Which home equity lenders publish their rates and fees, and which make you apply first?

Summary

Some lenders print a rate you can compute with; others print loan amounts and credit requirements and hold the price back until you apply. Regions Bank publishes an APR range and repayment examples for its home equity loan, and FourLeaf Federal Credit Union publishes its HELOC rates with the conditions attached. Rocket Mortgage, Spring EQ and Truist show no rate figure on their home equity loan pages. A missing price doesn't mean a high one; it means the cost can't be worked out from what's public.

Two lenders that print a price

Regions Bank's home equity loan page gives an APR range, "6.75% APR to 13.75% APR," and two repayment examples. The first is "$50,000 loan, 10-year term, 6.75% APR, 120 monthly payments of $574.12." It also says the bank pays all closing costs, lends $10,000 to $500,000, and offers 10, 15 and 20-year terms.

FourLeaf's HELOC page goes further into the fine print. It lists a 5.99% introductory APR for 12 months, a standard rate "as low as 7.00% Variable APR," the credit score, loan-to-value and draw conditions behind each, a 3.25% floor and an 18% ceiling. With either page, you can put a number into a cost formula and get a result.

Three that stop at "apply"

Rocket Mortgage's home equity loan page prints a "Loan limit $45,000–$500,000," a "Credit score 680+," and "no origination fee." It also shows how the maximum combined loan-to-value ratio rises with credit: 80% at a 680 FICO, 85% at 700, and 90% at 740. It shows no rate and no term. The buttons read "Start my application" and "Get a quick estimate."

Spring EQ lends "from $50,000 to $500,000," up to 90% of the home's value, on terms of 10 to 30 years, and you can "Qualify With As Low As a 640 FICO." On fees it says, "There is a lender fee but no annual fee," and gives no amount for the lender fee. The rate is behind "Get Your Rate Instantly."

Truist's page says, "We pay closing costs for you," and offers repayment periods of 5 to 30 years. It gives no rate, no loan amount and no credit score.

These pages still answer one question: whether you are likely to qualify. They don't answer what the loan would cost.

A home equity investment has no rate to publish

Point's HEI charges no interest, so an empty rate field is expected. What the cost depends on instead is Point's share of the home's value and its cap, and the page gives neither as a number. It says the Homeowner Protection Cap "is a maximum percentage, calculated annually," and it does publish the fee: "up to a 3.9% processing fee (subject to a $2,000 minimum)."

How this site shows a lender with no price

A lender that prints no price stays on the product list, with the price left blank and a note saying why. Filling the gap with an average would rank the lender on a price it never quoted. The only fair comparison for that lender is its written quote next to other written quotes for the same amount and term, since an advertised floor and a personal offer are different kinds of number.

Sources

Written by Kaz (pen name). Figures are copied from providers' published pages on the dates shown. We have not used these products. Corrections: contact form.