The difficulty in getting a HELOC depends mainly on your financial situation, including your credit score, income, debt-to-income ratio and the amount of equity you have in your home. Lenders will examine all these factors during the approval process. If your financial circumstances are stable and you have a good amount of equity in your home, getting a HELOC might be straightforward. It might be more challenging if there are negative marks on your credit report or if you have high debt levels.