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A HELOC is a type of loan that’s secured against your home. However, unlike many loans, the home equity line of credit gives you more control over how much you borrow, as you can draw out the money you need throughout the drawdown period.
Most HELOC agreements have a five-year drawdown faciality, and you’ll only make repayments on what you take out during this period. These loans are available to homeowners who have built up property equity.
Home equity lines of credit are mainly associated with the USA, but they recently became available for UK homeowners. Lenders and borrowers alike see the benefits of these products, including flexibility and the potential to save money.
We match our clients with lenders in the UK who offer these innovative borrowing solutions.
HELOCs enable homeowners to borrow against the equity they’ve built up. For example, if your home is worth £500,000 and your mortgage is £200,000, you could get a HELOC loan for up to £100,000. ( We can lend up to 85% of the property value with a maximum loan size of £250,000)
A lender will evaluate how much they’re willing to offer based on your equity and credit history, and household income, but HELOCs are secured against your property, which gives lenders more security.
While a home equity line of credit is secured against your home, it’s different to other secured loans When you take out a secured loan, you receive a lump sum and make monthly repayments on that amount – plus interest.
HELOCs have a pre-agreed amount, but you can borrow what you need for five years. During your draw period, you’ll only pay for the interest on what you borrow, but many people make principal repayments to reduce the cost of their line of credit.
Traditional secured loans have set repayment periods, but HELOCs offer more flexibility and can be easier to manage.
The HELOC products we offer typically have drawdown periods of five years, which means you can withdraw as much as you need from the agreed amount during this time.
For example, if you secure a HELOC for £100,000, you can take the money as needed over the first five years. You could take £40,000 in the first year and then £20,000 in the next year, repay £25,000 year 3, take another £40,000 in Year 4 and another £15,000 in year 5, at the end of the fifth year whatever your current balance is you repay the same way you would a standard loan. You will make payments during the 1st 5 year but based on the amount you have outstanding.
You will agree your loan term at the start of the application – for example a 25-year term (300 months) During the first 5 years you can use the drawdown facility, after 5 years your outstanding balance will switch to a standard term loan for the reaming 20yrs (240 months)
Standard secured loans are ideal for situations where all of the money is required day 1, such as debt consolidation, while HELOCs can help you with ongoing purchases like funding a home improvement project or business purposes.
For example, if you don’t know how much you’ll spend, you can save money with a line of credit, whereas traditional loan providers offer a one-off lump sum.
Sometimes, a HELOC might be the best solution for home improvements. If you’re adding an extension or remodelling your property, a line of credit can help you budget for the work, only spending what you need.
It also lets you plan the renovations on an ongoing basis rather than having to buy everything outright.
If you plan on private schooling, a HELOC loan might be beneficial, as it lets you pay the fees each term. Taking out a traditional loan means you’ll receive a lump sum for the fees, but your repayments will begin immediately.
When you choose a HELOC loan, you can withdraw money for each term and only pay interest on that amount. Simply put, there are fewer financial burdens with lines of credit.
Getting a quote won’t affect your credit score
Any financial product is a significant decision, and it’s essential to understand whether HELOCs are suitable for your financial goals. They come with a range of benefits, including:
While these agreements offer numerous benefits, there are also some things to consider before applying. The potential drawbacks of a HELOC include:
Your eligibility for these loans depends on a few factors. Before applying for one, your advisor will ask questions to assess whether you’re likely to be successful. The eligibility criteria include:
Only homeowners are eligible for these loans, so you’ll need to prove you have legal rights to a property. The amount of equity you’ve built up also matters, as the amount you can borrow depends on it.
For example, if you only have £10,000 worth of equity, lenders might not be willing to offer a HELOC. Most also specify a loan to value (LTV), a percentage of your equity. Securing a lower LTV rate will decrease your repayments and interest rates.
Lenders often use an applicant’s credit score to understand their borrowing history. A high score shows you’re responsible when borrowing money and making timely repayments, while lower scores present more risk to lenders.
While a less-than-excellent credit history won’t necessarily rule you out of a HELOC, it does mean the interest rates and repayments might not be as favourable.
Any loan means you must make repayments until it’s paid in full. HELOCs are more manageable for most people, but you’ll still need to consider whether you can manage repayments in the future.
Taking out a smaller amount and not using the entire line of credit can help you manage the loan more effectively.
We’re extremely proud to be rated ‘Excellent’ for our service standards. We’ve helped thousands of customers across the UK over the last 15 years to find the right finance for their needs – no matter how complicated the circumstances. And we look forward to helping you.
If you’d like to explore your HELOC options, our specialists can assess your eligibility and help you access the best rates for your needs. We work with clients from all backgrounds and have a network of dedicated lenders who judge your eligibility on an individual basis.
✔ Get unparalleled support from one of the UK’s leading secured loan brokers
✔ Find a HELOC provider that aligns with your needs and gives you favourable rates
✔ Discover your eligibility with no impact on your credit score
✔ We help you throughout the application process
There’s no time like the present for you to look forward to the future, and our dedicated brokers can help you find the right financial products. Please fill out the contact form, and we’ll get back to you.
You can also call us at: 01656 766 158
Our friendly team of brokers are on hand to answer any questions you have about flats and secured loans. You can get in touch with them today by calling 01656 766 158 and they’ll be more than happy to help.
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At Willows Finance we ensure your personal information is kept secure and confidential.
PRIVACY OF YOUR INFORMATION
At Willows Finance Ltd, we appreciate that your privacy is extremely important to you. With this in mind, we have put in place a number of measures to ensure that any personal details we obtain from you as a result of visiting this website is processed and maintained in accordance with accepted principles of good information handling and also in accordance with the Data Protection Act 1988.
This statement provides you with details of the type of information we may hold about you, how we obtain and use information and how we protect your privacy.
Willows Finance Limited
Brocastle, Bridgend, CF35 5AS
Authorised and regulated by the Financial Conduct Authority
Firm Reference Number: 670052
Company Number: 06678545 (Registered in England and Wales)
This document explains the services we provide, the range of lenders and products we consider, how mortgage advice may be provided, and how Willows Finance may be paid. Please read it carefully before proceeding with an application.
If you need clarification about any part of this document, please contact us on 01656 766158.
Willows Finance arranges first and second charge mortgage products. Depending on the circumstances of the application, these may include:
We also arrange both regulated and unregulated bridging finance.
Not every product will be suitable or available to every customer. The products considered will depend on your circumstances, borrowing requirements, purpose of the borrowing, property, intended use of the property and the relevant lender criteria.
Depending on your circumstances, Willows Finance may:
If you are looking to increase borrowing secured on a property which already has a regulated mortgage, there may be different ways of raising the additional funds. Depending on your circumstances, these may include:
Where applicable, we will make you aware of these alternatives before proceeding. The options we are able to assess or advise on will depend on the service being provided and the lenders available to us.
The regulatory status of a mortgage or bridging loan depends on the circumstances of the transaction, including the property, how it is or will be occupied, the purpose of the borrowing and the customer’s circumstances.
Our business includes:
We will identify the regulatory status applicable to your application and explain the service and protections that apply. The protections available to you can differ depending on the type of mortgage or loan.
The range of lenders and products we consider depends on the type of finance you require.
We offer a comprehensive range of second charge mortgages from across the relevant market using a representative panel of lenders. We review our panel regularly to ensure that it remains sufficiently broad and representative. We do not consider products that are only available by applying directly to a lender.
We only offer first charge mortgages from a limited panel of 13 lenders. We consider the first charge mortgage products made available to us by Kensington Mortgages, The Mortgage Works, Aldermore, United Trust Bank (UTB), Together, Masthaven, West One, Norton, Bluestone, Vida, Pepper Money, Mansfield Building Society and Nationwide Building Society.
We do not offer every first charge mortgage available from across the market.
We consider products from a range of lenders available to Willows Finance for the relevant transaction.
Consumer Buy-to-Let and unregulated Buy-to-Let applications are considered within the relevant first charge, second charge or bridging route, depending on the structure of the transaction.
We do not provide a whole-of-market service and do not claim to consider every mortgage or secured finance product available in the UK. Our assessment is based on the lenders and products available through our lender and distribution arrangements.
Where the applicable regulatory rules require us to identify the lenders whose products we offer, the relevant lender list will be provided to you in a durable medium as part of the initial disclosure for your application. A lender list is also available on request where applicable.
The service provided will depend on the lender, product and application route identified for your circumstances.
Where Willows Finance provides the mortgage advice, we provide an advised mortgage broking service. We will obtain information about your needs and circumstances, assess the lending options available within the scope of our service and, where appropriate, make a mortgage recommendation.
We will make it clear where Willows Finance provides the mortgage advice and recommendation.
We may also provide a packaging service. This is a non-advised administrative service under which we may collect information and supporting documents, complete administrative checks, liaise with the relevant parties and submit or progress an application.
When we provide a packaging service, we do not assess the suitability of the mortgage, provide mortgage advice or make a personal recommendation. Any regulated mortgage advice or recommendation will be provided by the appropriately authorised intermediary responsible for advising you.
Our packaging service is not a regulated advisory service. However, the mortgage itself and any arranging activity connected with it may still be regulated and subject to the applicable regulatory requirements. We will explain the nature and regulatory status of the service we are providing before you proceed.
For some applications, particularly certain second charge mortgage applications, our sourcing exercise may identify a route where the subsequent mortgage advice is provided by another regulated mortgage intermediary.
In these cases, the Willows Finance service may include:
After the introduction, the receiving intermediary may take over the detailed application, advice and recommendation process. We will make it clear where this type of referral arrangement applies.
Where our sourcing process identifies Evolution Money Limited as an appropriate route and we introduce your application to Evolution Money, Willows Finance will not provide the regulated mortgage advice or make the final mortgage recommendation in relation to the Evolution mortgage.
Following the introduction, Evolution Money Limited will take over the detailed application and advisory process. Evolution Money will assess your needs and circumstances and will be responsible for any regulated mortgage advice and recommendation it provides in relation to the Evolution mortgage.
Willows Finance remains responsible for the service it provides before and in connection with the referral, including its initial assessment, sourcing and introduction activity.
If you are experiencing financial difficulty, or if you are considering borrowing to consolidate existing debts, free and impartial debt advice is available from MoneyHelper and other free debt-advice organisation.
MoneyHelper: www.moneyhelper.org.uk
You should consider obtaining free debt advice if you are unsure whether further borrowing or debt consolidation is right for you.
We process your personal information in accordance with our Privacy Policy. Where we introduce you to a lender or another intermediary, that organisation will process your information in accordance with its own privacy information.
Willows Finance Privacy Policy: willowsfinance.co.uk/privacy-cookie-policy/
The way Willows Finance is paid depends on the lender, product and application route. We may receive a fee paid by you, commission paid by a lender or another third party, or a combination of these. We will explain the basis on which we will be remunerated in connection with your application.
Where Willows Finance off an advised service our fees are split into two parts. A fee for the advice you receive and a fee for the processing of the application to completion. Both of these fees can be added to the loan rather than paid upfront or you have the option of paying them in advance. We do not arrange loans below £10,000.
For the advice the fee is as follows;
For a first charge mortgage, our advice fee is 5% of the amount borrowed, subject to a minimum fee of £625 and a maximum fee of £1,250.
For a second charge mortgage, our advice fee is 5% of the amount borrowed, subject to a minimum fee of £625 and a maximum fee of £1,750.
For a first charge mortgage, our processing fee is 5% of the amount borrowed, subject to a minimum fee of £625 and a maximum fee of £1,250.
For a second charge mortgage, our processing fee is 5% of the amount borrowed, subject to a minimum fee of £625 and a maximum fee of £1,750.
| Service | First charge | Second charge |
|---|---|---|
| Advice fee | 5%, min £625, max £1,250 | 5%, min £625, max £1,750 |
| Processing fee | 5%, min £625, max £1,250 | 5%, min £625, max £1,750 |
On borrowing of £10,000 5% would be £500, but the minimum fee for advice and processing means that we would charge £625 for each to £1250 in total.
On borrowing £20,000 the total fees would be £2,000
On borrowing £50,000 the maximum fee means that we would charge a total of £2500 for a 1st charge mortgage and £3500 for a 2nd charge mortgage.
If your mortgage or loan completes following an introduction made by Willows Finance, we will receive commission from the lender or another third party in the distribution chain unless we tell you otherwise. Different lenders may pay different amounts and may use different commission models.
Commission models may include:
The availability or amount of commission does not determine which lender we consider appropriate for your circumstances. Where applicable, we will tell you that commission will be received.
For an MCD regulated mortgage (a mortgage within the Mortgage Credit Directive rules), where the exact amount of commission is not known at the time of the initial disclosure, we will tell you that the actual amount will be disclosed later in the ESIS. Where applicable and on request, we will also provide information about how commission levels vary between lenders offering the mortgage being considered.
Where we introduce you to Evolution Money, the commercial arrangement is different from a broker fee charged directly by Willows Finance.
Under the current Evolution arrangement, Evolution Lending charges a Product Fee equal to 10% of the net loan advance, subject to a maximum of £5,000. If the mortgage completes, Evolution pays the corresponding amount to Willows Finance as commission/remuneration for the sourcing, distribution and introduction service.
The amount of the product fee and the amount of remuneration payable to Willows Finance will be disclosed to you in the relevant mortgage documentation before completion.
Example: on a £10,000 net advance, a 10% Product Fee would be £1,000. The actual Product Fee and the amount of commission payable to Willows Finance will be set out in the relevant Evolution mortgage documentation before completion.
If you choose to add a Product Fee or other fee to your mortgage, interest will be charged on that amount while it remains outstanding, increasing the total amount you repay.
Where a Willows Finance fee is payable only on completion, it will not become payable if the mortgage does not complete. Any fee payable before completion, third-party costs and the circumstances in which a fee is refundable or non-refundable will be explained where applicable.
Fees which have become payable following completion are generally non-refundable unless the relevant contractual terms, applicable law or regulatory redress require otherwise.
Before you become bound by a regulated mortgage, you will receive the relevant mortgage illustration or European Standardised Information Sheet (ESIS) and the lender’s offer documentation as applicable.
These documents contain important information about the proposed mortgage, which may include:
Please read these documents carefully. If anything is unclear or does not reflect your understanding, contact the firm responsible for the advice or recommendation before proceeding.
You may tell us that you no longer wish to proceed with an application before completion. Whether any third-party cost is payable or refundable will depend on its own terms.
For an MCD regulated mortgage (a mortgage within the Mortgage Credit Directive rules), the lender will provide a binding offer with a reflection period of at least seven days. You may normally accept the offer during that reflection period if you decide to proceed.
Once a mortgage has completed, there is generally no right simply to cancel or withdraw from the mortgage. You may have a right to repay the mortgage early in accordance with its terms, and an early repayment charge may apply.
Always check the early repayment section of the ESIS and mortgage offer before completion if early repayment or regular overpayments are important to you.
If you miss or make late payments, the lender may apply charges, and your credit record may be affected. Continued failure to maintain payments may result in enforcement action and ultimately repossession of the property used as security.
If you are experiencing financial difficulty, contact your lender as soon as possible and consider obtaining free independent debt advice.
Consolidating existing debts into a mortgage can reduce monthly payments but may increase the total amount of interest you pay if the borrowing is repaid over a longer period.
Debts which are currently unsecured may become secured against your home. Extending the repayment period may mean that you pay considerably more overall even where the monthly payment is lower.
Interest rates on variable-rate mortgages can increase, which may increase monthly repayments and the total amount repaid.
YOUR HOME MAY BE REPOSSESSED IF YOU DO NOT KEEP UP REPAYMENTS ON A MORTGAGE OR OTHER LOAN SECURED ON IT.
If you are dissatisfied with any aspect of the service provided by Willows Finance, please contact us:
Willows Finance Limited
Brocastle, Bridgend, CF35 5AS
Telephone: 01656 766158
Email: [email protected]
We will investigate your complaint in accordance with our complaints procedure. If you remain dissatisfied with our final response, or in other circumstances where you are eligible to do so, you may be able to refer your complaint to the Financial Ombudsman Service.
Financial Ombudsman Service: www.financial-ombudsman.org.uk
Where another regulated intermediary has provided the mortgage advice or recommendation, complaints about that firm’s advice should normally also be raised with that firm. You can still complain to Willows Finance about the service provided by Willows Finance.
The Financial Ombudsman Service can generally consider complaints about regulated or otherwise covered activities, including certain activities that are ancillary to them. It may not be able to consider a complaint that relates solely to an unregulated product or service and has no connection with a regulated or otherwise covered activity. Whether a complaint falls within its jurisdiction will be determined by the Financial Ombudsman Service based on the individual circumstances.
Willows Finance Limited is covered by the Financial Services Compensation Scheme for eligible regulated activities. If an authorised firm is unable to meet an eligible claim, compensation may be available from the FSCS.
For protected home finance mediation, the current compensation limit is 100% of an eligible claim up to £85,000 per eligible claimant, per firm. Eligibility depends on the circumstances of the claim and the applicable FSCS rules.
FSCS protection does not generally apply to a claim arising solely from an unregulated product or service, including any packaging service that falls outside regulated home-finance mediation. Whether a claim is eligible will depend on its individual circumstances and the applicable FSCS rules.
Further information: www.fscs.org.uk
Once we have received sufficient information about your circumstances and requirements, we will carry out the relevant initial assessment and sourcing process and explain which application route applies to you.
Where Willows Finance provides the mortgage advice, we will continue through our advised mortgage process and explain any recommendations made.
Where your application is referred to another regulated intermediary, such as Evolution Money, we will explain that the receiving intermediary will take over the subsequent application and advisory process where applicable.
Please review all mortgage illustrations, ESIS documents, fee and commission disclosures, offer documents and other terms carefully before deciding whether to proceed. If anything is unclear, ask before committing to the mortgage.
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