Truist Home Equity Loans Review

Table of Content

• Truist Home Equity Loans Overview
• Truist’s Services
• Truist’s Credentials
• Truist Accessibility
• Truist’s Satisfaction Ratings
• Truist FAQ
• How We Evaluated Truist HELOCs
• Summary of SacBee’s Truist Review

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Truist Home Equity Loans Overview

Although Truist offers various types of real estate loans, it does NOT offer a conventional home equity loan. If you’d like to apply for a home equity loan, you’ll have to look elsewhere.

However, Truist does offer a home equity line of credit (HELOC), which is an adjacent product with many of the same features. Like a home equity loan, a HELOC can help you turn your home’s equity into a source of cash. If you take out a home equity loan, you’ll receive (and pay interest upon) the full amount of your loan in one lump sum. But if you choose to take out a HELOC, you have a line of credit that you can draw against as needed. The advantage of a HELOC is that you don’t have to pay interest on funds you don’t need right away.

Many borrowers use funds borrowed through a HELOC for home improvements, consolidating debt, or covering large purchases. Here’s what you should know if you are considering Truist for your HELOC.

Truist’s Services

Truist is a financial services holding company that operates as a bank, offering various consumer and commercial financial products. We’re going to focus on their HELOC offerings and review the important details of this loan type.

What’s offered

At the time of this writing. Truist is offering the following terms for its HELOC:

• Credit lines from $10,000 to $500,000
• 6.3% APR
• 10-year draw period and 20-year repayment
• No closing cost option

These are very general terms that Truist advertises, but you may get different terms based on your state of residence, appraised home value and personal credit profile.

You’ll need to have some information handy for the application process. If you don’t have this information available, you can start your application, save it, and complete it when you have it all. Here’s what the Truist HELOC application requires:

• Your personal details, contact information and Social Security number
• A U.S. cell phone number (required for digital applications)
• Two years of address and employment history
• Financial details such as income, assets, debt and other obligations
• Details about the property that will secure your Truist HELOC (mortgages, liens, etc.)
• Access to all three of the major credit reporting agencies’ credit reports

If you don’t want to provide your email or phone number, you can apply for a HELOC in person at a local branch or contact the Truist Call Center for more assistance.

You should know that submitting your information to Truist for a HELOC application will result in a hard credit inquiry. If your application is approved, a Truist representative will reach out to explain the next steps and gather any additional information to close on the loan.

If there’s a co-applicant for your HELOC, they should be nearby to enter their personal information and accept the terms and conditions applied to them. If they’re not present to give you all the info required, you can save your progress and return later when your co-applicant is available.

Truist’s HELOC has some very specific terms and limitations you should know about. Not every person or type of home will qualify for a HELOC with Truist. Here are the types of residences that do qualify:

• Single-family
• Primary residence
• Condominium
• Second home (must occupy at least 14 days per calendar year)

Essentially, you’ve got three repayment options for your HELOC with Truist:

• Variable-rate repayment option: The minimum required monthly payment is based on your current outstanding balance, which includes both interest and a percentage of your principal balance. The minimum monthly payment is 1.5% of the total outstanding HELOC balance.
• Interest-only repayment option: Your minimum monthly payment is equal to the finance charges accrued on the outstanding balance from the previous month. The interest rate is variable, based on the prime rate.
• Fixed-rate repayment option: This fixed-rate/fixed-term repayment option allows you to repay your HELOC over 60, 120, 180 or 240 months. The term determines your minimum monthly payment and any interest and fees.

Depending on your loan amount and state of residence, you can choose to pay your HELOC closing costs or have Truist advance them on your behalf. However, if you pay the loan off before three years, you may have to pay the closing costs back.

What’s not offered

As noted above, Truist does not offer a conventional home equity loan.

Truist’s HELOC is subject to various terms and limitations. For instance, you can’t get a HELOC if the collateral property is an investment home, a mobile or manufactured home, or a cooperative. There’s also a limit of one home equity line from Truist per individual or co-borrower.

If you plan to apply for a HELOC with Truist, it’s best to complete their online quiz to see which terms you qualify for. Alternatively, you can contact with a local branch representative to know which loan options are available for your personal circumstances.

Truist’s Credentials

Although Truist is a relatively new name to the banking world, the company has been around for a long time as BB&T Corporation and SunTrust Banks, Inc. These banks merged at the end of 2019 to create Truist.

As a result of this merger, Truist is now the sixth largest U.S. commercial bank, serving approximately 10 million consumer households.  The company has 2,781 branches in 15 states and Washington, D.C.

Licenses and registrations

Truist is headquartered and maintains its corporate charter in Charlotte, North Carolina. Their mortgage lending operations are registered in the Nationwide Mortgage Licensing System & Registry (NMLS) for every state where they offer mortgage products. Truist is also a member of the Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation (FDIC).

Awards and certifications

Because two banks merged to create Truist recently, most of the bank’s awards and accolades are currently attributed to one of those banks. Here are some notable awards:

• Truist was recognized by Fannie Mae in its 2020 Servicer Total Achievement and Rewards (STAR) Program for mortgage servicing excellence and solution delivery.
• BB&T, now Truist, was recognized as a leader in “ease of use” and “financial fitness” in Javelin’s 2020 Mobile Banking Scorecard.
• LightStream, the national online lending division of SunTrust, now Truist, earned the number one ranking in the J.D. Power 2020 U.S. Consumer Lending Satisfaction Study among personal loan lenders.

Regulatory or legal actions

So far, we haven’t uncovered any regulatory or legal actions against the bank. There also seem to be no complaints from industry watchdog groups or government indictments for fraudulent activities.

To get updates on bank fraud, the Federal Trade Commission (FTC)  maintains a database of consumer alerts, searchable by keyword, credit, loans and mortgages. If you want to report fraudulent or unethical banking activities, you can submit a claim through your state attorney’s office or the Consumer Finance Protection Bureau.

Note, although we always try to include accurate and up-to-date information on regulatory and legal actions, this information may not be complete or fully up to date. We recommend you do your own research for the latest information.

Truist Accessibility

Truist has a large network of physical bank branches you can visit and a phone customer service center. They also have multilingual teammates available at their Multicultural Banking Centers. In some cases, Truist has materials available in Spanish, Korean, Vietnamese, Mandarin, and other languages. Phone assistance is available in Spanish at 844-4TRUIST (844-487-8478), option 9.

The financial institution also encourages people to contact them regarding accessibility issues they may have with physical locations, websites, or mobile apps. Truist can also assist customers who use impairment assistive devices, such as screen reader.

Availability

Truist’s local branches are generally open from 9 am to 5 pm Monday to Friday. Some locations are open from 9 am to 1 pm on Saturdays with no hours of operation on Sundays. Truist also observes typical bank holidays like New Year’s Day, Christmas, Thanksgiving Day, etc.

You can access your account online 24/7 or talk with a customer service representative at 844-487-8478. Representatives are available from 8 am to 8 pm EST from Monday to Friday and from 8 am to 5 pm EST on Saturdays.

Their automated banking service is available 24/7. Representatives are available from 8 a.m. to 8 p.m. ET Monday through Friday and from 8 a.m. to 5 p.m. ET on Saturday.

Contact information

You can reach Truist during their business hours at 844-487-8478. If you want to visit a local branch, you can make an appointment online or walk in for service.

User experience

Truist’s public-facing website is neat, clean and easy to navigate. The website features plenty of information about their financial products, including their HELOC offerings. The information about their HELOCs is comprehensive, with a very straightforward application process you can complete online in just a few minutes.

Limitations

As mentioned, Truist does have certain limitations and restrictions in place for their HELOC loans. This will come down to several factors like the subject property, where you reside and your creditworthiness and financial details. As a traditional lender, Truist will likely not deviate much from their underwriting standards and lend to clients that don’t meet their HELOC eligibility guidelines.

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Truist’s Satisfaction Ratings

Customer complaints

Truist is an accredited Better Business Bureau member with a profile grade of A+. However, this rating doesn’t consider the customer complaints but rather the BBB’s opinion about the company’s interactions with its customers.

The bank’s BBB profile currently displays 3,187 complaints closed in the last three years and 1,780 complaints closed in the previous 12 months. Though this may seem like a lot, remember that Truist has approximately 10 million customers – and that only a small fraction of the complaints concern its HELOCs.

Common complaints about Truist involve customers experiencing poor service, mainly after the merger. Clients complained about issues like unsuccessful attempts to block fraudulent transactions, account information not updating correctly, check deposits posting late, resulting in overdraft fees along with difficulty contacting bank representatives to help resolve these issues. There have also been some recent news reports alleging Truist’s inability or unwillingness to help bank clients with fraud and other banking problems.

Third-party ratings

Truist has several online review profiles with the following ratings:

• Trustpilot– 1.1 out of 5 stars
• Better Business Bureau (BBB) – 1.08 out of 5 stars
• Apple App Store– 4.6 out of 5 stars

This information is provided based on the information we have available at the time of publishing.

How We Evaluated Truist HELOCs

We based our evaluation of Truist on publicly available information on their website and other sources.  We also consider customer review sites, industry watchdog reports and information from consumer advocacy sites.

Summary of SacBee’s Truist Review

Although Truist is a new name in banking, it’s backed by some very well-known and established financial institutions. If you are looking for a simple, straightforward process to obtain a HELOC, Truist should be a top contender.

However, you should always compare several lenders to get the best terms possible. And if your heart is set on getting a home equity loan and not a HELOC, consult this guide to the best home equity loans.

Aja McClanahan

Aja McClanahan is a writer that covers personal finance and a number of related topics. Her work and personal story of paying down over $120,000 in debt have been featured in publications around the web including sites like Money, CreditCards.com, Business Insider, Inc., Experian and many others.