Turned down for a HELOC but own our home outright!

[Elyse Douglas]

How is it that we can be turned down for a $250,000 HELOC when we own our home (no mortgage) which is worth $550,000, a duplex we bought last year with $80,000 equity that's worth $240,000 and a business that has been rock steady for almost 20 years? We want to invest in another fixer property and want to use the HELOC so we can pay cash, fix it up and rent it out. Our credit scores good and very good.

Let me know if you have worked with any lending institution out there that is friendly to business owners and can think outside the box, that gave you a HELOC. We went to Chase & Northwest Credit Union.