Can I refinance my mortgage without having to payoff my home equity line of credit balance?

I have a mortgage & home equity line of credit with the same lender. The rate on the equity loan is currently 2.5% (prime - 3/4). I was thinking of refinancing my mortgage and taking out a little cash to pay off some credit cards. My question is, if I refinance my mortgage do I have to pay off the balance on my home equity loan?

Yes, you will need to pay it off. You won't get a refinance with an existing lien against your house.

Can you pay off a home mortgage with a home equity line of credit?

My sister is asking me for money to pay up her home equity line. When I asked about her mortgage payment, she said she paid it off with her home equity line. Is that possible to borrow money on your home to pay off your home?

If her home mortgage rate was higher than her line of credit it makes sense. I do not have a home mortgage but I do have a line of credit on my home. Normally you can just make interest payments on a equity line if you want. My heloc is locked for 5 years with minimum payment being the monthly interest. Normally people do borrow on their home to pay off their home when they refinance.

what is the trick behind paying of your mortgage early with a home equity line of credit?

I have heard of a software program that shows you how to pay off your mortgage a line of credit.

Say you run 4K a month of bills through your checking account you would on average have 2K sitting earning nothing. If you borrowed 4K from your HELOC and paid down the first mortgage you would owe HELOC on average 2K at a slighly higher rate than the first mortgage. This would cause me to want to get out of that debt as fast as I could and make me feel I couldn't go shopping while in HELOC debt so soon I would have the HELOC paid off and could start again. It might be fun to do but you don't need a program. You could just be on a tight budget and send every cent in to the mortgage company. Another way is if you have an emergency fund you could use the HELOC for the emergency fund and send that money to the mortgage. I wouldn't prepay a mortgage unless the rate was awful since you might earn more somewhere else and have more flexiblity with your money.

When selling a home, is a home equity credit line treated as a second mortgage or is a line a credit ?

Can I sell a home with just a 1st mortgage, collect the equity and continue to pay on my Heloc as if it is a line of credit? or will I have to include it in my home sale (and possibly a short sale)?

The HELOC is secured by your home (read your loan documents). It likely has a due on transfer clause which means that if you transfer your ownership of the property, the loan becomes immediately due and payable. Typically that means you need to pay off the HELOC with proceeds from the sale (or you need to bring enough cash to settle it at closing). Anyone with any sense would not buy the property with an outstanding lien for the HELOC, because if that is not paid, that lender could still foreclose (that lien would be senior to any sale or transfer you make now).