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Debt is a major problem for many American households聽鈥� especially those that have聽credit card debt in addition to mortgages, auto loans and student loans.

U.S. households carry聽an average of $15,762 in聽,聽and in 2015, they paid an average interest rate of 13.66% on it. Many cardholders pay higher rates on聽higher balances.

It聽might聽seem as though there鈥檚聽no relief from high-interest balances, but you can take steps to lower your burden. For homeowners, one of them is to consolidate your debt and lower your monthly bills by .

Using low mortgage rates to consolidate debt

You鈥檝e probably noticed how low mortgage rates have been during the past few years. The in November 2012, the lowest rate in history. Fast forward to March 31, 2016, and聽it聽inched up only slightly, to 3.71%.

This has been great for homeowners who want to lower their monthly mortgage payment by聽. But it can also聽help you get rid of high-interest credit card debt.

Almost 10 percentage points separate聽the average 30-year mortgage rate (3.71%) from聽the average credit card interest rate (13.66%). This is because credit card debt is perceived as riskier than mortgage聽debt,聽and credit card companies charge interest accordingly.

But聽if you can move debt that costs聽you 13.66% to a vehicle that charges聽you only 3.71%, you can聽effectively give聽yourself almost a 10% return on your money.

One way聽to do this聽is to perform聽a cash-out refinance. This type of refinance allows you to turn聽the equity you鈥檝e built up in your home into cash that you can use聽for whatever you like. Most people use it聽to pay off high-interest debt, fund a large purchase or finance a home improvement project.

Many聽people like to聽consolidate credit card debt using a cash-out refinance because they can make fixed payments on it over a set聽period of time, rather than聽paying聽a revolving balance every month.

Doing聽a cash-out refinance聽the right way

If you think a cash-out refinance might be a good idea,聽make sure you have enough equity that the cash you take out of your home won鈥檛 leave you with a loan-to-value ratio of more than聽80%, post-refinance. Exceeding that ratio means that you鈥檒l have to buy private mortgage insurance, which can easily cost 1% of the loan value every year. On a $250,000 mortgage, that would be $2,500 annually.

To calculate your current loan-to-value ratio, divide聽your current mortgage balance by the approximate value of your home.

(Current Mortgage Amount) / (Approximate Home Value) = Loan-to-Value Ratio

If you want to cash out some home equity to pay off high-interest credit card debt, add the amount of debt you鈥檙e paying off to the loan amount, like this:

(Current Mortgage Amount) + (Credit Card Balance to Pay Off) / (Approximate Home Value) = Loan-to-Value Ratio

Here鈥檚 an example. Let鈥檚 assume your current mortgage balance is $300,000 on a home worth approximately $450,000, and you鈥檇 like to pay off $15,000 in credit card debt. Your calculation would look like this:

($300,000 + $15,000) / $450,000 = 0.7 or 70%

Since your loan-to-value ratio is聽less than 80%, you can cash out enough equity to pay off your credit card debt without having to pay for mortgage insurance.

Potential downsides of a cash-out refinance

When you perform a cash-out refinance,聽you鈥檙e increasing your聽mortgage balance by the amount of credit card debt you鈥檙e paying off. This might cause your monthly mortgage payment to increase, depending on the interest rate and terms you qualify for.

You should also聽consider the length of your mortgage. If you鈥檝e already paid several years off your mortgage, you probably don鈥檛 want to extend it聽to 30 years again. Instead, consider lowering the term to 25 or 20 years. The shorter聽term would lower your mortgage rate even further and save you a lot of money in interest. However, it聽could lead to a higher monthly mortgage payment.

Look at all your available options and find the loan that best fits your needs and goals.

is a personal finance expert at , a mortgage refinance site based in San Francisco.聽Learn more about Chris on NerdWallet鈥檚 . This article first appeared in .