Did You Know?

The 3.5% Hides What You Are Really Paying

Run the full picture, not just the line you have been looking at:

• $300K first mortgage at 3.5% = $10,500 a year in interest
• $60K credit cards at 25% = $15,000 a year in interest
• Combined: $25,500 a year on $360K of debt

That is a blended cost of debt of roughly 7%. You do not have a 3.5% mortgage. You have a 7% problem with a 3.5% headline.

Did You Know?

Year One: Roughly Even. After That, the Math Tilts.

A sweep HELOC absorbs both balances on day one. $300K first plus $60K of card debt = a $360K draw. At an illustrative 8% sweep rate with $40K of static offset:

• Year-one interest: roughly $25,600, essentially the same as the status quo

But every paycheck flowing through your linked checking offsets interest daily until it is spent. Your average balance drops month over month. Year two costs less than year one. Year three costs less than year two. The 25% card bleed is already gone. The acceleration compounds the longer you let cash flow through the structure.

Did You Know?

30 Years vs. 9: Where the Trade Actually Pays

This is the part the 3.5% cannot compete with. A sweep HELOC has no prepayment penalty, and disciplined cash-flow borrowers can retire the full balance in roughly 9 to 12 years instead of 30.

Add up what you could walk away with:

• 25% card debt: gone on day one
• Remaining line capacity: accessible, no interest until drawn
• Pay down and re-draw as life requires; the equity stays workable
• A clear path to mortgage-free in roughly 10 years instead of year 27

The 3.5% buys you a slow walk to year 27 with $60K of growing card debt riding alongside. A sweep HELOC can buy you a path to year 10, debt-free.