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Discover: 2024 Home Equity Review

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At a glance

NMLS: 684042

Bankrate Score
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4.4
Rating: 4.4 stars out of 5
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Bankrate Score

Customer Rating
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1.8
Rating: 1.83 stars out of 5

12 ratings

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Loan amount

$35,000-$300,000

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Min. credit score required

680 (700 or higher for $150,000 or more)

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Repayment terms

10 years to 30 years

Funds available in

Undisclosed

Benefits

  • No closing costs: Discover doesn’t charge any application, appraisal, origination or processing fees.
  • Generous sums: The lender allows borrowers to have a combined loan-to-value (CLTV) ratio of up to 90 percent between their mortgage and home equity loan. Among other lenders, 80 percent is a common maximum.

Drawbacks

  • Just one option: Discover offers only fixed-rate home equity loans. If you’d rather get a HELOC, you’ll need to apply elsewhere.
  • High minimum: Discover home equity loans start at $35,000, which might be too high for some borrowers. 

Home equity loan products offered

Discover offers home equity loans between $35,000 and $300,000, with repayment terms of 10, 15, 20 and 30 years. How much you can borrow, though, depends on your credit score and how much equity you have in your home.

Types of fees charged

Discover doesn’t charge any upfront fees on its home equity loans — no application, origination, processing or appraisal fees. There’s no cash required at closing at all. However, the lender might require expense reimbursement (with a $500 maximum) if you pay off the loan within the first three years. Borrowers in Connecticut, Minnesota, New York, North Carolina, Oklahoma or Texas aren’t required to repay closing fees. Discover might also charge interest and a fee if your payment is late or you do not have sufficient funds to cover payments.

How to qualify for a home equity loan with Discover

Discover requires borrowers to have a FICO credit score of at least 680 to qualify for a home equity loan, as well as a history of responsible credit use and verifiable employment and income. There’s also a maximum debt-to-income (DTI) ratio — your monthly debt payments divided by your monthly gross income — of 43 percent.

Between your first mortgage and a Discover home equity loan, you can have a combined loan-to-value (CLTV) ratio of up to 90 percent (although the loan amount with that ratio is capped at $200,000). There are no minimum assets needed to close on the loan.

How to apply with Discover

You can apply for a home equity loan with Discover online or by phone at 855-361-3435. Its customer service team is available Monday through Friday from 8 a.m. to midnight ET or Saturday or Sunday, 10 a.m. to 6 p.m. ET.

How Bankrate scored Discover

Affordability 9.6/10
Availability 9.2/10
Borrower experience 7.8/10

Discover Home Loans customer ratings and reviews

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1.8

Rating: 1.83 stars out of 5

12 ratings

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This lender has 11 recent reviews.

Knowledge
Rating: 2.5 stars out of 5
Level of service
Rating: 2.4 stars out of 5
Professionalism
Rating: 2.9 stars out of 5
Responsiveness
Rating: 2.5 stars out of 5
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1 star
17%
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67%

25% of customers would recommend this lender.

of 11 reviews

The consumer reviews posted on Bankrate.com ("Bankrate") are individual, subjective opinions of reviewers, and not of Bankrate. Bankrate does not endorse any of the opinions expressed by reviewers or any responses to reviews.

Bankrate cannot guarantee or verify the accuracy of the opinions shared by individual reviewers, and reserves the right to reject or remove any review, at any time, for any reason at Bankrate’s sole discretion, including but not limited to those that Bankrate deems inappropriate, fraudulent, invalid, irrelevant, or otherwise outside the parameters of the Bankrate Review Guidelines, the Privacy Policy, or the Terms of Use.

To help serve you with relevant information, the consumer reviews shown below are limited to only those that this advertiser has received during the past 12 months.

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