This page checks one thing: whether your home value, mortgage balance, credit score and income sit in the range lenders publish for a HELOC today. It does not estimate your approval odds, and it does not say whether using a HELOC to pay down your mortgage is a good idea — that is a separate question, answered on the other pages.
Not financial or legal advice. Every lender and regulator figure below is copied from that lender’s or regulator’s own published page, dated as shown; the CLTV walkthrough uses an illustrative example, not a lender quote. Lender criteria change and vary by state, so confirm current terms with the lender directly. This page does not calculate or estimate your odds of approval.
What is CLTV, and why does the full credit line count?
Combined loan-to-value (CLTV) is one of the ratios a HELOC lender checks before approving a line that sits behind your first mortgage; each lender sets its own CLTV limit. In plain terms, it is your total secured debt — your mortgage balance plus the HELOC — divided by your home’s value.
The detail almost no consumer-facing page spells out is which HELOC number goes into that ratio: the amount you’ve actually drawn, or the full size of the credit line the lender approved. Fannie Mae’s Selling Guide answers it for one specific case — a first mortgage sold to Fannie Mae that has a HELOC behind it — in a section written for lenders, not for borrowers — which is exactly why it doesn’t show up on consumer HELOC pages. Under Fannie Mae Selling Guide B2-1.2-03, “HCLTV Ratios”, the home equity combined loan-to-value ratio “includes the full amount of any HELOCs (whether or not funds have been drawn).” In other words, under that rule an open $60,000 line with only $5,000 drawn counts as $60,000, not $5,000. Fannie Mae’s rule governs the first mortgage it buys; it does not set how a HELOC lender sizes a new line, so ask your lender whether it counts the full line the same way.
Here is the same idea on one illustrative example, in the CLTV style lenders commonly describe (Fannie Mae’s own HCLTV uses the first mortgage’s original loan amount and the lesser of sales price or appraised value, so its number can differ). Say your home is appraised at $400,000 and your existing mortgage balance is $220,000. You apply for a HELOC with a $60,000 total credit line. Counting the full line, the ratio is ($220,000 + $60,000) ÷ $400,000 = 70% — before you draw a single dollar. If you only ever draw $10,000 of that $60,000, a full-line count doesn’t change: the $60,000 limit is what counts, because that’s the maximum that can be owed if you draw it all.
This is also why two borrowers with identical mortgage balances and home values can be offered different line sizes: each lender applies its own CLTV limit, alongside credit and income. If you want to run this ratio alongside a payoff projection on your own numbers, the spreadsheet has open cells for home value, mortgage balance and line size.
What this page does not do
This page is not an approval calculator. It does not take your numbers and output a probability, a “likely approved” label, or a recommended lender. Credit score, CLTV, debt-to-income and income documentation are set by each lender’s own underwriting — the CFPB does not publish a single federal “how to qualify” standard that applies across lenders (see the next section). What follows is a description of the ranges Bank of America and Chase publish on their own sites today, dated so you can check whether they’ve since changed, next to the two places — soft/hard credit pull, self-employed income — where no lender or regulator has published a specific number we could confirm. For a decision on your own application, the lender underwriting it is the only authority.
What does the CFPB say about HELOC eligibility?
The Consumer Financial Protection Bureau does not set nationwide HELOC qualification rules the way it sets disclosure rules. Its consumer booklet describes borrowing capacity only in general terms: the amount you can borrow is “generally a percentage of the appraised value of your home, minus the amount you owe” (CFPB, “What You Should Know About Home Equity Lines of Credit”, last updated 08/22). The same booklet warns that if a lender turns you down after you’ve paid for an appraisal or application fee, that fee may not be refunded — a real cost of applying to more than one lender to compare offers.
Separately, the CFPB’s own Ask CFPB page on HELOCs confirms there’s no single federal approval standard: it explains what a HELOC is, not how a specific lender decides to approve one. Score minimums, CLTV caps and income documentation are set lender by lender, which is why the next section compares two lenders’ own published pages instead of a single “the rule is.”
What do Bank of America and Chase require for a HELOC?
Bank of America and Chase both publish their own HELOC pages with enough specifics to compare directly — most “HELOC requirements” roundups online paraphrase a lender’s criteria instead of linking to it. Both pages below were read directly on the lender’s own site; treat every cell as current only as of the access date shown, since lenders change published criteria without notice.
Two names deliberately don’t appear. Wells Fargo stopped originating new HELOCs around 2020; that date comes from secondary sources only (its own HELOC pages returned errors when checked directly during research), so it’s excluded here rather than listed as an active lender. PenFed’s own HELOC page did not load during research, so any PenFed number you see on comparison sites is unverified against PenFed’s own page and is not repeated here.
| Bank of America | Chase | |
|---|---|---|
| Maximum CLTV | Up to 85% of home value, minus what you owe | Up to 80% of home value; a sample scenario on the page shows 55% CLTV (illustrative, not a stated cap) |
| Minimum credit score | No specific number published; credit score and history is listed as one of several factors considered | 680 or higher |
| DTI | Not published on lender’s page | Not published on lender’s page |
| Other stated factors | Employment history, monthly income and debts (no numeric thresholds given) | Not available in Texas |
| Source | bankofamerica.com | chase.com |
One caution on “the same lender’s own number”: a separate Chase eligibility page (published February 13, 2025, last edited March 12, 2026) describes a “strong” credit score as 720 in a broader mortgage-eligibility context — a different figure from the 680+ shown on Chase’s dedicated HELOC page above. Even one lender can publish two numbers depending on which product page you land on, which is another reason to check the specific HELOC page yourself before applying.
Does checking your rate hurt your credit score?
Short answer: we could not confirm this with a primary source, so this page won’t repeat the numbers you’ll find on comparison sites. Several loan-aggregator and credit-monitoring sites describe a small, specific point impact from a hard credit inquiry, and a short grace window in which multiple mortgage- or HELOC-related inquiries count as one for scoring purposes. We could not trace either figure back to a CFPB page or a specific lender’s own published policy for HELOC prequalification, so neither is repeated here as fact.
What we can tell you: “prequalifying” and “applying” are not always the same step, and whether a given lender’s rate check uses a soft pull (no score impact) or a hard pull (recorded, can affect your score) is a policy that lender sets and should state plainly if asked. Before you request a rate or prequalification, ask the lender directly: “Is this a soft or a hard credit pull?” Get the answer before you submit, not after.
Does self-employed or variable income count differently?
We could not find a Bank of America, Chase, or other major lender page that states a HELOC-specific income-documentation policy for self-employed or variable income — the pages read for the table above list “monthly income” as a qualitative factor without saying how it’s calculated for non-W-2 earners.
What does show up, repeatedly, on mortgage-broker and lending-education sites is a general mortgage-underwriting practice of averaging multiple years of tax returns for self-employed applicants. That practice is documented for first-mortgage underwriting; we did not find it confirmed on any lender’s own page as their specific HELOC policy, so treat it as common industry practice, not a cited lender rule. If your income is self-employed, commission-based or otherwise variable, ask the lender directly what documentation they require for a HELOC specifically — it may differ from what the same lender requires for a purchase mortgage.
What happens after you’re approved?
Qualifying is the beginning, not the end, of what a HELOC involves. Once a line is open, a few things become relevant that this page doesn’t cover, because they answer a different question — what it’s like to carry and use the line, not whether you can get one:
- What a lender can do to an open line — pause new draws, lower the limit, or in narrower circumstances end the plan and demand the balance — is governed by specific Regulation Z provisions, quoted in full with citations on the risks page, along with what a rate rise or the end of the draw period does to a payoff timeline.
- What a HELOC-funded payoff strategy (“chunking” the line against mortgage principal) actually is, defined and walked month by month for one example loan, is on the “what is velocity banking” page.
- Whether that strategy comes out ahead of simply making extra mortgage payments, for two example loans compared side by side, is on the comparison page.
- The order of steps once a line is approved, from reading the disclosures to the exit triggers, is in Velocity Banking Step by Step: A Printable Checklist.
- To run the CLTV, payment and payoff math on your own numbers instead of the illustrative ones above, the spreadsheet has open cells for all of it.
- To log real chunks and payments as they happen, our Velocity Mortgage App has a chunk tracker for paying users; its projection compares the HELOC path with minimum payments only, and it does not estimate whether you would qualify for a HELOC.
None of the above is duplicated here, so each number only lives in one place.
Key terms
- LTV (loan-to-value)
- Your first mortgage balance divided by your home’s value or appraised value.
- CLTV (combined loan-to-value)
- Your total secured debt — first mortgage plus any HELOC or second lien — divided by your home’s value.
- HCLTV (home equity combined loan-to-value)
- Fannie Mae’s term, for first mortgages it buys that have a HELOC behind them, for a combined ratio that counts the full size of the HELOC’s credit line, not just the amount drawn (Fannie Mae Selling Guide B2-1.2-03).
- Draw period
- The years during which you can draw against an open HELOC, usually followed by a separate repayment period on whatever balance remains.
- Non-refundable application fee
- An appraisal or application cost some lenders charge that you may not get back if you’re turned down (CFPB HELOC booklet).
Frequently asked questions
What credit score do I need for a HELOC?
Chase’s own HELOC page states a minimum of 680. Bank of America’s HELOC page does not publish a specific minimum; it lists credit score and history as one of several factors it considers, alongside employment history and monthly income and debts. Both figures are current as of September 22, 2026 — check the lender’s own page for anything more recent.
How much home equity do I need for a HELOC?
Enough that your combined loan-to-value (CLTV) — your mortgage balance plus the HELOC’s full credit line, divided by your home’s value — stays under the lender’s cap. Bank of America publishes up to 85%; Chase publishes up to 80%. The CLTV section above walks through a worked example using the full line limit, not just what you’d draw.
Does prequalifying for a HELOC hurt my credit score?
We could not confirm this with a primary source. Aggregator sites cite a small point impact for a hard inquiry, but we could not trace that number to a CFPB page or a lender’s own published policy, so it is not repeated here. Ask the lender directly whether a rate check or prequalification uses a soft or a hard credit pull before you request one.
Does self-employed income count differently for a HELOC?
We found no lender’s own page stating a HELOC-specific documentation policy for self-employed or variable income. A common general mortgage-underwriting practice is documented for first mortgages, but it was not confirmed as a HELOC-specific rule by any lender we read. Ask the lender directly what income documentation they require for their HELOC product.
Sources and method
- CFPB, “What You Should Know About Home Equity Lines of Credit (HELOC),” last updated 08/22. files.consumerfinance.gov (accessed September 22, 2026).
- CFPB, Ask CFPB, “What is a HELOC?” consumerfinance.gov (accessed September 22, 2026).
- Bank of America, “What is a Home Equity Line of Credit?” bankofamerica.com (accessed September 22, 2026).
- Chase, “HELOC.” chase.com (accessed September 22, 2026). Chase mortgage-eligibility page cited for the 720 “strong score” caveat: published February 13, 2025, last edited March 12, 2026.
- Fannie Mae Selling Guide B2-1.2-03, “HCLTV Ratios.” selling-guide.fanniemae.com (accessed October 7, 2026; revision shown 02/23/2016; Guide published September 2, 2026).
- What happens after approval, including Regulation Z citations for frozen or reduced lines and plan termination, is covered on the risks page and not repeated here.
- Not used, and why: Wells Fargo (stopped originating new HELOCs around 2020, secondary sources only, its own HELOC pages did not load during research); PenFed (own page did not load during research, so third-party PenFed numbers are unverified); soft-vs-hard credit pull and self-employed income documentation for HELOCs specifically (no primary source found for either — see the sections above).
- Run your own numbers: the spreadsheet. What velocity banking is: what is velocity banking. Whether it beats extra payments: does velocity banking work. What can happen to an open line: velocity banking risks.
About the Author Michael
MBA in Quantitative Finance – Wharton School (University of Pennsylvania). "I built products for the banks. Now, I dismantle them for you." Michael Schmidt is a veteran financial strategist and the architect of the Mortgage Killer Method. With over 15 years of experience inside America's largest lending institutions, Michael worked behind closed doors structuring mortgage backed-securities. He saw firsthand how the "30-year fixed" system is engineered to prioritize institutional profit over homeowner equity. In 2015, Michael walked away from Wall Street with a clear objective: to reverse-engineer banking mathematics for the average American family. He specializes in aggressive principal reduction strategies, using HELOCs to cut amortization timelines by decades. Michael brings German precision to debt management. His frameworks are not theories—they are mathematical certainties. To date, he has helped over 1,500 families reclaim an estimated $50 million in interest from the banking system. Expertise: Strategic Debt Elimination, Amortization Mechanics, Cash Flow Optimization. Background: Former VP of Lending Strategies.
