Home equity loan rates and terms vary, essentially, loans on your home’s equity fall into one of two types: open ended loans and closed loans. A closed or fixed loan would be for a specific time frame with fixed monthly payments usually up to 15 years in term.Open ended loans are those most often called a line of credit. With a highly flexible line of credit type loan, the borrower can draw, repay and then redraw, so they treat it like an overdraft and determine when they want to borrow and repay. Much the same as a credit card facility, in fact some of these facilities can be access with a credit card.

Line of Credit type loans usually require a more comfortable home equity for the lender and sound credit history, as they never know what their exposure on that loan will be from time to time except for its credit limit.

Choosing the most appropriate lenders is not a simple task these days, as all lenders have multiple varitions that may or may not be right for you. Choosing the style of loan is critical, should it be fixed term and fixed rate, or could it be redrawable and flexible like a credit card facility that lets you minimise interst costs.

Also, deciding the best term and repayment structure to suit your personal budget is an important part of the exercise and a broker may get you the best result at no extra cost to you. Well established and reliable brokers have taken the, interviewing and sorting out of borrowers, part out of the equation for many banks, and they like it. So most broker have access to a full range of financial institutions.