Frequently Asked Questions

Our home equity loan is a unique fixed-rate home equity line of credit—also known as a HELOC. With this solution, you can establish a revolving line of credit secured by your home. You can borrow money from it, pay it back, then borrow again at any time during the first 5 years of your loan term. You can use it for large expenses or to consolidate up to $150,000 in high-interest debt.

The process is simple, secure, and streamlined.

1. Submit an Online Application: Receive a pre-qualification decision in 2 minutes or less with our automated decisioning engine. 

2. Optional Consultation: If you’d rather chat with a real person, we offer a fast, free, and objective assessment of your eligibility for our loan program. In most cases, a full inspection of your home will not be necessary as we use an automated valuation system to determine your home’s value.

Receive Funds: Close and receive funds in as little as two weeks.

So many ways. Let’s bullet point the big ones:

• Low Fixed Rates

  • Achieve Loans offers home equity loans with rates that are fixed for the life of the loan, unlike most lenders whose variable rates can change month to month. Our home equity loans typically have lower rates than most personal loans. 

• Real Rates, Not Teaser Rates

  • We don’t lure you in with too-good-to-be-true rates that you need perfect credit to qualify for. Our rates start low and stay low.

• Fast Closing Speed

  • Our streamlined process means you can go from app to funding in as little as 15 days.

• Surefire Savings

  • We will save you at least $200/month on existing high-interest debt or we won’t make you an offer.

  • The average member saves around $800/month on their existing high-interest debt payments. We’ll provide you with your projected savings up front when you apply. 

Those are the measurable differences, but they’re not the only ones. These two are no less important:

• WHO Achieve serves — While many companies brag about what they do, we focus on who we serve. Our members are moms, dads, and recent grads. They are the working families, the overworked, the under-employed, and the gig workers. We help the strivers, the savers, the people left out by the wealth advisors, people unsupported by lenders, people seen as numbers by the credit card companies. Our members are homeowners who, in some cases, are struggling to make ends meet every month. Or they get hit by an unexpected financial hardship. Maybe their finances aren’t getting worse, but they aren’t getting better either. Often these people have been denied opportunities that traditional banks and financial institutions offer to consumers who are already stable and thriving. Others are making slow progress, but they need help to reach their goals faster, with more confidence, and with less stress. They don’t need traditional financial solutions; they need a new approach that provides critical expertise and personalized attention. Achieve helps these people in ways traditional banks and lenders won’t. We support their financial journey by providing access to appropriate financial products that create a path forward toward financial stability.

• How Achieve does it — We focus on each individual and understand what’s working for them and what’s not. Whether someone is searching for financial products, getting real-time account access, or taking the next step toward their financial goals, Achieve offers education, tools, multiple innovative digital financial solutions, and empathetic, relationship-driven support. Our foundation is built on over 20 years of helping people across the entire credit spectrum, not just a select few at the top. Over that time, we’ve learned a lot about consumer behavior and financial habits. Our robust data and analytics give us unparalleled insight and understanding about how to help people recover from financial setbacks and get onto a sustainable path to a better financial future. That foundation enables us to pair sophisticated data modeling with consumer-friendly technology and a wide range of financial products to tailor a personalized approach to meet each member’s specific needs and goals.

We offer flexible 10, 15, 20, and 30-year terms. All terms have a 5-year draw period where you can borrow as much or as little as you want up to your full loan amount.

It’s a simple thing really, but it makes all the difference in the world. In keeping with our people-first philosophy:

• We will save you at least $200 a month on your existing high-interest debt payments…or we won’t do business.

• We will treat you as a human being—not a credit score or loan number—and act in your best interest every step of the way.

A line of credit (“LOC”) is a flexible loan that you can tap into when needed. You can borrow money up to a predefined amount, pay it back, and borrow funds again—up to that amount—at any time during your draw period.

LOCs can be either unsecured (like a credit card) or secured by some form of collateral (like property). Secured LOCs typically come with a higher credit limit and lower interest rates—both major benefits.

The home equity loan that we offer is a unique fixed-rate home equity line of credit—also known as a HELOC. It’s the most common type of secured line of credit for consumers. The money you borrow is secured by your home. By owning a home, you give lenders a sense that you’re responsible, allowing them to loan greater amounts at lower rates.

Three really important (and reassuring) things to know. Our home equity loan:

• Won’t touch your existing mortgage, leaving your first mortgage rate and terms as is.

• Won’t reduce the value of your home. In fact, if you use your funds to improve your home, your value will likely go up.

• Will disperse funds FAST. Average time to funding is 15-18 days.

Your home is simply there to provide security for the loan. It allows you to borrow more at a lower interest rate, even with less than perfect credit.

A cash-out refinance will result in a new mortgage which may have different terms than your original loan, so you need to check the new terms carefully.

For instance, your new refi could have:

• A variable—rather than fixed—interest rate

• A different amortization schedule

• Higher closing costs

Any of those could end up costing you more money than a fixed-rate home equity loan through Achieve.

Also, a cash-out refi gives you a full lump sum up front that you have to pay interest on from the start of your loan.

A home equity loan lets you borrow the amount you choose up to your full loan amount. So you only have to pay interest on that amount you’ve borrowed at any given time.

Our home equity loan - a unique fixed-rate home equity line of credit (HELOC) can be used to consolidate high-interest credit cards and personal loan debt. You can also use it to fund home improvement projects or cover major purchases.

Yes, while there is risk in any loan or investment, HELOCs are fairly safe. 

Finance companies, including Achieve, are regulated by both federal and state government agencies, including the CFPB (Consumer Financial Protection Bureau). HELOCs are covered under regulations such as the Truth in Lending Act (TILA), the Real Estate Settlement Procedures Act (RESPA), and various state laws as well.

What you might have heard about HELOCs in the past doesn’t really apply today, but it is an interesting story. Here’s the short version:

Mortgage loans, including HELOCs, did get some bad press in the mid-2000s mainly because unscrupulous appraisers, predatory lenders, and unethical banks were overvaluing homes and pushing mortgage loans, including HELOCs, to an unsuspecting public who took on more debt than they could really afford. When the housing bubble burst, many people took a hit, and so did the reputation of a number of mortgage products, including HELOCs.

Today there are more safeguards around mortgage secured products through changes in the regulatory oversight of mortgage loans. (The CFPB and SAFE Act mortgage licensing requirements didn’t even exist prior to 2008!) So lenders are now much more likely to only give out loans if they have confidence that the applicant can pay it back.

Another issue that caused many borrowers so much pain way back then—variable interest rates—is something you don’t have to worry about with a HELOC through Achieve… which always offers a safer, fixed, low rate.

As with any home loan or HELOC, where you use your house as collateral, a default or continued non-payment can put you at risk of losing your home. The good news is there's no reason why homeowners who make their mortgage payments consistently wouldn’t be able to manage this home equity loan the same way and repay it without any issues.

In fact, it may even be easier to make those mortgage payments with the minimum $200 that you'll free up if you use the loan for debt consolidation.

The main difference between a HELOC and a personal loan is whether it is secured. A personal loan is typically unsecured (i.e. no collateral is provided) so you almost always pay a higher interest rate, and can borrow less money.

There are other differences, but while we’re at it we might as well use this handy chart to compare our home equity loan to some alternative loan products:

With a fixed-rate home equity loan, your rate will stay the same for the life of your loan. No “payment shock” after a big interest rate hike. Not now. Not ever.

Home equity loan APRs through Achieve Loans range from 10.25% to 16.50%. That’s only a 6 point range, one of the lowest in the industry.*

We don’t do teaser rates, we don’t do starter rates. We do one low rate that will save you money or we don’t do business.

The rate you qualify for will depend on factors like your credit score, lien position (first or second lien), and loan term, but you don’t need perfect credit and a trust fund for us to offer you a single digit interest rate.

* The worst APR range we’ve seen recently—can’t name names—is over 30 points. You get lured in by a 5% teaser rate but then told you only qualify for one closer to 35%. Talk about a bait and switch!

No. We know that you’re more than your credit score. We take a holistic approach when determining eligibility, so we look at your debt, income, home value, and needs. Our aim is to find a loan amount, rate, and monthly payment that saves you money and brightens your financial future.

The minimum credit score required to qualify for our loan is 640. We’re one of the only home equity lenders with a minimum score that low.

(And if you do have stellar credit, congratulations! Your reward may be our best rate. But our goal is the same for everyone: to wipe out your high-interest debt and save you money. Each and every month.)

No. Quite the opposite.

Pre-approval for our home equity loan involves a “soft credit pull” which the credit reporting agencies won’t factor at all in your credit score.

The actual application for our home equity loan involves a “hard credit pull,” which may slightly affect your score. But any negative credit impact—usually minimal—will be more than offset when you use your new funds to pay off high-interest credit cards, improving your credit utilization ratio. Your credit score is far more likely to go up.

It can be as little as 15 days from the time you begin your application (especially using our Express App) to the time you receive your funds.

This varies with each loan situation and could take longer if there are complex state laws or property title issues involved. The quicker you can provide the documentation we need, the sooner you can receive your funds.

Achieve Loans offers home equity loans from $15,000 up to $150,000.

The amount you might borrow will depend on your specific circumstances. We will customize a HELOC for you so that you’re borrowing the right amount to consolidate your existing debts and save money—each and every month.

Yes. Achieve and its product offerings are completely legitimate.

Achieve (formerly “Freedom Financial Network”) is a highly respected digital personal finance company with a stellar two-decade track record of helping consumers build brighter financial futures. Since we started in 2002, we’ve resolved $19 Billion+ in debt, given out $11 Billion+ loans to members, and helped over 1.5 Million+ people.

Achieve helps everyday people consolidate and refinance high-interest debt into lower interest loans, saving them money each month, and helping them move forward on the path to a brighter financial future.