Is 6.6% a competitive HELOC Rate for the Bay Area

[Jonathan Pflueger]

BP, 

After doing some of my own research I am curious to see what others in the Bay Area are getting offered in terms of HELOC rates. I was just offered a 6.6% variable rate, interest only, 10 year draw, on my primary residence from State Farm Bank. This also came with a teaser rate of 2.2% for the first year.

Any thoughts or suggestions? 

Thanks. 

[Chris Mason]

Originally posted by @Jonathan Pflueger:

@Chris Mason

Makes a lot of sense, thanks for the information. The 6.6% that was quoted me was for a maxed out CLTV of 80/20 which most likely reflects the higher rate.

 Yeah, your buddy bragging about his rate being 0.5% below prime has probably left 50% equity in their home and probably has $200k sitting in a savings/investment account with that particular bank or credit union. The bank is of course lending that $200k right back out at 9% as credit card debt (& we have fractional reserve banking, so they might be lending out $1,000,000 at 9%!), so they can certainly show this person a little love on their $75k 50% CLTV HELOC on a $2.5m Berkeley home!