I'm also getting ready to open up an HELOC. I casually mentioned this to PenFed and they said that I should probably add her to title first before applying for the HELOC. She couldn't explain why though! I thought that it maybe because the rep thought that DW should also be responsible for any balance on the HELOC. Can anyone think of a more valid reason?
When spouse and I bought our current house (in our 15th year of marriage) we titled it in just her name.
When we did our latest of several refinances, the mortgage company balked at lending money to anyone whose name wasn't on the title. Their position was that I couldn't borrow money without collateral, and I didn't own the collateral that I wanted to borrow money on. Our choices were to retitle the house or to use only her income (and only half our assets) on the application... and of course have only her name on the mortgage note.
Maybe we had the only applications processor in the last decade to actually read our application, or maybe today's FHA lending standards are tighter. But that's what had to happen before we could get our hands on their money.
BTW, having the house in her name was originally a good idea (for family/relatives reasons) but in execution it turned out to be a PITA. Our neighborhood homeowner's association would not speak to me because my name was not on the title. My [-]membership[/-] "admission" card to the local recreation center had to be applied for by her. I was "allowed" to enter the rec center without her escort, but I couldn't take our kid to the rec center without spouse because I wasn't a "member". I couldn't attend HOA meetings, let alone vote. I couldn't sign us up for utilities because my name wasn't on the title, and then I couldn't prove residency because my name wasn't on the utility bills. We even got a state query one year because I was paying property tax from my checking account on property I didn't own. Apparently that's only done by mobsters or terrorists.
Here's another money story. When PenFed sent us our HELOC paperwork, we trotted off to the notary's office and the notary notarized it. Seems pretty straightforward, right? They do it thousands of times a year and probably know what they're doing. However PenFed bounced it right back because we hadn't had it notarized IAW PenFed's instructions. The notary balked because it wasn't IAW Hawaii state law (or whatever rules apply to notaries) but I finally jawboned her into writing all the extra stuff onto the form that PenFed felt was absolutely essential to the integrity of the process. I don't remember the precise verbiage that caused all the heartburn but I remember saying several times "Look, I'm not a notary but I know how to follow instructions, and these are their instructions."
So if your notary says "Aw, that stuff's not necessary", they may be right. But that doesn't mean that PenFed can live without it.