Best HELOC Rates for 2026

A Rare Case Where the Top Lenders Agree

It's unusual to see multiple unrelated lenders converge on the identical rate, but that's exactly what's happening in the HELOC market right now: Bank of America, Best Egg, BMO, Fifth Third Bank, and Figure are all offering 3.99% APR as their best available rate, verified August 10, 2026.

Top HELOC Lenders

The national average HELOC rate is 8.20% APR, more than double what these five lenders are quoting. Because a HELOC is secured by your home's equity, lenders can offer meaningfully lower rates than unsecured borrowing options — and the gap here is large enough that shopping around, even among lenders quoting the same headline rate, is still worth doing for fees and draw-period terms.

What the Rate Alone Doesn't Tell You

A HELOC's advertised APR is typically a best-case, top-credit-tier number — your actual rate depends on your credit profile, loan-to-value ratio, and how much equity you have in your home. Since five lenders are quoting the identical headline rate here, the differences that will actually matter to you are more likely to show up in draw-period length, fees, and rate variability rather than the number itself.

Variable Rate Means the Number Can Change

Most HELOCs carry a variable rate tied to an index, which means the rate you lock in today isn't necessarily the rate you'll pay for the life of the line — it can move up or down as the underlying index changes, unlike a fixed-rate home equity loan or a fixed-rate mortgage. That's a real tradeoff for the flexibility a HELOC offers: you can draw funds as needed rather than taking a lump sum, but you're also taking on rate risk over the draw period.

Some lenders offer a rate lock option on some or all of the balance you draw, converting part of a HELOC to a fixed rate — worth asking about directly if payment predictability matters more to you than the lowest possible starting rate.