Comment by jjav

> While we're in this topic: why is unsecured credit card debt NOT tax deductible but secured debt like HELOC is?

HELOC interest is rarely deductible either. First, you now must be able to itemize deductions, which the recent tax changes have made very unlikely. Less than 12% of tax returns are able to itemize:

https://www.irs.gov/pub/irs-soi/soi-a-inpre-id2303.pdf

In addition, even if you are in that ~11% who can itemize, HELOC interest is only deductible if you use it to work on the same house being used to get the LOC. Any other use is not deductible.