Rev up your business with a home equity line of credit

Have your home appraised to see how much equity you have before applying for a line of credit for home equity. This line of credit is usually easily accessible and can be beneficial to your business. Shop around for rates, then visit your own bank to see if you can get a better rate.

I recommend: Get quotes from several mortgage lenders such as Mortgage Loan or Lending Tree.

Get all of the home equity line of credit information you can

Normally, you pay interest only on what you actually use with a home equity line of credit. If you have a $25,000 line of credit, and you use $10,000, you'll only pay interest on the $10,000. Make sure you obtain all of the line of credit information available such as interest rates, payments, penalties and fees before you put your house on the line,

I recommend: Find current interest rates on home equity line of credit loans at Bankrate. Calculate your payments with a mortgage calculator at Calculator-Rates before you apply so you can get an idea on how to budget your new payment.

It's all in a day's rate

Find a lender that will offer you a fixed interest rate for your home equity line of credit. Apply for your loan before you actually need it when the rates are lower. This will ensure you have your line of credit to help you through the hungrier times.

I recommend: Check into getting a business loan with a fixed interest rate at Countrywide.  Compare fixed interest rates with various lenders at Loan dot com.