Citizens Bank: 2024 Home Equity Review

Benefits

• Fee-free: Citizens doesn't charge closing costs, points or application fees on its HELOCs. One product, the GoalBuilder HELOC, also doesn’t carry a prepayment penalty.
• The annual fee (normally $50) is waived for the first year on the standard HELOC. There is is no annual fee on the GoalBuilder HELOC at all.
• During the 10-year draw period, you can choose to make interest-only payments or payments that include principal and interest.

Drawbacks

• You’ll only be able to apply for a HELOC with Citizens Bank if you’re a borrower in Alabama, Arkansas, Connecticut, Delaware, Florida, Georgia, Illinois, Indiana, Iowa, Kentucky, Maine, Maryland, Massachusetts, Michigan, Minnesota, Nebraska, New Hampshire, New Jersey, New York, North Carolina, Ohio, Oklahoma, Pennsylvania, Rhode Island, South Carolina, South Dakota, Tennessee, Vermont, Virginia or Washington, D.C.
• The bank charges an annual HELOC fee of $50 after your first year.

Home equity loan products offered

Citizens Bank offers a standard HELOC and its proprietary GoalBuilder HELOC. Both have variable interest rates.

Among the benefits of the standard HELOC, you can get a 0.25 discount off your rate if you sign up for automatic payments from a Citizens checking account (or auto-withdrawal from any checking account, depending on where you live). The line of credit has a 10-year draw period and a 15-year repayment term. While you can pay both principal and interest during the draw period, you only have to make payments on interest at that time. You’ll need to take out a line for a minimum of $17,500.

The bank’s GoalBuilder HELOC, in contrast, allows you to take out as little as $5,000 and up to $25,000. It has no annual fee or prepayment penalty, but is only available in some states.

Types of fees charged

While Citizens Bank doesn’t charge an application fee or closing costs on HELOCs, it does charge late fees, as well as a $50 annual fee after the first year. Its GoalBuilder HELOC doesn’t come with the annual fee or a prepayment penalty.

How to qualify for a HELOC with Citizens Bank

Citizens Bank looks at three main factors when determining eligibility for a HELOC: your credit history (FICO score); your loan-to-value (LTV) ratio; and your debt-to-income (DTI) ratio. The bank doesn’t disclose credit score requirements, but to get the best HELOC rates, you’ll need an LTV ratio of 80 percent or less.

How to apply with Citizens Bank

You can apply for a HELOC on Citizens Bank’s website or by calling 888-333-1206, Monday through Thursday, 8 a.m. to 8 p.m. ET, Friday, 8 a.m. to 6 p.m. ET or Saturday, 9 a.m. to 2 p.m. ET. Once you’ve submitted a HELOC application, you will receive a personalized offer in 2-3 minutes and a loan officer will respond to you within one business day. From there, they’ll provide next steps for your application.

Citizens’ FastLine digital application process can be completed in three steps. First, you enter your Personal Invitation Code along with the last four digits of your Social Security number. Then, confirm certain financial information about your property and income, along with personal details about yourself. Once you accept the offer, you can close in as little as 7 days, the lender claims.

How Bankrate scored Citizens Bank

• Methodology

  To determine a home equity lender's Bankrate Score, Bankrate rates lenders on a scale of one (1) to five (5) stars — with five (5) the highest rating — based on a variety of factors relating to the lender's products and services. To assign our ratings, we assessed each mortgage lender across three core areas:

  • Affordability: Annual percentage rate (APR) - 80%; introductory APR - 20%
  • Availability: Licensing - 50%; credit score - 20%; loan minimum - 10%; draw requirement - 10%; loan products - 10% 
  • Borrower experience: Rate transparency - 45%; convenience - 35%; customer service - 10%; fixed-rate options - 10%

  Learn more about our methodology.