The Best Home Equity Loan Lenders of 2023
The best home equity lenders enable homeowners to tap the equity they’ve built in their homes and provide a polished online experience that includes detailed rate and product information. We determined the top five home equity lenders of 2023 from an analysis of each lender’s home equity loan programs and LendingTree’s 35 lender reviews.
On this page
- Best overall home equity loan lender: BMO Harris Bank
- Best for high LTV loans and loan term: Spring EQ
- Best for rate discounts: TD Bank
- Best for military borrowers: Navy Federal Credit Union
- Summary of the best home equity lenders of 2023
- How we chose our picks for the best home equity loan lenders
- Current mortgage rates
- Frequently asked questions
Best overall home equity loan lender: BMO Harris Bank
| BMO Harris at a glance
- Available home equity loan terms: 5-, 10-, 15- and 20-year
- Available HELOC loan terms: 20 years
- Additional loan products: Conventional, FHA, jumbo
- LendingTree rating:
Why we chose BMO Harris
BMO Harris is the eighth-largest bank in North America, serving over 12 million customers. Home equity loans and home equity lines of credit (HELOCs) allow you to borrow against the equity you’ve built in your home. While home equity loans offer you a lump sum of money up front, which you then repay in fixed, monthly installments, HELOCs function more like a credit card.
These days, home equity loans aren’t as easy to find, but BMO Harris offers them with a handful of loan term options ranging from five to 20 years. The bank is also pleasantly transparent, offering home equity loan and HELOC rates online, thorough product info, as well as resources for those who are less familiar with the mortgage landscape — even some in video form. To top off a pleasant and helpful online experience, the bank also offers an online application with accompanying application guide.
Best for high LTV loans: Spring EQ
| Spring EQ at a glance
- Available home equity loan terms: 5-30 years
- Available HELOC loan terms: Not disclosed
- Additional loan products: Rate-and-term refinances, cash-out refinances
- LendingTree rating: Spring EQ specializes in refinance and home equity loans, so it didn’t receive a LendingTree star rating.
Why we chose Spring EQ
Spring EQ, based in Philadelphia, specializes in home equity loans, HELOCs and refinances. If you plan to borrow against your home equity and are hoping to access more cash than most lenders will offer, Spring EQ may be able to help.
You can borrow up to 95% of your home equity, which is 10% higher than most lenders offer and the highest of any lender we surveyed (excluding lenders serving only military borrowers). The only catch is that to access 95% of your home equity with a home equity loan, you’ll need a credit score of at least 700 and a debt-to-income ratio (DTI) of 50% or less. Borrowers with credit scores between 620 and 699 can still qualify for some of Spring EQ’s home equity loan options and may also want to consider a HELOC with the company.
Best for rate discounts: TD Bank
| TD Bank at a glance
- Available home equity loan terms: 5-, 10-, 15-, 20- and 30-year terms
- Available HELOC loan terms: Not disclosed
- Additional loan products: Conventional, FHA, VA, jumbo
- LendingTree rating:
Why we chose TD Bank
TD Bank traces its roots back to Toronto Bank, established in 1855, but is now based in New Jersey and serves over 9 million people in the U.S. alone. If you’re a TD Bank customer already and have big purchases, expenses or debt consolidation in your sights for 2023, choosing a TD Bank home equity loan or HELOC could offer an extra perk: a 0.25% interest rate discount. You’ll have to make your home equity loan payments out of a TD Bank checking or savings account and enroll in automatic payments to qualify.
Best for military borrowers: Navy Federal Credit Union
| Navy Federal Credit Union at a glance
- Available home equity loan terms: 5-, 10-, 15- and 20-year
- Available HELOC loan terms: 20 years
- Additional loan products: Conventional, VA, jumbo
- LendingTree rating:
Why we chose Navy Federal
Navy Federal Credit Union serves active-duty servicemembers, veterans, Department of Defense members and their families with a network of 350 branches. Credit unions aren’t usually known for their online wizardry, but Navy Federal has you covered with instant online preapproval, an online application process and customer service that can be accessed by phone, chat and even Twitter if you’re so inclined.
For borrowers who need to make larger-than-average draws from their home equity, Navy Federal also offers high-LTV (over 85%) loans and will lend up to $500,000.
Best for HELOCs: Chase Bank
| Chase Bank at a glance
- Available home equity loan terms: None
- Available HELOC loan terms: Not disclosed
- Additional loan products: Conventional, VA, FHA, jumbo
- LendingTree rating:
Why we chose Chase Bank
Chase is one of the oldest and largest banks in the country. From its headquarters in New York City, the company operates internationally and issues mortgages in 37 states and the District of Columbia.
When it comes to HELOCs, some borrowers are put off by the fact that these loans typically come with variable rates. But Chase has found a way to let you have your cake and eat it, too: a “fixed-rate lock” option that allows you to lock in an interest rate and make regular payments on your HELOC balance during the initial draw period. If you choose to rate lock only a part of your HELOC, you can still use whatever remains of your line of credit.
Summary of the best home equity lenders of 2023
| Lender | LendingTree rating and “best of” category | Available loan terms | Additional loan products | Lender review |
|---|---|---|---|---|
 |  Best overall home equity loan lender |
|
| Read our review |
 | Best for high LTV loans |
|
| Read our review |
 | Best for rate discounts |
|
| Read our review |
 |  Best for military borrowers |
|
| Read our review |
 |  Best for HELOCs |
|
| Read our review |
How we chose our picks for the best home equity loan lenders
To determine the best home equity lenders, we reviewed data collected from 35 lender reviews completed by the LendingTree editorial staff for 2023.
Each lender review gives a rating between zero and five stars based on several features including digital application processes, available loan products and the accessibility of product and lending information. To evaluate home-equity-loan-specific factors, we awarded extra points to lenders that publish home equity loan interest rates online and offer a variety of loan terms.
Our editorial team brought together all of the data about lenders in our lender reviews, as well as the scores awarded for home-equity-specific characteristics, to find the lenders with a product mix, information and guidelines that best serve the needs of home equity loan borrowers. To be considered for our “best overall” pick, lenders had to be able to issue mortgages in over 35 states.
Current mortgage rates
As our list of top lenders shows, there are plenty of options for those wanting to tap their home equity using home equity loans or HELOCs. The good news is that the general forecast for mortgage rates is looking up, and 30-year mortgage rates have hovered around 6.32% as of January of 2023. Interest rates are starting to go down from the highs we saw in November of 2022, inflation is cooling off and those who might have struggled with basic home equity loan or HELOC requirements may find it just a little easier to meet them this year.
Fluctuations in home prices and mortgage interest rates during the pandemic and throughout 2022 have made HELOCs harder to find, as lenders worried that home prices could drop quickly, draining equity from the properties used as collateral. Home equity loans didn’t suffer the same fate, however, and have remained available.
Here’s a look at mortgage rates today:
Home Equity Loan Rates
LOAN AMOUNT |
APR AS LOW AS |
$25,000 |
6.13% |
$50,000 |
6.13% |
$100,000 |
6.38% |
$150,000 |
6.38% |
Frequently asked questions
Like most mortgage types, home equity loans have some general requirements that you can expect you’ll have to meet in order to qualify anywhere, as well as lender-specific requirements that can change depending on who’s issuing your loan. The basic home equity loan requirements are a DTI of 45% or less, a credit score of at least 620 and at least 15% equity in the home.
Home equity loan rates change with the fluctuations of the market, but they’re typically higher than 30-year mortgage rates and lower than the rates you’ll find for personal loans or credit cards.
Because they come with fixed interest rates and are disbursed in a lump sum, home equity loans may be better for those who want a stable payment or who need to address a large expense that can’t be paid off over time. HELOCs typically have variable interest rates and may be better for those who have an ongoing need for cash — for example, to fund an investment, help get a business off the ground or make home improvements.
If you know you want to borrow against your home equity, but you don’t know whether to go with a home equity loan or a HELOC, make sure you take the time to dive into the details of home equity loans versus HELOCs.