HELOC - How much Line of Credit can I get

[Chris Marte]

I'm looking to get a HELOC on my primary residence. I want to know how much Line of Credit I'm eligible for.
From what I experienced, I'm seeing two different approaches of getting to this number.

1. Found this example online.. if your home is worth $250,000 and you owe $150,000 on your mortgage, you have $100,000 in home equity. Lenders will generally allow you to borrow up to 80 percent of your available equity, depending on the lender and your credit and income. So in the example above, you'd be able to establish a line of credit of up to $80,000 with a home equity line of credit.
2. I went to the bank to see an adviser and was told it's calculated differently. For simplicity, I'll use the numbers from above example. If your home is worth $250,000, you take 80% of this number which gets you $200,000 then back out the mortgage of $150,000, leaving you with $50,000 and not $80,000 from above. 

It can make for a significant difference using larger numbers. Can someone tell me if the bank adviser I saw is right?

Thank you!

Chris

[Kevin Romines]

@Chris Marte Yes, the bank loan officer has it correct. It is your value X max. LTV %. Say 90% so $250,000.00 X 90% = $225,000.00 minus the underlying mortgage debt of $150,000.00 = Max. line of credit of $75,000.00.

I used 90% as most HELOC's will allow you to go to 90%, some will go to 100%?

I hope this helps?