Home equity investment (HEI) · United States
Unlock Home Equity Agreement (HEA): what $50,000 costs by the day you sell
We cannot produce a reliable comparable illustration from the published terms. A required rate or share may be missing, or published examples may conflict. We leave the number blank instead of selecting an unsupported assumption.
The current What It Costs page states a 1.8 exchange rate, but its displayed $161,200 share of an $806,000 ending value is 20%, while its caption says 17%; no single reusable share can be verified.
Everything below is what the provider does state publicly, with the parts it does not state marked as such.
What does the provider publish?
Unlock publishes the terms below on its own pages; each line links to the page it was read from.
| Term | As published | Where |
|---|---|---|
| Origination fee | 4.9% of the cash | source |
| Term | 10 years | source |
| How the share is set | a share of the home's value at sale | source |
| Multiplier on the share | 1.8x the percentage of value taken | source |
| Cap on the payoff | 19.9% a year | source |
| Provider's example | $60,000 on a $600,000 home; sold in year 10 at $806,000; provider receives $161,200 | source |
| Minimum credit score | 500 | source |
| Minimum amount | $15,000 | source |
| Maximum amount | $500,000 | source |
| Minimum home value | $175,000 | source |
| States | 26 — Alabama, Arizona, California, Florida, Hawaii, Idaho, Indiana, Kentucky, Michigan, Missouri, Montana, Nevada, New Hampshire, New Jersey, New Mexico, North Carolina, Ohio, Oregon, Pennsylvania, South Carolina, Tennessee, Utah, Vermont, Virginia, Wisconsin, and Wyoming | source |
Notes from the page; text in quotation marks is quoted verbatim. “You'll pay a fee equal to 4.9% of the lump sum you receive. Third-party: home appraisal, title and escrow fees, and recording fees. The home equity agreement term is 10 years. The Annualized Cost Limit (ACL) sets a maximum return of 19.9% per year on Unlock's investment. 500 minimum credit score; Home equity of at least 30%; Minimum property value $175K+; A minimum HEA amount of $15,000 is required. Example: $600,000 home, $60,000 cash (10%), 10 years at 3% appreciation, ending value $806,000, Unlock settlement $161,200, 'Calculated by multiplying the ending home value by the Unlock percentage' - 'The above is based on a exchange rate of 1.8'. Note: the page text reports the Unlock percentage as 17% while $161,200/$806,000 = 20%. Rechecked 2026-09-29: current what-it-costs page conflicts internally (1.8 exchange rate, 17% caption, and $161,200 on $806,000). Excluded from numerical ranking pending provider clarification.” checked 2026-09-29
Maximum combined loan-to-value: not stated in the provider's published documentation (checked 2026-09-29).
Third-party costs: not stated in the provider's published documentation (checked 2026-09-29).
Third-party costs (high end): not stated in the provider's published documentation (checked 2026-09-29).
Who owns it?
Owned by Unlock Technologies, Inc.. Source. checked 2026-09-29
Where this leaves you
- You cannot budget from this page. Ask the provider, in writing, for the rate or the share, every fee, the term, and what you would owe if you sold in year 3, 5, and 10 on the value of your own home.
- Ask whether there is a cap on what you repay, and whether the starting value is adjusted below the appraisal. Those two terms move the answer more than the fee.
- Providers that do publish enough to compute are listed in the full list.
Who this page is not for
This is not a review. We have not used Unlock, we hold no opinion on its service, and nothing here is a recommendation or advice. It answers one question: what the published terms turn into by the day you sell.
Sources
- Unlock terms page. checked 2026-09-29
- Unlock: minimum credit score. checked 2026-09-29
- Unlock: maximum amount. checked 2026-09-29
- data.json — the row behind this page, with the source URL and check date on every figure.
Related
- Every product we hold, and which publish enough to compute
- Put your own home value and sale year in
- The three numbers that decide what home equity costs
- How these figures are produced
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.