A home equity line of credit, or HELOC, is a type of second mortgage, while a refinancing is where the terms of the existing debt are renegotiated. A refinancing pays off the existing mortgage and ...

Normally when someone has a low mortgage rate, they don’t refinance into a higher one ...

Did you know your home can serve as collateral for multiple loans at once? If you take out a loan that’s secured by your home when you already have a primary mortgage, your new loan is called a second ...

In real estate, first-lien loans (primary mortgages) let you finance a home purchase, while second-lien loans (home equity loans or HELOCs) let you tap your home’s value for cash. The holder of the ...

Caroline Basile is Forbes Advisor’s student loans and mortgages deputy editor. With experience in both the mortgage industry and as a journalist, she was previously an editor with HousingWire, where ...