HELOC lender help PLEASE!!!

[James Duke]

All these "approval in 5 minutes" lenders online for HELOCS that offer 13% interest rates.........Is this the going rate for a HELOC??

They all seem to have the same application software that does a soft credit pull and spits out results... For example "Movement mortgage" and "Homebridge"  

Does everyone "shop around" for HELOC? Some people charge for appraisals and credit scores fees up front. So how do you shop around without wasting so much time and money? My mortgage broker I contacted through a FB ohio real estate page "Krichbaum Financial" just sent me a link to "Homebridge." Do i need a broker for that??

Thank you,   getting frustrated.

James

[Theresa Harris]

Quote from @Ke Nan Wang:

Quote from @Theresa Harris:

I know someone who just did one through their regular bank.  The rate was prime +1% (so 7.7%)-this is in Canada.  It is higher than a mortgage rate here (6+%), but interest only.

So this is a dumb question and I apologize for my little knowledge in loan structure and policies. I just realized Canada has much better prime rate than US. So if a person have great credit score and income in the U.S., can they get a loan from a Canadian Financial Institution at a lower interest rate? Or another question, if the property is in U.S., can a homeowner get a HELOC from a Canadian bank???

I don't know how that works. I think if you are Canadian and want to buy a house in the US, you might be able to borrow from a Canadian bank. If you are American and want to buy in Canada, you can borrow from a Canadian bank. You could then take a HELOC on the Canadian property and use that money for whatever you wanted.

Our mortgages also work differently in that you may have a 25 year amortization period, but the term of the loan may be 5 years meaning after 5 years, you renew it at whatever the current interest rate is that the bank will give you (there are no fees associated with the renewal if you are at the same bank).  They just started doing 7 and 10 year terms which I wish I knew about when I renewed my mortgages last time as I'd have taken that option with the lower interest rates.