the best home improvement loans

The Best Home Improvement Loans

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Posted on November 23, 2015

Depending on the type of renovation, home renovations can be expensive and may require you to seek assistance in the form of a home improvement loan when you have not saved enough money for a needed project. Financial institutions will offer large amounts of money to cover expenses for your grand home improvement dreams. It’s up to you to choose the right lender for your project.

 

Options vary among private financial institutions, and each has their benefits and risky drawbacks associated with each option. In fact, if you are willing to put your house on the line, that will enable you to obtain home improvement loans quickly and easily at a low APR.

 

On the other hand, if you are not in a position to put your house on the line and still need a loan for home renovation process, there are few options offered by banks. In these cases, they do not require your home as an equity, but they need you to have good credit history.

 

Let’s look at the benefits and the drawbacks of two of the best rated home improvement loan providers:

 

U.S. Bank

U.S. Bank stays way ahead in the competition because of the low APR it provides. The transparency of their comprehensive website is also a main factor in doing business with them. For an example, they offer a very good competitive APR of 6.19% for 20 years on a loan amount of $75,000. They offer a variable APR of 3.99% for the same amount for 10 years, which is the lowest in the market.

 

Benefits

  • Comparatively low APR
  • Very healthy customer service scores
  • The large network of 3,200 branches
  • Flexibility of waiving HELOC annual fee with checking account
  • Clearly explained fee structure and terms & conditions
  • Early closing fee on HELOCs waived off for higher debt-to-income borrowers
  • Support through online chat service for loans for bad no guarantor

 

Drawbacks

HELOC promotional rates are not that low

Lack of information on the website about home equity

 

Bank of America

A competitive APR of 4.15% was offered by Bank of America. It is slightly higher than the rate offered by U.S. Bank. However, they offer a 5.4% APR for a fixed rate home equity loan for 25 years. It is difficult to decide which term benefits more as the term generator doesn’t facilitate such feature.

 

The home equity loan prepayment rate is $450, which is $50 less than US Bank’s fee. They offer a unique term of minimum three-year repayment period, while the usual minimum repayment period is 5 years with all the other banks. They do provide a very good chat service with adequate help.  The network of 5,000 branches indicates the strength of the bank.

Benefits

  • Comparatively low APR
  • A very good network of 5,000 branches
  • Exclusively offer three-year term for fixed-rate home equity loans
  • Explains about fees and terms clearly
  • Enables users to get the support online via chat service

Cons

  • Do not o犀利士
    ffer low promotional rates on HELOCs
  • “Average” Customer service rating
  • Poor functioning rate generator
  • Rate cap is as High as 24% on HELOCs

 

There are also a number of other options that might help you on the search for the best loan. LendingTree.com is a directory of lenders with all sorts of comparative stats to help you decide on a lender. CitiBank, has slightly higher rates for fixed-rate loans and HELOC with lower borrowing limits but it may be the one bank you need to get your renovation job done, especially if you already have an established relationship with this lender.

 

CREATE RE is a Los Angeles based residential construction lender specializing in contemporary design and construction. As former real estate investors, we place our work’s importance on the goal of resale value for the client whether they be a homeowner or real estate investor. Contact us for a quote today at: (310) 321-1000.

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