Originations soared in the third quarter of last year, per TransUnion data released last week. The reason for this is that a homeowner might ideally want to buy another house with different features, but either can't afford a higher mortgage rate or doesn't want to give up their 3% bargain, so instead of doing a cash-out refinance, homeowners are turning to HELOCs, which let homeowners borrow some amount of money — less than the value of the whole house, as with a refi — to make home renovations, pay down credit card debt, deal with expenses, etc.