Borrowing $80,000 with a home equity loan could make sense for homeowners in today's economy.
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Securing that much money at an affordable rate, however, can be challenging. With personal loan rates around 12% now and credit card rates averaging over 22% this September, neither stands out as a viable and affordable way to secure those funds. If you're a homeowner, however, you may be able to easily withdraw it from your accumulated equity with a home equity loan. Right now, home equity loans come with interest rates in the low 8% range and potentially lower for qualified borrowers. And that rate is fixed, allowing you to budget with certainty while benefiting from the stability the product offers in an otherwise unpredictable economic terrain. At the same time, with your home on the line in this borrowing exchange, you'll want to ensure that you can make the monthly payments before formally applying. Failure to make your repayments as agreed could lead to foreclosure.
So what will the monthly payments on an $80,00 home equity loan actually look like now? That's what we'll calculate below.
The average home equity loan rate as of September 9, 2026, according to , is 8.14%, though savers should expect to see some variability when shopping around, especially if they don't have a good credit score. Here's what the monthly payments will look like, calculated against that rate, two different repayment periods and the assumption that the loan isn't refinanced:
To better appreciate the affordability a home equity loan now offers, it helps to know how much the same-sized loan cost in the recent past. Here's what it looked like in December 2025, following an interest rate cut from the Federal Reserve that month:
And here's what it cost in November 2025, following a Fed rate cut in October:
So payments here have evolved over the past year, approximately, but they also haven't declined materially either, thanks to a stagnant interest rate environment (there hasn't been a Fed rate cut since December 2025). And while a home equity line of credit (HELOC) could offer a slightly lower rate right now, it has a variable rate that's not well-positioned to remain affordable if the central banks proceed with rate hikes. Instead, explore the ways in which you can secure an affordable home equity loan, but don't wait too long to act, either, as the rates you see listed now may not be as low by this time next month.