Q. Do you pay all the interest on a home equity loan even if you pay it off early? My plan is to take out a 10 or 15 year loan and aggressively pay it off in 5 years.

A. No. You only owe interest on the outstanding balance of your loan. The lower the balance, the less you owe in interest. And once the debt is repaid, you're done.

The only thing to watch out for when the lender draws up the loan is any kind of pre-payment penalty. That, as the name implies, would cost you if you wanted to make extra payments before the penalty phase of the loan expired (usually three to five years).