Advice if you have it… HELOC in Maryland

[spncity]

I have looked up a couple of banks. Trying to find the best place to get a home equity line of credit that we may or may not use. Hoping to get advice from knowledgeable Marylanders or research experts. Thank you!

 

[gauss]

I have used PenFed in the past.
Very attractive in terms of fees ($0) and rates (1.9%) for 5 years. This was almost 5 years ago.

-gauss

 

[spncity]

I have used PenFed in the past.
Very attractive in terms of fees ($0) and rates (1.9%) for 5 years. This was almost 5 years ago.

-gauss

PenFed does look good. Since the loan is guaranteed by the house property, is it hard to get a HELOC if one is not working?

 

[gauss]

Haven't tried yet but -----

#1) Do you have Income reported on your IRS 1040?

#2) If not, I believe that Fannie/Freddie have underwriting procedures that will allow some portion of "qualifying assets" to be considered.

I researched #2 several months ago (via google).

Also, in my case, #1 applies with pensions/rental income/brokerage dividends/interest and Roth conversions.

When I did my PenFed loan 5 years ago I believe both DW and I were still working.

-gauss

 

[spncity]

Very helpful. Thank you!

 

[jazz4cash]

I just went through this and went with NFCU but I should've gone with NASA FCU. I'm not sure but I think Freddie/Fannie is for 1st liens. The 5 yr rate quoted above sounds like an HEL, not an HELOC. Mine is indexed at prime with a .25 discount for autopay. Min payment is 1%.
The biggest issue I had was getting title company to calculate the transfer taxes properly but may not be an issue for you if you are not paying off an existing lien.
There are no caps on this loan but it was not a concern for me.

 

[brewer12345]

I did a deal with pen Fed 18 months ago. Easy and cheap, have yet to draw on it.

 

[MRG]

PenFed does look good. Since the loan is guaranteed by the house property, is it hard to get a HELOC if one is not working?

Our experience with BofA and a couple of others in regards to not working.

What limited us was our debt to income ratio. We have no debt, but our yearly income was intentionally low. Think we had to show two years of data.

The other variable was the value of the home. Think you could get credit for 80%? of the value. We could only qualify for 40% based on our low income.

Despite all that it's a good idea to have that line of credit. We swung a real estate transaction and a move via a HELOC. Paid interest for 5 months.

 

[LiveBelowMeans]

Not sure where you are in MD, however APL federal credit union is excellent in Howard County.

 

[bmcgonig]

I did a deal with pen Fed 18 months ago. Easy and cheap, have yet to draw on it.

+1 I did the same. Free. Super easy. They do a drive by valuation if your loan is under a set amount.

 

[Bigdawg]

I am in MD but the rental is in CA. I have lots of equity out there. Some lenders out east here will not give loans in CA. Will have to do some in depth research. I have NFCU and USAA.