Study: Equity Investments Accept Credit Scores 120 Points Lower

Home equity investments accept credit scores a median 120 points lower than home equity loans and HELOCs (500 versus 620). 4 of 6 equity investment providers accept a score of 500; none of the 5 loan products in the dataset do. Equity is the binding constraint, not credit.

The finding

Across the home equity providers we track, home equity investments accept credit scores 120 points lower than home equity loans and HELOCs. The median minimum credit score is 500 for an equity investment against 620 for a loan product. 4 of the 6 equity investment providers accept a score of 500; none of the 5 loan products do.

That gap is the single clearest difference between the two ways of accessing home equity, and it is rarely stated plainly. It exists because the products are underwritten on different things: a loan is underwritten on your ability to repay, so income and credit dominate. An equity investment is underwritten on the asset, so the binding constraint is how much equity you hold, not what your score is.

The data

What this means if your credit is under 620

If your score sits below 620 you are, on this dataset, excluded from every home equity loan and HELOC in the set and eligible for four of the six equity investments. That is not a recommendation to take one — an equity investment can cost considerably more than a HELOC in a rising market, because you are giving up a share of your home’s appreciation rather than paying interest. It is simply a statement of what is available.

The corollary matters too: if your credit is strong, the credit-floor advantage is worth nothing to you, and the comparison should be made purely on cost.

Why the equity requirement is the real constraint

Equity investment providers generally cap the combined loan-to-value on your home at somewhere around 65–80%, meaning you must retain a substantial equity stake after the investment. In practice that is what determines whether you qualify and for how much — two homeowners with identical credit scores can be offered very different amounts depending on how much of their mortgage they have paid down. A low credit floor does not help a homeowner with little equity.

Methodology, and what this dataset is not

This is drawn from TopMoneyHub’s own lender database, current as of August 2026. We track 95 lenders across consumer finance. Of those, 46 carry a minimum credit score we consider reliable and are the basis for every figure above.

Two exclusions, stated because they matter:

• 41 records have no minimum credit score recorded. That means the field is unset, not that the lender accepts any score. They are excluded rather than treated as zero.
• Eight records in one vertical carry an identical value of 350, including lenders whose published requirements are substantially higher. That is a data artefact rather than a real floor, and it is excluded.

The home equity comparison is close to a census rather than a sample: the equity investment category has only a handful of significant providers operating in the United States, and six of them are covered here. The loan and HELOC side is a sample of five and should be read as such.

Minimum credit scores are published thresholds, not approval guarantees, and providers change them. Figures should be verified against each provider before use.

Citation and reuse

These figures are free to cite and reproduce with attribution to TopMoneyHub and a link to this page. If you are writing about home equity access and want the underlying breakdown, or a figure checked before you publish, contact us at [email protected].

Disclosure: TopMoneyHub earns affiliate commission from some of the providers named above. The credit floors reported here are published figures and are not affected by that relationship — Unison, which pays us, has the highest floor in the equity investment group, and the lowest floor of 500 is shared by four providers, three of which pay us and one of which does not.

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Frequently Asked Questions

What credit score do you need for a home equity investment?

Across the providers in this dataset the median minimum is 500, and 4 of 6 accept 500. The practical constraint is usually equity rather than credit: providers cap combined loan-to-value, so you must retain a substantial stake after the investment.

What credit score do you need for a HELOC?

Every home equity loan and HELOC in this dataset requires 600 or higher, with a median of 620. None accepted a score of 500.

Is a home equity investment easier to get than a HELOC?

On credit score alone, yes — the median floor is materially lower and there is typically no income or employment requirement. On equity, no: the loan-to-value caps are usually stricter, so a homeowner with a large remaining mortgage may qualify for a HELOC but not an equity investment.

How current is this data?

It reflects published thresholds as of August 2026, drawn from our own lender database. Providers change requirements, so verify against the provider before relying on any figure.