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TD Bank Home Equity Loans Review
By Cassidy Horton MONEY RESEARCH COLLECTIVE
If you’re a homeowner, there’s a good chance you’ve considered using your home equity to get some extra cash — maybe to fund home improvements, education expenses, or other major purchases. Is a TD Bank home equity loan right for you?
Read on to see how TD Bank stacks up against the best home equity loans on the market.
Table of Contents
TD Bank Home Equity Overview
- 0.25% rate discount for banking customers
- Accepts higher loan-to-value ratio than most banks
- No minimum draws required for HELOCs
- Can lock in HELOC rate
- Only available in 16 states
- Doesn't disclose minimum credit score requirements on website
- Must close loan in person — even if you apply online
TD Bank is one of the ten largest financial institutions in the U.S. It has over 9.7 million customers and 1,100 branches dotted across the East Coast, with its headquarters in Cherry Hill, New Jersey.
In addition to home refinancing, TD Bank offers a variety of other banking products, including mortgages, personal loans, auto loans, credit cards, and more. It’s a subsidiary of TD Bank Group, which is headquartered in Toronto, Canada, and manages over CAD $1.8 trillion in assets.
TD Bank’s Services
TD Bank gives customers two ways to tap into their home’s equity: a home equity line of credit (HELOC) or a home equity loan.
What’s offered
- TD Bank home equity line of credit (HELOC). A HELOC is like a credit card that uses your home as collateral. You pull from the line of credit as needed, and only pay back what you borrow.
HELOCs have a variable interest rate (meaning it can fluctuate month-to-month), but TD Bank gives you the option to lock in a fixed rate for all or part of your term.
While some banks require you to withdraw a minimum amount from your HELOC while it’s in the draw phase, TD Bank doesn’t impose a minimum. So you can pull as little or as much from your credit limit as you’d like — even if it’s just a few hundred dollars.
- TD Bank home equity loan. With a home equity loan, you get one lump-sum payment to use however you wish — pay education expenses, make a down payment on investment property, fund a new business, or make any other major purchase.
Home equity loans are a type of second mortgage, so expect to make fixed monthly payments over a five to 30-year loan period.
This chart highlights the main differences between TD Bank’s home equity options:
| Home equity loan | Home equity line of credit (HELOC) | |
| Minimum credit score required | Not stated; typical minimum is 620 | |
| Loan repayment term | 10-year draw period 20-year repayment period |
5, 10, 15, 20, or 30-year |
| Minimum loan amount | $10,000 | $25,000 No minimum draw |
| Maximum loan amount | $1.5 million for second homes Not stated for primary residences or other loan types |
Not stated |
| APR | Fixed | Variable (with a fixed-rate option) |
| Maximum combined loan-to-value ratio (CLTV) | 89.99% | |
| Discounts | 0.25% interest rate discount for TD personal checking account or savings account customers who enroll in autopay | 0.25% interest rate discount for TD personal checking account or savings account customers |
| Potential fees | $99 origination fee Closing costs (applies to investment properties, co-ops, and loans greater than $500k) |
$50 annual fee $99 origination fee 2% early termination fee, up to $450 Closing costs (applies to investment properties, co-ops, and loans greater than $500k) |
| Availability | CT, DC, DE, FL, MA, MD, ME, NC, NH, NJ, NY, PA, RI, SC, VA, VT | |
| Information is current as of August 3, 2022. Actual rates and terms may vary by location. | ||
What’s not offered
- Doesn’t disclose its minimum FICO credit score. One major shortcoming of TD Bank’s website is that it doesn’t state a hard-and-fast minimum credit score for refinancing. While this may be aggravating if you’re trying to quickly sort through your options, it also means TD Bank may be willing to work with individuals who have bad or poor credit.
- Only available to East Coast states. Only residents in these states can apply for a home equity loan with TD Bank: Connecticut, Delaware, Florida, Maine, Maryland, Massachusetts, New Hampshire, New Jersey, New York, North Carolina, Pennsylvania, Rhode Island, South Carolina, Vermont, Virginia, and Washington DC.
TD Bank’s Credentials
TD Bank is one of the five largest banks in North America and has been in business for over 170 years.
Licenses and registrations
All of TD Bank’s checking and savings accounts are FDIC insured. And all of its loan products are subject to the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau (CFPB) rules. In some instances, TD Bank uses third-party providers to service home equity loans, although its website is unclear as to when this happens.
Awards and certifications
TD Bank is often recognized as a leading regional bank in the U.S. In 2022, it was rated third highest in J.D. Power’s 2021 National Banking Study.
Regulatory or legal actions
On August 20, 2020, the FTC ordered TD Bank to pay an estimated $97 million in restitution to checking account customers who were enrolled in the bank’s Debit Card Advance overdraft protection service without their consent. The court ruled that this enrollment violated the Electronic Fund Transfer Act (EFTA) and Regulation E.
We couldn’t find any other records of pending lawsuits or legal actions against TD Bank or its home lending services.
TD Bank’s Accessibility
Even though TD Bank is only available in 16 states — and it’s had a recent legal action taken out against it — it still stands out for its customer service and flexible product offerings.
Availability
TD Bank operates online and in-person at over 1,100 branch locations. It serves these East Coast states:
- Connecticut
- Delaware
- Florida
- Maine
- Maryland
- Massachusetts
- New Hampshire
- New Jersey
- New York
- North Carolina
- Pennsylvania
- Rhode Island
- South Carolina
- Vermont
- Virginia
- Washington DC
Contact information
If you have questions or want to check on the status of your application, you can do so online or by visiting a TD Bank near you.
User experience
TD Bank’s website is easy to navigate and comes chock-full of educational guides and videos to help you weigh your home equity options.
You can even use the bank’s built-in calculator to estimate potential rates and monthly payments. And when you’re ready, you can start the home equity application process online.
Limitations
Even with TD Bank’s large east coast presence, it still has a few limitations that may deter you from taking out a home equity loan or HELOC:
- You have to close on your loan in person at a TD Bank location — even if you start the application process online.
- The bank doesn’t disclose its credit score requirements online, so you could waste time applying, only to find out you don’t qualify.
- It had government action taken against it in 2020. Even though this lawsuit was for checking account customers, it may still leave a bad taste in your mouth.
TD Bank’s Customer Satisfaction
TD Bank’s customer satisfaction is a bit of a mixed bag. It ranks highly on third-party sites like JD Power. But it has low customer reviews on the BBB and Trustpilot.
Customer complaints
TD Bank has an A- rating with the Better Business Bureau (BBB), where it’s been accredited since April 2002. This rating is unusually high considering the BBB also flagged TD Bank for its 2020 government action.
The bank has logged and closed over 1,660 complaints on the BBB in the last three years — a small number considering it has over 9.7 million customers. But that’s where the good news stops.
Customers have left an average of 1.02 out of 5-star reviews on the BBB — putting it in the “low” category. We couldn’t find any reviews about home lending specifically. However, the biggest complaints are about billing issues and promotional offers not going through.
TD Bank has equally bad ratings on Trustpilot — 1.3 out of 5 stars based on 1,389 reviews. There were a few home lending reviews. One was positive, noting that customer service did a great job in helping them choose the right home loan for them. But the rest of the reviews complained about being strung along, only to ultimately be denied a mortgage or refinancing.
One recent reviewer noted that they submitted over 100 pages of requested documents for a HELOC, only to find out one week before closing that their debt-to-income ratio was too high.
Third-party ratings
TD Bank snagged the #3 spot in J.D. Power’s 2021 National Banking Study. While it was edged out by Capital One and PNC, the bank ranked highest in the “people factor” sub-category, which ranks institutions based on their tellers and customer service representatives.
TD Bank FAQ
What is the home equity rate at TD Bank?
Rates vary based on your credit score, zip code, property type, and loan amount. In some cases, it can be as low as the current prime rate minus 0.01%. (So if the prime rate was 5%, TD Bank rates would start at 4.99% for those with the best credit scores.)
The maximum rate for home equity loans is 18%, so it'll never be more than that. For the most up-to-date rates, get a home equity quote on TD Bank's website.
How do I apply for home equity through TD Bank?
You can start the application process online, but you'll have to close at a branch. Here's a brief overview of the application process, although TD Bank isn't clear on how long it takes to complete:
What is the minimum to get a TD Bank HELOC?
TD Bank doesn't list credit score requirements on its website. But in general, you need to meet these requirements to qualify for a home equity loan or HELOC:
What is the maximum amount of funds available on a TD Bank HELOC?
TD Bank doesn't disclose any maximums for HELOCs. However, its website states that additional closing costs may apply for lines of credit over $500,000. So the maximum could be over this threshold for some customers.
What are the tax implications of a TD Bank HELOC?
According to the IRS, the interest you pay on your TD Bank HELOC or home equity loan may be tax deductible if you use the funds "to buy, build or substantially improve your home that secures the loan."
How much equity do I need for a TD Bank home equity loan?
TD Bank won't issue you a loan if your combined loan to value (CLTV) ratio is over 89.99%. In other words, you need at least 10.01% equity built up across all your home loans.
A CLTV ratio is the total of all your outstanding mortgages divided by the total appraised value of your properties. So if you have one property worth $400,000 and your outstanding balance is $356,000, your CLTV would be 89% (400,000/356,000).
How We Evaluated TD Bank Home Equity
We know you have a lot of home equity loan options to choose from. So when curating this review, we examined how TD Bank stacks up against the best home equity loans. This meant digging into factors like nationwide availability, loan requirements, fees, rates, features, and customer service options to see where it shines and where it falls short.
Summary of Sacbee’s TD Bank Review
TD Bank is a large, regional bank with branches in 16 states. It offers both home equity loans and HELOCs with flexible terms and competitive rates. However, you can’t complete the full application process online, and TD Bank isn’t very clear about its minimum requirements.
If you’re interested in exploring home equity options with TD Bank, visit its website to get started. But before you do, see how it compares to the best home equity loans first. You never know when one of these might be a better fit.
Cassidy Horton is a finance writer based in Seattle, Washington. With an MBA and a bachelor's in public relations, her work has been published over a thousand times by The Balance, Finder.com, Money Under 30, Clever Girl Finance, and many more. Cassidy is a self-confessed money nerd who’s passionate about helping people find financial freedom. Oh, and she really loves cats.