Compare Home Equity & HELOC Rates

Nine HELOC and home equity lenders compared, with published rates from 6.59% to 8.79%, plus three equity sharing agreements that are not loans and have.

By Michael Hewitt, Founder & Editor-in-Chief. Updated September 29, 2026.

The published rates on this page run from 6.59% to 8.79%, a spread of 2.2 percentage points. On $100,000 repaid over ten years, a gap that size comes to roughly $14,000. That is why this is one of the few borrowing decisions where shopping genuinely pays. What makes it harder than it should be is that three of the products advertised alongside HELOCs are not loans at all. Equity sharing agreements take a share of your home's future value instead of charging interest, so they have no APR, cannot be ranked against a rate, and are listed separately below for that reason.

HELOC vs. Home Equity Loan: Flexibility or Certainty

A HELOC is a revolving line at a variable rate: you draw what you need during a draw period, usually ten years, then repay over a repayment period. A home equity loan is a lump sum at a fixed rate repaid on a schedule from day one. The choice is mostly about certainty against flexibility, and about what the money is for.

A renovation with an unknown final cost, or a cushion you may never draw, suits a line. A single known bill (a consolidation, a roof, a tax settlement) suits a fixed loan, because the rate cannot move underneath you and the payoff date is fixed at signing. Rates on the two are close enough today that the structure should decide it, not the headline.

• Most lenders will go to 80–85% combined loan-to-value; a few reach 90%+, and the rate rises with it.
• HELOC rates are usually quoted as prime plus a margin, so the published rate moves when prime does. The margin is the part you negotiate.
• Ask about the annual fee, the inactivity fee, and the early-closure fee. On a line you barely draw, those are the whole cost.
• Both are secured by your home. This is the cheap money precisely because the lender can foreclose, which is a reason to borrow less than you are offered.

HELOC and Home Equity Loan Rates Compared

Ranked by the lowest rate each lender publishes, which is the best case, not the typical one. TD's 6.59% applies only to lines of $200,000 or more (8.79% on $25,000 to $49,999), Connexus's 6.89% is 7.31% as an APR, and Spring EQ publishes no rate, so it ranks last. Every rate below is the lender's own figure and we re-check them on a schedule; confirm before you apply, because a variable rate quoted last week is not a promise made today.

1. TD Bank HELOC: East coast branch banking
2. Bethpage Federal Credit Union HELOC: A low rate open to anyone who joins
3. Connexus Credit Union Home Equity Loan: A fixed rate without a membership hurdle
4. Third Federal HELOC: A rate-match guarantee
5. Figure HELOC: Speed, with funding in as few as five days
6. Navy Federal Home Equity Loan: Military families wanting a fixed rate
7. U.S. Bank Home Equity Loan: Existing U.S. Bank customers
8. Aven HELOC Card: Drawing equity with a card rather than a transfer
9. Spring EQ HELOC: High CLTV when others decline

The Three That Are Not Loans

Unison, Unlock and Splitero appear in the same searches as everything above, and they are a different product. You take cash now in exchange for a share of what your home is worth when the agreement ends. There is no interest and no monthly payment, which is how they are marketed. There is also no APR, so there is nothing to compare against the rates above and no way to know the cost when you sign.

That cost is not small. On a home appreciating at historical rates, the share handed over frequently exceeds what a HELOC's interest would have come to over the same years. It is decided by the housing market rather than by a contract rate, which means the better your house does, the more the agreement costs you. Unison writes 30-year terms; the others are usually ten.

They exist for a real reason. A 550 credit score and no income verification will not get a HELOC anywhere on this page, and a homeowner with equity, no qualifying income and an urgent bill has few alternatives. If that is the position, these are worth understanding rather than dismissing. If a HELOC above will approve you, compare in total dollars over the years you actually expect to hold it, and the loans usually win.

• No APR exists on these products. Any comparison against the rates above has to be done in total dollars over a horizon you choose.
• Ending one early normally means refinancing or selling; there is no amortization schedule to pay down.
• Ask whether the appreciation share is capped. That single term matters more than anything on the marketing page.
• Get the settlement arithmetic in writing at three house-price scenarios: flat, up 3% a year, up 6% a year.

Key Takeaways

• Published rates here run from 6.59% to 8.79%, a spread of 2.2 percentage points. That is roughly $14,000 on $100,000 over ten years.
• Bethpage FCU at 6.74% undercuts every rate here except TD's on lines of $200,000 or more, and anyone can join for a $25 share account.
• Navy Federal's fixed rate, from 7.34% APR, comes with its closing costs paid if you are eligible; Connexus, from 7.31% APR, is open to anyone but charges $175 to $2,000 in closing costs, so compare total cost as well as rate.
• Equity sharing agreements from Unison, Unlock and Splitero are not loans, have no APR, and on a normally appreciating home often cost more than a HELOC would have.