CBS News
2 cheap ways to borrow $100,000 worth of home equity right now
Getty Images/iStockphoto
With inflation cooling, unemployment numbers strong and interest rates on the decline, the economy is trending in a positive direction. But after years of high inflation and elevated costs for many everyday purchases, it will take some time for Americans to regain their financial footing. To help make ends meet, then, it may be worth exploring some borrowing options.
For those who need a large, six-figure sum, however, there are few cost-effective options available. Personal loans, for example, come with interest rates of around 13% right now while credit cards are near a record high of 23%. Homeowners, however, have multiple ways to access $100,000 via their home equity – and they can do so at interest rates significantly lower than those attached to popular alternatives. And these options could become even cheaper as the Federal Reserve continues its interest rate cut campaign. Below, we’ll break down two of the cheapest ways to borrow $100,000 worth of home equity right now.
Start by seeing how low of a home equity loan rate you could secure here.
2 cheap ways to borrow $100,000 worth of home equity right now
Need to borrow $100,000 worth of home equity now but don’t want to pay a ton to access it? Here are two of the cheapest ways to get it right now:
Home equity loans
Unlike cash-out refinancing, which will require you to exchange your current low mortgage rate for a higher one, home equity loans let you borrow from your home while leaving your existing mortgage terms alone. Home equity loans are one of the least expensive ways to access your equity with an average rate of just 8.36% right now — approximately five points cheaper than personal loans and about three times less expensive than credit cards. And rates on home equity loans are on the decline and could fall further as the Fed issues additional rate reductions in November and December.
So, what would a $100,000 home equity loan cost per month now that rates have been cut? Around $1,232 monthly if it’s repaid over 10 years and just $977 if you choose a 15-year repayment term. And those rates are locked, meaning that even if rates rise again in the future, you’ll be protected with the lower, fixed rate.
Get started with a home equity loan online now.
Home equity lines of credit (HELOCs)
A HELOC comes with a slightly higher interest rate currently (8.69% versus the home equity loan’s 8.36%). But that could soon be a moot point as the HELOC has a variable rate subject to change over time. And with interest rates on the decline, rates on this product could fall multiple times in the months to come. You also won’t need to refinance to secure that lower rate, as you would with a home equity loan, as HELOC rates change independently each month.
So, what would a $100,000 HELOC cost per month now that rates have been cut? Around $1,250 if paid back in 10 years and approximately $996 if repaid in 15 years. But that’s an estimate as HELOC payments will change as rates do. And with rates falling, your monthly HELOC payments are likely to drop as well.
The bottom line
If you’re looking for a way to borrow $100,000 worth of home equity (or more), home equity loans and HELOCs are two of the cheapest ways to do so. They have lower rates than personal loans and credit cards and come with fewer caveats and restrictions than cash-out refinance loans and reverse mortgages. As is the case with all home equity borrowing products, however, it’s critical that you only borrow an amount that you can comfortably afford to repay or you could risk losing your homeownership in the process.
Learn more about your best home equity borrowing options here now.
A beloved grizzly bear known as an ambassador for her species was fatally struck on a highway in Wyoming, National Park Service officials said Wednesday.
Grizzly bear 399, who got her name through a research number assignment in 2001, had a yearling cub with her when she was hit on a highway in Snake River Canyon south of Jackson, authorities said. The cub’s whereabouts are unknown, but there’s no evidence to suggest that it was injured.
The driver is OK, officials said. While the circumstances of the fatal crash were not immediately clear, authorities said 49 grizzly bears died because of vehicle collisions between 2009 and 2023.
Grizzly bears generally live to be around 25, though some in the wild have lived for over 35 years, according to the Fish & Wildlife Service. Grizzly bear 399 was 28 when she was killed.
George Frey / Getty Images
Wildlife photographer Thomas D. Mangelsen previously described the bear as his muse.
“Her intelligence, her behavior, her beauty,” Mangelsen told “60 Minutes” in 2018. “The fact that she’s had all these offspring. There’s not many bears that I know of that’s had three sets of triplets.”
In 2020, she was spotted with four cubs.
Mangelsen is not alone in appreciating grizzly bear 399. People from around the world followed her for decades, according to U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service Grizzly Bear Recovery Coordinator Hilary Cooley.
“At 28 years old, she was the oldest known reproducing female grizzly bear in the Greater Yellowstone Ecosystem,” Cooley said.
Her identity was confirmed through ear tags and a microchip.
Before 1800, there were an estimated 50,000 grizzly bears living throughout 18 western States, including Wyoming, according to the Fish and Wildlife Service. By 1975, the population in the 48 contiguous states was reduced to between 700 to 800.
After decades of being listed as threatened in the lower 48 states under the U.S. Endangered Species Act, the population has grown to at least 1,923 grizzly bears in the 48 contiguous states.
Watch CBS News
Be the first to know
Get browser notifications for breaking news, live events, and exclusive reporting.
Gun control is one of the most polarizing issues in American politics, and it’s been a topic of contention in the 2024 presidential election. Vice President Kamala Harris and former President Donald Trump have been at odds over guns — Trump has told voters Harris “wants to confiscate your guns,” a point Harris denies. She wants to see stronger gun control laws on the books but also says she’s a gun owner. Here are Trump’s and Harris’ stances and policy plans to address gun violence in America.
Kamala Harris’ stance on guns
- Harris says she favors the Second Amendment and said in the Sept. 10 debate with Trump that she owns a gun, a revelation she originally made when she ran for president in In 2019. “I own a gun for probably the reason a lot of people do — for personal safety,” she said at the time. “I was a career prosecutor.” She recently told 60 Minutes she owns a Glock and has fired it at a shooting range.
- Harris oversees the White House Office of Gun Violence and Prevention, which was created by the Biden administration in 2023 with an eye toward finding ways around congressional inaction on stronger gun control laws.
- The Biden administration in 2022 enacted the Bipartisan Safer Communities Act in the wake of the mass shootings in Uvalde, Texas, and Buffalo, New York. It represents the most significant update to gun safety law in almost three decades, augmenting background checks for gun buyers under 21, providing billions for mental health services and closing the so-called “boyfriend loophole” to prevent convicted domestic abusers from purchasing a firearm for five years. It also clarified the definition of gun dealers. The law faces challenges from 26 GOP-led states that are suing to block it.
- Harris’ running mate, Minnesota Gov. Tim Walz, also owns a gun and is an avid hunter. He even held an “A” rating from the NRA at one time, but his grade fell to an “F” in 2018, when he backed stricter gun laws in Minnesota following the Parkland, Florida, school shooting. On the campaign trail in October 2024, Walz went hunting with his own Beretta in an appeal to gun owners.
Kamala Harris’ policy plans on guns
- Harris oversees the White House Office of Gun Violence and Prevention, which was created by the Biden administration in 2023 in order to find a way around congressional inaction on stronger gun control laws.
- Her campaign website says if Harris is elected, she would “ban assault weapons and high-capacity magazines, require universal background checks, and support red flag laws that keep guns out of the hands of dangerous people.”
- Though she says she is a Second Amendment advocate, Harris also favors stronger gun control measures. In a speech on Sept. 12, Harris promised to “pass an assault weapons ban, universal background checks and red flag laws.”
- While running for president in 2019, Harris vowed to take executive action on guns, saying in April 2019 that she would implement “near-universal” background checks, close loopholes to prevent those convicted of domestic violence from obtaining firearms and revoke licenses from gun manufacturers and dealers who break the law. In Oct. 2019 she said she supported a mandatory gun buyback program, but at the Sept. 10 debate, she told Trump, “We’re not taking anybody’s guns away, so stop with the continuous lying about this stuff.”
Donald Trump’s stance on guns
- Trump “believes that every American has a God-given right to protect themselves and their family and has proven through his actions that he will defend law-abiding gun owners,” his campaign said.
- The NRA endorsed Trump in May at its annual convention, and he has addressed the group several times, including in 2022, shortly after the Uvalde mass shooting.
- Shortly after taking office in 2017, Trump signed a bill that rolled back an Obama-era regulation that made it harder for people with mental illnesses to purchase a gun.
- During a White House listening session with students and families affected by the 2018 Parkland mass shooting, Trump suggested bonuses for teachers who are “adept at guns” and offered support for providing concealed carry permits for teachers or retired military personnel on campus.
- After the Las Vegas mass shooting in Oct. 2017, the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco and Firearms under the Trump administration banned bump stocks, devices that greatly increase the rate of fire of semi-automatic weapons. The ban was later struck down by the Supreme Court.
Donald Trump’s policy plans for guns
- Trump’s campaign said in a statement that he would “terminate every single one of the Harris-Biden’s attacks on law-abiding gun owners his first week in office and stand up for our constitutionally enshrined right to bear arms.”
- He has not spoken on the campaign trail about specific policy proposals on guns. At the NRA’s Great American Outdoor Show in Harrisburg, Pennsylvania, in February, Trump promised that “no one will lay a finger on your firearms” if he wins the election.
- Trump said in the same speech he “did nothing” to restrict guns while he was in the White House, although his administration enacted the 2017 bump stock ban. After the 2018 mass shooting in Parkland, Florida, he called on Congress to pass bipartisan legislation to strengthen and improve the national instant criminal background check system. And after the 2019 mass shootings in El Paso and Dayton, Ohio, Trump reiterated support for “red flag” laws and stronger background checks, although many Second Amendment activists fought the measure, and it was ultimately abandoned later that year.
