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Home Equity Line of Credit
  
Types of Home Equity Loans

By Joseph Kenny

 

Home equity loans are a way of using the money that you've invested in your mortgage by borrowing against it.

 

Essentially, a home equity loan is a 'second mortgage' - a loan secured by your property. If you don't make good on your payments, the lending company or bank can force the sale of your house to recover their money.

 

There are two major types of home equity loans - home equity loans and home equity lines of credit, also called HELOCs. Most lenders that offer home equity loans offer both kinds. A home equity loan for $10,000 and a home equity line of credit for $10,000 are two completely different animals though they have a lot of similar features.

 

Home Equity Loan

If you apply for and are granted a home equity loan for $10,000 at 7% APR for 15 years, you will receive a check or a deposit to your bank account of $10,000. That is the full amount of the loan that you can ever draw on that particular application. Depending on the terms agreed upon, you may have one to several months before you have to begin repaying the loan. You'll pay a fixed amount every month until the full amount of the loan and the interest charge is paid off. You'll know from the very start how much you'll be repaying.

 

Home Equity Line of Credit

A home equity line of credit - a HELOC - is much more like a credit card. When you apply for and are granted a home equity line of credit, the bank establishes a 'line of credit' - which functions just the way that a 'credit limit' does on your credit card. You may receive special checks or a plastic card with which to access your line of credit - but .....

 

Read more here: Home Equity Line of Credit