Better.com reports that its home equity line of credit (HELOC) product has collectively helped customers pay off more than $193 million in debt while growing it’s home equity products 166% year-over-year.
Homeowners are increasingly turning to home equity lending tools as a smarter and lower-cost tool for debt consolidation to help balance their mounting financial pressure, the firm says in a release. American household debt reached $18.39 trillion at the end of the second quarter, with credit card debt alone rising $27 billion during the quarter.
Credit card rates have soared above 27% and personal loans rates have surpassed 17%, while HELOC rates average 8%.
At the same time, the average American household is sitting on over $200,000 in home equity that they can tap to pay off debts or improve their home, with over $34 trillion of home equity across all US households.
Better’s rapid growth in home equity lending is powered by its One Day HELOC™, which delivers fully underwritten approvals within 24 hours, and Tinman®, Better’s proprietary AI-driven loan origination platform which speeds up the origination process so that consumers can access their funds in as little as five days.
HELOCs are not only effective for lowering interest on monthly payments; they provide a range of advantages for homeowners that want to take control of their debt like replacing multiple high-interest payments and deadlines with a single HELOC payment.
“We are the only AI native mortgage company in the U.S. with a full-scale tech stack in one place, all in one flow,” says Vishal Garg, CEO and founder of Better.com. “That foundation lets us keep improving speed and accuracy for customers seeking to use their home equity to unlock savings or improve their families’ future.”
Photo: Patrick Pahlke