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3 ways to borrow $10,000 of home equity (and 2 ways to avoid) right now
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In today’s high interest rate environment, credit cards, personal loans and standard lines of credit have become expensive options for borrowing money. After all, credit card rates are nearing 22% on average, personal loan rates are routinely in the double digits and other options have seen rates rise to levels that are having a significant impact on affordability. In turn, finding a reasonable way to borrow can be problematic.
However, one relatively affordable borrowing option remains for homeowners, and that’s tapping into the equity they’ve built in their homes. Thanks to years of rapid home price appreciation, the average homeowner with a mortgage now has nearly $300,000 in home equity built up. And, home equity borrowing rates are often much lower than the rates available on credit cards, personal loans and other borrowing options.
But while the average homeowner has a lot of home equity available to tap into, you don’t necessarily have to borrow that much money. Lenders typically have minimum borrowing limits of around $10,000 for home equity products. And, if you’re looking to borrow a smaller sum of money, like that minimum amount of $10,000, there are a few home equity tapping options that make sense right now — and some that you may want to steer clear of.
Find out how affordable home equity borrowing can be here.
3 ways to borrow $10,000 of home equity right now
If you want to borrow $10,000 from your home’s equity, there are a few options that you may want to consider, including:
A home equity loan
For homeowners who need to borrow a relatively small, fixed sum of $10,000, a home equity loan can be an affordable solution. With a home equity loan, you receive the entire $10,000 lump sum upfront after getting approved. You then repay that loan amount, plus interest, through monthly payments over a term that typically ranges from five to 15 years.
Home equity loan rates average around 8.6% right now. While that average rate is higher than what it was a couple of years ago, it remains much lower than the double-digit rates attached to personal loans and credit cards these days, making it a more affordable option to consider.
And, for a smaller $10,000 loan amount, a home equity loan can make sense. The interest rates are fixed on home equity loans, meaning that they won’t change with fluctuations to the wider rate environment, so you get a predictable repayment schedule with fixed monthly payments.
Compare your home equity borrowing options online now.
A home equity line of credit
A home equity line of credit (HELOC) can also be an affordable way for homeowners to borrow around $10,000 against their home equity. Rather than receiving the full amount upfront like a home equity loan, a HELOC gives you a revolving credit line to borrow against as you need it, similar to a credit card.
With most lenders, you can typically open a HELOC with an initial draw between $10,000 to $25,000 against your home equity. The average HELOC rate is around 9.2% currently, so it’s lower than many alternatives.
Plus, you only pay interest on the specific amount you borrow rather than the entire credit line, which can save you money on interest over the long run. And, because the rates on HELOCs are variable, if rates decline in the future, the rate on your HELOC could drop in tandem, saving you even more money on interest.
For homeowners who may need $10,000 initially but could need additional funds later, a HELOC provides the flexibility to continue borrowing against your credit line during the draw period. This makes HELOCs a good solution for funding an ongoing project or paying off a smaller amount of credit card debt over time.
A home equity sharing agreement
A home equity sharing agreement is a newer product that allows you to essentially sell an investor a share of your home’s future appreciation in exchange for a lump sum payment today. So to receive $10,000 cash today, you may sell a 10% to 15% share of your home’s future appreciated value.
When you eventually sell or refinance down the road, you’ll pay the investor their share of your home’s appreciated value from the time the agreement was initiated. If your home doesn’t increase in value, you don’t owe anything more than the amount you originally received.
While not a loan in a traditional sense, home equity sharing agreements can provide upfront cash for those looking to access their home equity without going into debt or paying interest charges. And for smaller $10,000 sums, a home equity sharing agreement can allow you to tap into your equity without the additional monthly payment. This makes it an interesting option for some borrowers in today’s economic climate.
The potential downside is owing more if your home appreciates significantly before terminating the agreement.
2 home equity options to avoid if borrowing $10,000 right now
There are also a few options you may want to avoid if you’re planning to borrow $10,000 in home equity right now, including:
A cash-out refinance
With a cash-out refinance, you refinance your existing mortgage for more than you owe and pocket the difference in cash. While this can allow you to access $10,000 or more by tapping your equity, it only makes sense for homeowners whose current mortgage rates are higher than the rates offered today.
That’s unlikely to be the case for most people, considering that mortgage rates hovered between 2% to 3% on average during the height of the pandemic, so many people opted to refinance or buy at that time. And with closing costs often totaling thousands of dollars, it’s rarely worth refinancing just to get access to $10,000 in cash.
A reverse mortgage
A reverse mortgage allows those 62 and older to access a portion of their home equity without having to make monthly payments on the loan proceeds received. However, the upfront costs and fees on reverse mortgages can be high, often making them impractical for borrowing relatively small sums like $10,000. Plus, this option is limited in terms of borrowers who qualify, so unless you’re a senior who wants to tap into your home equity, it’s likely not an option at all.
The bottom line
Ultimately, your financial situation and borrowing needs will play a big part in dictating which home equity product is the best fit when borrowing $10,000. But no matter what route you ultimately take, just be sure to shop around for the lowest rates and fees from multiple lenders. Reaching out to online lenders and credit unions as well as banks can increase your options. And, make sure to carefully consider whether putting your home up as collateral is worth it for the loan amount you need, $10,000 or otherwise.
A judge in France on Thursday found the former husband of Gisèle Pelicot, who admitted to drugging and raping her repeatedly over the course of almost a decade and inviting dozens of other men to assault her as well, guilty of aggravated rape. Over the course of her trial, Pelicot — who insisted her full name be published and proceedings be made public — has been praised for her courage and become a symbol of the fight against sexual violence in France and around the world. The judge on Thursday was reading out verdicts for dozens of other men also accused of raping her.
Pelicot arrived Thursday at the court in Avignon, southeast France, where crowds had gathered outside holding signs saying: “Thank you for your courage.”
The trial began on Sept. 2, and almost every day, Pelicot came face to face with her former husband, Dominique, or one of the 49 other men charged with raping her. One other man faced a charge of aggravated sexual assault. She insisted that videos submitted as evidence, made by her ex-husband showing men sexually assaulting her while she appeared to be unconscious, be shown in open court.
The assaults took place between 2011 and 2020, when Dominique Pelicot was taken into custody. Police found thousands of photos and videos of the abuse on his computer drives, which helped lead them to other suspects. Some of the men testified they thought the unconscious woman was OK with it, or that her husband’s permission was enough.
“Gisèle Pelicot thinks that this shock wave is necessary, so that no one can say after this: ‘I didn’t know this was rape,'” her attorney, Stéphane Babonneau, told The Associated Press.
“It’s not for us to feel shame — it’s for them,” Pelicot said in court, referring to the attackers. “Above all, I’m expressing my will and determination to change this society.”
Controversial French laws
Pelicot’s case triggered protests across France, and there was hope among some demonstrators that the case could lead to changes in controversial French laws governing sexual consent.
France introduced a legal age of sexual consent in 2021 after a public outcry over the rape of an 11-year-old schoolgirl by a man who was initially convicted on a lesser charge. Since then, sex with anyone under the age of 15 has been viewed as non-consensual, but French law does not refer to consent in cases involving older victims.
Under French law, rape is defined as penetration or oral sex using “violence, coercion, threat or surprise,” without taking consent into account, according to the Reuters news agency. Prosecutors must, therefore, prove an intention to rape if they are to be successful in court, legal experts told Reuters.
Just 14% of rape accusations in France lead to formal investigations, according to a study by the Institute of Public Policies.
“Why don’t we manage to obtain convictions? The first reason is the law,” legal expert Catherine Le Magueresse told Reuters. “The law is written in such a way that victims must comply with the stereotype of a ‘good victim’ and a ‘true rape’: an unknown attacker, use of violence, and the victim’s resistance. But it is only true for a minority of rapes.”
“I’m trying to understand”
Speaking in court during the trial, Pelicot, who is 72, talked about how she had thought she was in a loving marriage with her husband and would never have guessed that he was drugging her.
“We would have a glass of white wine together. I never found anything strange about my potatoes,” Pelicot told the court.
“We finished eating. Often when it’s a football match on TV, I’d let him watch it alone. He brought my ice cream to my bed, where I was. My favorite flavor — raspberry — and I thought: ‘How lucky I am. He’s a love.'”
She said she didn’t have any sensation of being drugged.
“I never felt my heart flutter. I didn’t feel anything. I must have gone under very quickly. I would wake up with my pajamas on,” Pelicot told the court, adding that she would sometimes wake up “more tired than usual, but I walk a lot and thought it was that.”
“I’m trying to understand,” she said, “how this husband, who was the perfect man, could have got to this.”
The International Brotherhood of Teamsters says workers at seven Amazon facilities will begin a strike Thursday morning in an effort by the union to pressure the e-commerce giant for a labor agreement during a key shopping period.
The Teamsters say the workers, who authorized walkouts in the past few days, are joining the picket line after Amazon ignored a Dec. 15 deadline the union set for contract negotiations. Amazon says it doesn’t expect any impact on its operations during what the union calls the largest strike against the company in U.S. history.
The Teamsters say they represent nearly 10,000 workers at 10 Amazon facilities, a small portion of the 1.5 million people Amazon employs in its warehouses and corporate offices.
Amazon is ranked No. 2 on the Fortune 500 list of the nation’s largest companies.
At a warehouse in the New York City borough of Staten Island, thousands of workers who voted for the Amazon Labor Union in 2022 and have since affiliated with the Teamsters. At the other facilities, employees – including many delivery drivers – have unionized with them by demonstrating majority support but without holding government-administered elections.
The strikes happening Thursday are taking place at an Amazon warehouse in San Francisco and six delivery stations in southern California, New York City, Atlanta and the Chicago suburb of Skokie, Illinois, according to the union’s announcement. Amazon workers at the other facilities are “prepared to join” them, the union said.
“Amazon is pushing its workers closer to the picket line by failing to show them the respect they have earned,” Teamsters General President Sean M. O’Brien said in a statement.
“If your package is delayed during the holidays, you can blame Amazon’s insatiable greed. We gave Amazon a clear deadline to come to the table and do right by our members. They ignored it,” he said.
The Seattle-based online retailer has been seeking to re-do the election that led to the union victory at the warehouse on Staten Island, which the Teamsters now represent. In the process, the company has filed a lawsuit challenging the constitutionality of the National Labor Relations Board.
Meanwhile, Amazon says the delivery drivers, which the Teamsters have organized for more than a year, aren’t its employees. Under its business model, the drivers work for third-party businesses, called Delivery Service Partners, who drop off millions of packages to customers everyday.
“For more than a year now, the Teamsters have continued to intentionally mislead the public – claiming that they represent ‘thousands of Amazon employees and drivers’. They don’t, and this is another attempt to push a false narrative,” Amazon spokesperson Kelly Nantel said in a statement. “The truth is that the Teamsters have actively threatened, intimidated, and attempted to coerce Amazon employees and third-party drivers to join them, which is illegal and is the subject of multiple pending unfair labor practice charges against the union.“
The Teamsters have argued Amazon essentially controls everything the drivers do and should be classified as an employer.
Some U.S. labor regulators have sided with the union in filings made before the NLRB. In September, Amazon boosted pay for the drivers amid the growing pressure.
NEW YORK — The Teamsters union is launching a strike against Amazon at numerous locations across the country, including in Maspeth, Queens.
The Teamsters are calling it the largest strike against Amazon in United States history, and it’s set to begin at 6 a.m. Thursday. In addition to New York City, workers will be joining picket lines in Atlanta, Southern California, San Francisco and Illinois.
In a video announcement released Wednesday night, workers voiced their frustrations.
“Us being strike ready means we’re fed up, and Amazon is clearly ignoring us and we want to be heard,” one worker says in the video.
“It’s really exciting. We’re taking steps for ourselves to win better conditions, better benefits, better wages,” another worker in the video says.
The union says it represents about 10,000 Amazon employees and that Amazon ignored a deadline to come to the table and negotiate. The $2 trillion company doesn’t pay employees enough to make ends meet, the union asserts.
At the height of the holiday season, many are wondering what this means for packages currently in transit.
Teamsters President Sean O’Brien said, “If your package is delayed during the holidays, you can blame Amazon’s insatiable greed.”
Amazon says Teamsters are misleading the public
An Amazon spokesperson says the Teamsters are misleading the public and do not represent any Amazon employees, despite any claims.
“The truth is that the Teamsters have actively threatened, intimidated, and attempted to coerce Amazon employees and third-party drivers to join them, which is illegal and is the subject of multiple pending unfair labor practice charges against the union,” the spokesperson said in a statement.
An Amazon representative says the company doesn’t expect operations to be impacted.
