Had a need for a HELOC recently and had no idea what I was doing. Lot's of different choices out there and wasn't exactly sure what my options were. I recently joined SDFCU for their Premium Cash Back + credit card and found that they were offering a really low rate at Prime - 1%, so currently it is at 4.5%. All the big name banks were higher than that.
I got a thing in the mail from Third Federal for a HELOC at the same Prime - 1% rate, but it had NO closing costs at all and was offering a $100 gift card to Lowes or Home Depot. SDFCU had $600 in closing costs total. Third Federal kept saying that it had no hidden fees, but lo and behold at the very bottom of their agreement in the smallest print possible it says "annual membership fee required"... I couldn't even find out how much that annual membership fee was it was so hidden and I had to Google for the answer from a different website than Third Federal's because if they have it listed anywhere on their site it is really well hidden. It was $65 a year. The HELOC is typcial 10 year draw 20 year repayment, so over the 30 year loan it would be way more than SDFCU's $600 closing cost, it would be about equal ~9 years and total cost me about ~$1700 more after the full 30 years. Adjust for inflation and it's not so bad, but also no guarantee that they won't increase the annual membership in all that time, either. Kind of shady on their part, really.
I went with SDFCU and it was all pretty smooth. Not really fast, I will say that you have to be a little patient with them, they haven't forgot about you even if they haven't contacted you immediately. Was able to sign for closing after about 2 weeks and funds became available yesterday. Was fairly straight forward just had to provide the required documentation which was somewhat extensive.
If you don't have that great of a rate on your mortgage you can do a cash out refinance, since the mortgage rates are usually lower than those of a HELOC, but my mortgage rate is at 3.375% and didn't want to change that. Also wanted to have a somewhat flexible line of credit for a while rather than a lump sum.
Good stuff all around, figured I would put this here for others who might be in the same boat looking for a HELOC. I was kind of overwhelmed for a bit. Look toward CU's for the best rate and beware of all fees and costs, if it is too good to be true it probably is! Any bank can say "no hidden fees" as long as it is printed somewhere on that sheet, even if it is in tiny print at the very bottom...
