Best Mortgage Lender for Home Equity Lines of Credit

Methodology:

All 2023 reviewed mortgage lenders were evaluated against the criteria below. The lender with the highest raw score is our Best Mortgage Lender for Home Equity Lines of Credit, or HELOCs.
  • 1. Must offer HELOCs.
  • 2. Offers a high maximum combined loan-to-value, or CLTV. (Lenders are scored from 1-5 with > 80% representing the best score.)
  • 3. Offers a fixed-rate repayment option.
  • 4. Charges low or no annual fees. (Lenders are scored from 1-5 with zero annual fees representing the best score.)
  • 5. Demonstrates transparency for consumers about key factors.
Tiebreakers:
  • 1. Lowest minimum draw.
  • 2. Highest maximum draw.
  • 3. Lowest maximum APR.

How we picked the lenders to evaluate:

NerdWallet reviewed more than 50 mortgage lenders in 2023, including the majority of the largest U.S. mortgage lenders by annual loan volume (measured among lenders with at least a 1% market share), lenders with significant online search volume and those that specialize in serving various audiences across the country. We rated them on criteria including rate transparency, loan types offered and more.
Some of the providers are NerdWallet partners, but this did not influence our selection of the winner.

How we chose the winner:

The winner is the mortgage lender that had the highest raw score when evaluated against NerdWallet's HELOC mortgage lender star-rating rubric: must offer HELOCs (20%), offers a high maximum CLTV (20%), offers a fixed-rate repayment option (20%), charges low or no annual fees (20%) and demonstrates transparency for consumers about rates, fees, qualifications and other factors (20%). In the event of a tie, the winner must offer the lowest minimum draw, the highest maximum draw or the lowest maximum APR.

How we verified our data:

NerdWallet solicits information from reviewed lenders on a recurring basis throughout the year. All lender-provided information is verified through lender websites and interviews.