Hi Kris - $40k is too small for most lenders, I would suggest a local credit union or savings bank. 

Folks - all the credit goes to my friend @John Hyre.

Hello Bigger Pockets family,Here is my current situation, my current credit is in the mid's 500's , I have income close to the $90's / year, but no money down.I will have access to maybe $7k by next year.

I have not always been the best when it comes to protecting my credit.

We use MINT.com, which is nice.According to MINT, what is largely dragging our credit score down (it's a 758) is credit utilization.That's a few credit cards here and there but predominantly our HELOC is 60% utilized and bringing up our total credit utilization up over 40%.I'm under the understanding that many people use HELOCs as a great way to pull out equity from their primary residence.I don't understand why one would be penalized from having a stronger equity position in their primary residence?

So what I've learned is that my bank is a joke, a local credit union called Amplify Credit Union.

I think you’re eligible for some federal tax credits for the upgrades. 

People love that the $3000 furnace is rolled into their mortgage payment - not something they have to put on their credit card 6 months after they buy... just my strategy. 

If your W2 income is high enough you can get a personal line of credit through a bank... here's a post I wrote on that a while ago

One last thing in terms of cost...MA does offer up to a $1500 tax credit per unit for work done towards deleading, so you'd be eligible for up to 3k in MA tax credits.