Lower

HELOC and refinance with Low**.com

The Process took longer than expected or explained. It all started well and very we will get you what you need when so many others said they couldn't help. Then things started to get real slow and information was hard to come by in a timely manner. In the end it all worked out.

Flag review

It was a great experience!

The entire experience was a easy one. I am grateful to have selective you as my first option. It was great pleased to work with you.

Flag review

Speed was not 5 star quality

Overall the experience was saved by my loan officer!! The company ultimately gets it done but if you are in a rush, look elsewhere. If you have half a year to wait it's an honest company with good communication and they get it done. But my opinion, the company shouldn't have bitten off more than they could chew which may have sped up the process and then I would rate them excellent!!

Flag review

Closing with Bryce Montes

Buying a home is a monumental undertaking. Service and attention to detail is key. Shop wisely and ask questions.

Flag review

We had a good experience.

Sunny Amin was very helpful and made our refinance process easy. Everything was able to be done online

Flag review

Overall it was a decent experience

Started off with a HELOC attempt to consolidate debt. My credit score was right at the threshold and the loan officer explained if I paid down certain cards and proved I had X amount in my bank accounts/401K I would be good to go. Unfortunately, I was denied in the end after a few weeks.
Switched to a refinance and that process was fine for the most part. The closing got push for one reason or another and 3 months later I closed.
If you use Lower, (they had a great rate and reasonable closing costs so I stuck with them) be prepared to continue to pay your current mortgage and do not deviate by paying off other bills, even up to the week of closing so you do not get stuck scrambling to pay what you need to.
Overall, I appreciate the work that went into my refinance, but the communication could have been better (which I take part of the blame for since I did not ask for full clarification, details, and set timelines).

Flag review

Upfront, but their product sucked.

Whenever I buy a house, I always open a HELOC against it to help cover unexpected expenses to avoid dipping into my savings too much. Home Equity Loans are never an option for me because I don't believe in borrowing that much money at one time and being on the hook for it for 10 - 15 years even if I don't really need it. HELOCs are always a better option for me because the money is there if I ever need it, but if I don't need it, I don't have to use it.
However, I have noticed that since the pandemic hit, my usual HELOC company no longer offers them despite my 800 credit score and 75% LTV ratio. This led me to lending tree to see if anyone does. As expected very few did, but this company, Lower did, at least it appeared that way on the surface.
In reality, their HELOC offering is not a good product. First, they require you to refinance your original mortgage, and in addition they force you to take out around 33% of your requested HELOC amount off the top to cover closing costs and other fees. This not only means you will lose access to a good portion of the requested Line of Credit amount immediately, it means you'll be paying extra on that 33% from the get go even if you don't ever use your remaining available credit. Yes, the refinance will lower your first mortgage payment, but you aren't really saving anything because of the forced initial draw on the HELOC. In addition to this, if you were under 80% LTV on your first mortgage and are able to avoid forced escrow and PMI, signing up for this product will FORCE you to have to do escrow and PMI on your new loan because the forced draw will put you well over the 80% LTV ratio.
These are all the reasons why their so called HELOC is not worth it. On a traditional HELOC, there is no forced refinance of 1st mortgage and no forced draw. But with this company's HELOC, the homeowner won't realize any benefit overall and the product itself is so convoluted. I can only imagine the nightmare if the homeowner ever tries to sell the home while tied up in this
As I stated in my title, the loan officer was upfront about everything so won't knock him for trying to sell the product, but the company as a whole shouldn't even offer this so called "HELOC" because its terrible in every aspect. Of course I had to deal with having to tell the company "I'm not interested" a few times before they stopped trying to sell me on it which was kind of annoying but par for the course especially when the company knows their product is bad for consumers.
In my case, I gave up on looking for a HELOC, and will instead rely on my savings for any needed emergency situations. If you're looking for a HELOC, don't even waste your time with this company or any company that claims to still offer them; they don't. The only exception to this is if you have less than 50% LTV ratio, then maybe you'll have better luck in getting one.

Flag review