Can You Qualify for an HEI With Low Credit or Income? 

Traditional home equity loans and HELOCs require good credit and steady income, even if you have significant equity. If you can’t meet those requirements, qualifying for traditional home equity products can be difficult.

Home equity investments (HEIs) offer another way to access equity without monthly payments, which is why they’re often considered by homeowners with poor credit or lower income. But HEIs come with different risks and trade-offs, and understanding those differences helps you clarify when they actually make sense.

In this article (Skip to...)

• How HEI underwriting works
• What low credit means in an HEI approval
• Does your income matter for an HEI?
• When does an HEI make sense?

Why HEIs look more accessible vs. traditional home equity options

Traditional home equity products are built around repayment risk. Lenders want to know that you can meet your monthly payment obligations for years, even if interest rates rise or your financial situation changes. That’s why credit scores, debt-to-income ratios, and stable earnings carry so much weight.

HEIs are structured differently. Instead of charging interest and requiring monthly payments, an HEI provider gives you a lump sum in exchange for a share of your home’s future value. The provider gets paid when you sell, refinance, or reach the end of the agreement term.

Because there’s no required monthly repayment, the risk shifts away from your near-term cash flow and toward the long-term performance of the property itself. That shift allows HEIs to serve some borrowers with lower credit scores or irregular income, but it also introduces a different set of trade-offs.

What experts are saying

Michael Gifford, CEO of Splitero

“We help homeowners across the credit spectrum — from people who can’t qualify at a bank to those with 800+ credit scores.”

How HEI underwriting works

HEI approval is less about whether you can make the monthly loan payments and more about whether the investment makes sense for the provider over time. Instead of focusing on your ability to repay, HEI underwriting centers on questions like:

• How much equity does the home have today?
• How volatile is the local housing market?
• How long is the homeowner likely to stay?
• How much appreciation risk is the provider taking on?

Your credit score and income don’t disappear from the evaluation, but they play a smaller role. Instead, the home’s value, location, condition, and market outlook become the primary source of risk assessment.

What low credit really means in an HEI approval

A lower credit score doesn’t automatically disqualify you from an HEI, but it does influence the terms you’re offered. From the provider’s perspective, credit history isn’t just about past borrowing behavior — it’s also a signal of future risk.

When credit risk rises, HEI providers typically compensate in other ways. That may show up as:

• A smaller upfront payout
• A larger share of future appreciation
• More conservative home value assumptions
• Stricter limits on eligible property types

Does your income matter for HEI approval?

Because HEIs don’t require monthly payments, they aren’t underwritten around debt-to-income ratios. That makes them appealing to homeowners with irregular earnings, self-employment income, or recent income disruptions.

But income doesn’t disappear entirely from the evaluation. Providers want reassurance that you can continue paying your property taxes, insurance, and basic housing expenses. Income also helps signal whether you’re likely to remain in the home long enough for the investment to perform as expected.

The trade-offs that replace traditional qualification barriers

When credit or income limits your access to loans, an HEI can feel like a relief. There’s no monthly payment to manage and no immediate pressure on cash flow. But the trade-off comes later.

Instead of paying interest, you’re giving up a portion of your home’s future value. If the home appreciates significantly, or if you stay longer than expected, the total cost can exceed what a traditional loan would have cost.

This doesn’t make HEIs inherently bad; it means they concentrate the risk differently. The risk moves from short-term affordability to long-term equity outcomes, and that shift deserves careful consideration.

When does an HEI make sense?

An HEI tends to make sense when access to cash matters more than locking in the lowest long-term costs. For example, it can be a good option for borrowers with inconsistent income or who are rebuilding their credit.

At the same time, HEIs may not be the best fit for homeowners who expect to stay in their home for many years or who are likely to qualify for a traditional home equity loan or HELOC with time. The question isn’t simply whether you can get approved, but whether the structure matches your financial timeline.

When evaluating an HEI, it helps to focus less on approval and more on outcomes. Pay attention to how much future appreciation you’re giving up, how long the agreement lasts, and what triggers repayment. In many cases, the most useful comparison isn’t between an HEI and a HELOC today, but between using an HEI now and waiting for a traditional option that may be available later.

The bottom line on HEI requirements for low credit and income

Home equity investments are accessible not because providers overlook risk, but because they define it differently.

When credit scores or income make traditional borrowing difficult, HEIs can offer a legitimate alternative, provided the trade-offs are clearly understood. They don’t solve every problem, but for homeowners who can’t access traditional home equity lending options, they can provide access when it matters most.