Category: Home Equity

Financial experts recommend households maintain an emergency savings account equal to six months of living expenses. A hefty savings balance ensures there's enough money to pay bills and buy groceries in the event of an unexpected job loss, health diagnosis, or significant expense that would otherwise derail your budget. Many Americans fall short of this savings ideal. A recent Economic Well-Being study found that four out of ten U.S. households would have trouble covering an emergency expense as small as $400. 

Homeownership has its advantages. Saying “goodbye” to renting often means saying “hello” to increased square footage, stable housing payments, and potential tax benefits. It also provides an opportunity to build equity, the difference between the mortgage balance and the market value of the home, in an appreciating asset. The good news gets even better when homeowners learn they don’t have to sell their homes to access that equity. They can use a home equity line of credit to access the cash value in their homes today.

A home equity line of credit, aka HELOC, makes it possible for many Americans to purchase a second home, complete a delayed home improvement project, pay off high-interest rate credit card debt or achieve any number of financial goals without selling their primary residence. The popularity of HELOCs continue to rise.

Homeowners who need additional funds to pay for college, buy a second home, consolidate high-interest debt, or pay for a special event often find themselves unnecessarily stumped by the question “How am I going to pay for this?” Many homeowners can avoid accessing savings or borrowing against a retirement account to pay for these and other expenses. They can do so by tapping into the equity in their home.

Some people look forward to tax season as much as a visit to the dentist’s office. Others are excited about the possibility of a sizeable tax refund and view April 15 with great anticipation. In either case, this year’s tax filing won’t be a simple repeat of last year.

Borrowers looking to apply for a Home Equity Loan or Line of Credit are likely to hear the term "second mortgage" at some point as they are shopping and applying for a loan. Although a common term, it's one that is often open for misinterpretation. In our latest blog, we review this terminology and bring clarity to it.

With interest rates rising, like they have over the past year, borrowers with variable rate Home Equity Lines of Credit tend to start thinking about how they can convert to a fixed rate to avoid further increases in the interest they have to pay on their outstanding balance.

When deciding to take out a Home Equity Line of Credit, one of the first things someone will research is the rate they will pay. As they research rates offered by various lenders, they often learn that more and more banks offer what is called risk-based pricing, which then prompts the question, “What exactly is risk-based pricing?”

If you’re looking to borrow a Home Equity Loan or Line of Credit, the term debt-to-income ratio is likely to come up. This is a major consideration when a lender is evaluating a credit application. You'll want to be sure to know what it means.

A home appraisal is an impartial evaluation of a home’s value performed by a professional appraiser. What an appraisal allows a bank to do is confirm that the value of your home is more than the outstanding balance on your mortgage plus the amount you are looking to borrow on your Home Equity Line of Credit.