Spring EQ Home Equity Review 2024

Spring EQ offers home purchase and refinance loans, home equity loans and home equity lines of credit. With its home equity loans, you may be able to access up to 95% of the equity in your home and borrow up to $500,000.

For its home equity loans, Spring EQ only offers fixed-rate loans with repayment terms of five, 10, 15, 20, 25 or 30 years. Its HELOCs operate on a 30-year variable term, with an option to only pay interest for the first 10 years, followed by a 20-year fully amortizing repayment period. You’ll need to make an initial draw of $50,000 on a Spring EQ HELOC, which is on the higher end compared to other lenders.

Spring EQ’s interest rates for home equity loans and HELOCs are comparable to national averages. As always, you should shop around with multiple lenders to find the best rate.

It’s important to note that Spring EQ does not have an online payment system, which could be a dealbreaker for some borrowers. However, you can request an ACH authorization form to set up recurring payments and have the funds deducted from your checking or savings account.

Spring EQ offers flexible credit score requirements, however you’ll still have to meet several requirements in order to qualify.

It’s important to note that Spring EQ home equity products are not available to residents in Alaska, Hawaii, Idaho, Massachusetts, Missouri, Nevada, New York, North Dakota, South Dakota, West Virginia, Wyoming or Utah.

Minimum Credit Score

Spring EQ requires a minimum credit score of 620 to qualify for a home equity loan. For HELOCs, the minimum is 680. To borrow up to 95% of your equity with a Spring EQ home equity loan, you’ll need a credit score of 700 or higher.

Maximum Debt-to-income (DTI) Ratio

The maximum DTI ratio for a home equity loan through Spring EQ is 50%. For a HELOC, it’s 45%.

Spring EQ fees vary by product and state. HELOC borrowers can expect a loan administration fee of $195 and an annual maintenance fee of $99. Spring EQ did not disclose what fees—if any—are applicable to its home equity loans.

One benefit of taking out a HELOC through Spring EQ is that most of its HELOCs do not require an in-home appraisal, meaning you will only need to pay for a drive-by appraisal (sometimes called an exterior-only appraisal) to get approved.

Some lenders offer no origination fees, closing costs or annual fees on their HELOCs, so it pays to shop around with different lenders before settling on one.

You can get pre-qualified online in about one minute. However, your loan terms may change depending on the information you provide in your full application.

To apply, call 888-978-9978 or submit an application on the Spring EQ website. Here’s some of the documentation you’ll need to provide for your application:

• Proof of income, such as pay stubs, W-2s or tax returns
• Mortgage statement
• Copy of a valid photo ID, such as a driver’s license, work ID or military ID
• Social Security number
• Verification of your credit profile, debt-to-income ratio and home’s current value

Once you submit your application, it should take around 10 days to receive a loan decision from Spring EQ. Closing takes an average of 21 business days after your application is completed, which is relatively fast in comparison to other lenders.

Applying for home equity loans and HELOCs can be a time-consuming process, so it’s natural to be frustrated if you’re turned down. Here are some steps to take if your loan application is denied:

• Find out why. Determine the exact reason why you were declined by reading your Adverse Action Notice or by speaking to your loan officer.
• Address any shortcomings. You may need time to improve your credit score, reduce your DTI or pay down your mortgage balance to gain more equity before reapplying.
• Shop around. Consider other mortgage lenders or loans that have different eligibility requirements, like a personal loan.

Customer reviews of Spring EQ are mixed. The lender has an “A” rating with the Better Business Bureau (BBB), but just 33 of their customers have submitted complaints to the BBB in the last three years. Complaints received in 2022 revolve around long, drawn-out closing processes and difficulties reaching Spring EQ staff.

The Consumer Financial Protection Bureau only received three complaints about Spring EQ in 2022, with two of them involving closing fees on a home equity product.

We graded Spring EQ based on elements that have a meaningful impact on the cost of the mortgage, including borrower requirements, loan options, ease of applying for a mortgage and the time it takes to fully approve a borrower once an application is submitted. We gave up to five bonus points if a lender offers special rate discounts or a loan program (not offered by the government) meant to help borrowers with no or low down payment, or a low income. Our scoring method is based on the following categories:

• Interest rate: 20%
• Loan options: 20%
• Timeliness: 20%
• Ease of access: 20%
• Customer-service experience: 20%
• Bonus points: Up to five

While there are certainly more features that lenders offer, we chose not to include these in our scoring in order to bring forward lenders that have the most competitive rates and are among the most accessible for borrowers of all financial backgrounds.

Our focus on affordability, accessibility and key features that can impact the homebuying process (like preapproval time and closing timelines) is what we consider reflective of today’s consumer’s top priorities when comparison shopping for mortgage lenders.