters because the cap counts your first mortgage and the HELOC together. The final number also depends on your credit, income, and the lender's own limits, so treat this as an upper-bound estimate.

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