Discuss PGroot's answer to: How to get your equity?

You can get your equity if you sell.  But most people don't want to sell their residence, and rent.  You can "tap your equity" by borrowing with a second mortgage.  This doesn't leave you owing less, even if you pay off credit card debt, but you might be paying lower interest rate on a mortgage than on a credit card.  But your temptation will be to charge more on the credit card until you can't make the payments on the first mortgage, second mortgage, and the credit cards.