I would only leverage my house if I felt otherwise secure in my finances and did not have any month-to-month issues with paying off my revolving credit card debt. So, me being a carefully observant CC user, yes I would absolutely leverage my house to pay off CC debt of that size (my home equity ~300k+). But I never carry a CC balance. So I'd ask myself, why am I carrying a $12k balance this time? Was it a highly specific, one-time purchase that is a practical purchase? E.g., if I really needed backup generator and electrical upgrades to secure my family in our home over the winter, I might invest $15k for a system. Maybe that's the transient reason for my CC debt.