$60,000 can cover a wide range of expenses and purchases.
Whether you want to pay off high-rate credit card debt, make major home repairs and improvements or finance college education costs, $60,000 can cover most (or all) of what you need. And, if you’re a homeowner in today’s economy, you likely have many times that amount to borrow out of your accumulated home equity.
With the average home equity amount at about $300,000 now, borrowing $60,000 with a home equity line of credit (HELOC) isn’t difficult to do, nor will it over-leverage your home in an unaffordable way. And, with a HELOC, in particular, qualified homeowners can borrow this money at a lower interest rate than what comes with home equity loans, personal loans and credit cards. With the Federal Reserve recently cutting interest rates and the potential for other cuts in the months ahead, this could be the ideal way to borrow this amount of money now.
Before getting started, however, it’s always important to calculate your potential costs. While this can be difficult to do with a HELOC, thanks to its variable rate, owners can still get an approximate idea of how much they’ll have to pay each month. Below, we’ll break down the monthly costs behind a $60,000 HELOC now that rates have been cut, and we’ll explore the value of this unique borrowing product in today’s broader economy.
See how much home equity you could access with a HELOC here.
How much does a $60,000 HELOC cost monthly now?
The average HELOC interest rate is just 8.05% now for qualified borrowers. Here’s what monthly payments on a $60,000 HELOC at that rate look like, calculated against two common repayment periods on the assumption that the rate will remain the same over time:
10-year HELOC at 8.05%: $729.55 per month
15-year HELOC at 8.05%: $575.12 per month
For context, these payments aren’t materially lower than they were if a HELOC was secured this past March:
10-year HELOC at 8.06%: $729.87 per month
15-year HELOC at 8.06%: $575.47 per month
But they are better than they were last October, after the central bank issued a half-a-percentage-point rate cut the month before:
10-year HELOC at 8.74%: $751.64 per month
15-year HELOC at 8.74%: $599.31 per month
Comparing these three price points, the financial benefit of securing a HELOC of this size becomes more apparent. But that’s not the only reason why it could be a worthwhile borrowing tool right now.
See how low your current HELOC rate offers could be here.
Is a $60,000 HELOC worth it now?
As is the norm with financial decision-making, the answer to this question solely lies with the individual homeowner. That said, some factors can make a HELOC of this size especially valuable now. As noted above, it’s large enough to cover a wide range of expenses, but if you ultimately don’t use the full line of credit, you won’t need to worry, as payments will only be required on the amount utilized, not the amount approved.
That’s a major advantage now, in the unpredictable economic climate of fall 2025, with inflation and unemployment both on the rise. And it makes it arguably a more valuable option than a home equity loan, which will require immediate repayments on the full lump sum.
The variable rate a HELOC comes with, while a liability in a rising rate environment, is also advantageous now that rates are declining again. For example, the CME Group’s FedWatch tool has prospective rate cuts for October and December listed at over 75% for both months. That means that the HELOC payments calculated above that are already affordable for a line of credit of this size could become even cheaper in the weeks ahead. And, unlike a home equity loan, borrowers won’t need to pay to refinance to realize those savings as the HELOC will adjust independently.
The bottom line
A $60,000 HELOC comes with lower monthly payments than it did earlier this year and even lower ones than what was available in fall 2024. With a variable rate subject to change monthly based on market conditions, the likelihood of additional rate cuts still ahead, and a substantial average home equity amount to borrow from now, a $60,000 HELOC could make sense for your financial needs now. Just be sure to calculate the costs as precisely as possible and build in some extra flexibility should rates tick up again in the future to better ensure extended borrowing success.