@DTS wrote:
1) I may be eligibel for 150-200K home equity line of credit. Is it good idea to take line of credit and not use it now ? Purpose is to use it in case of emergency or I may use after 1-2 years for my kids college fees.
2) What precautions should be taken before applying ? I have +800 in all 3 beauras. Only in Experian I have ONE hard credit enquiry in past 6 months.
FICO Scres:
Equifax: 838
TransUnion: 829
Experian: 821
I'm happy to talk with someone about a HELOC. There's so little action on them around here. I am signing on mine today (I have a thread with the saga that starts with US Bank...).
Most I've seen are 10 year draw/20 year re-pay, but not all. Most do to 80% LTV, some only to 75% and some to 90%.
If you would be eligible for less or if your scores were worse, I could see waiting for the house to appreciate or your scores to come up, but both seem good on that front. As long as you think the draw period would be a good time period for you.
A couple quirks I've found in my research on HELOC's are that it seems like sort of a crap shoot as to how it will report. I've read that if the CL is over some secret magic number $40k or $50k it'll report as a mortgage/installment loan, but if it's less it reports revolving like a CC. I believe this is based on CL and not the amount used, but I've read so much conflicting stuff that I don't know what to believe. The bank manager told me that for them it reports one way to two of the CRBs and the other way to the third. But he had to go through two levels of UW to get that answer, and he sounded sort of tentative on it. I'm not even sure if it's up to the Bank or the CRB how it's reported/interpreted. I'm going to roll the dice and see what happens. Mine will be $70k, so hopefully installment.
I also found it interesting that it's a much simpler process than a mortgage. They did a desk/drive by appraisal (which was a bit low, but I didn't want to push it...I could have asked for a full appraisal but I was a bit worn down by then and we may refi the first down the line so I figure a little wiggle room isn't a bad thing.) And they didn't triple pull, but they did use a mortgage fico (EX for us via US Bank).
I look forward to hearing how you proceed.
