I'm just setting up one myself with my bank by leveraging a HELOC to replace my mortgage. Say deal basically as the Manulife ONE and yes - the critical deal is 'are you a saver or a spender'.
If you can control yourself, I believe the best bet is the HELOC, deposit the paycheck into the HELOC account, and live off a points based credit card (Aeroplan, or Airmiles, or cash back... whatever you prefer). Then when the credit card bill comes in, pay it off with the HELOC. HELOC will go down, then up, then down... etc. The challenge is not just cranking up the credit card or blowing any excess you might get with your HELOC.
In my case, the HELOC is just enough for the morgage plus about $10K "in case". Again, as long as you are disciplined, I figure I can take at least 7 years off my mortgage by not changing my lifestyle in any significant fashion.
If you are not disciplined and that money tends to burn a hole in your pocket, a HELOC is a bad idea. You'll find yourself in more debt than when you started.
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