Please see UncleB's post. I just wanted to add that it seems most people here use their CLOC's (especially from NFCU) for padding-meaning they rarely use it they just wanted the extra available credit (it reports as revolving to the credit bureaus) to increase thier debt-to-credit ratio.
Their are several Lines of Credit (LOC): a HELOC is a Home Equity Line of Credit (secured by your home); a PLOC is a Personal Line of Credit and is usually unsecured (no collateral required) and can be a stand alone account like at PendFed, US Bank and Wells Fargo or can be attached to a checking account like I have at my credit union Security Service FCU and the above-mentioned CLOC.
People can use their LOC's in a variety of ways; for HELOCs usually that is used for home improvement; PLOCs can be used for anything you might not be able to use a credit card for or you need a very short term loan and do not want the bother of an actual installment loan and CLOC's by their nature are supposed to be for overdraft protection. LOC's are very popular in Canada as they have favourable rates. LOC's (excluding HELOCs) are not as popular in the US as they usually carry higher APRs and many credit cards easily beat the interest rates on LOCs.
