Hard to answer for you specifically, but we keep an open line of credit in the form of an equity loan for emergencies. We've had the most recent equity line for almost 5 years and have never tapped into it so therefore it's on paper only until we do use it, no monthly payments until we do. It can help improve your credit score if you responsibly make your payments.
I look for as fixed a rate as possible, which is tough to find in an equity loan these days. And understand if you default, the bank can foreclose on your home for a few missed or late payments.
Also, I recommend people read carefully all the terms of the equity loan. I dealt with fine line contracts in my career so read everything from A to Z in my personal adventures too. We found clauses that said if we defaulted on our equity loan, the bank could also seize any other tangible items we had loans on with that same bank. We had a car and a truck loan at that time. I questioned it with the bank loan office and manager who read the same clause but assured me that could not be true. I asked them for a definitive explanation of the clause, which took a week to receive back because the manager sent my queries to their legal department. The call from the legal dept. was exactly what I interpreted that clause to mean. We took out the equity line anyway because we were confident we had all bases covered.
I think equity loans contain more potential danger for consumers than primary mortgages.
I'd take one out in a NY minute over the interest rates on credit cards, but with awareness of the traps.