Many people think that just because they have bad credit and no provable income that they cannot access the equity in their home. This is simply not true. If you have a challenging situation you may be surprised to find that accessing the equity in your home with a mortgage can be easy. Each situation is different but you can expect to pay higher mortgage rates than the banks but with much easier mortgage qualifying criteria. Accessing the equity in your home via a second mortgage can often be a great idea if you would like to consolidate debt, start a business, or even avoid foreclosure.