The home equity line of credit (HELOC) had been around for many years before it became a hugely popular financial product in the early 2000s. When the financial crisis happened in 2008, drastically lower home valuations put a stop to the HELOC boom, and today we see far fewer being issued by lending institutions. However, millions of homeowners still have this type of contract and will face major problems when their HELOCs reach a 10-year reset point in 2015-2016.