ING Direct surprised everyone in early December when they started offering collateral mortgages – and only collateral mortgages. But it seems, that wasn’t the only move the lender had on the agenda in order to get their already popular product out to even more Canadians. Now, the lender that “saves you money,” is going to be doing so in a new way – by offering home equity lines of credit in Canada that are full of features aimed at saving the customer money while they’re borrowing it.
Not only is it the first time that ING Direct is offering home equity lines of credit in Canada, but President of ING Direct Canada, Peter Aceto also wants to stress the importance of saving and not getting bogged down by debt that homeowners can’t afford. He made this clear in a recent statement when he said, “Savings are the cornerstone of a healthy financial lifestyle, but we acknowledge there are times in life when borrowing money might be necessary. However, debt should not be a burden you’re stuck with forever, and you should always have a plan in place to pay it back. ING Direct’s new HELOC is a smart, affordable way to borrow money, and it gives Canadians the tools they need to pay off their debt as quickly as possible.”
So just what does that plan include?
Lots of features that are geared to help the homeowner save, even if they’ve found themselves in a situation where they need to borrow for a short time. Those features include a fixed payment schedule for consumers who want it, as opposed to most HELOCs in Canada right now that require an interest-only payment every month. This, along with low interest rates and an option to lower the amount of credit available as the principal decreases, are all features not found in other loans of this kind. But what might be the difference that homeowners notice most is that ING Direct’s HELOCs don’t come with that handy little plastic bank card. The bank is hoping that this helps reduce spending by taking away impulse buys and making borrowing too easy.
Another huge difference that comes with these ING loans? While most home equity lines of credit in Canada are set up in addition to a traditional mortgage on a home, these HELOCs are set up for homeowners that don’t currently hold a conventional mortgage on their home, but have home equity that they want to borrow against.
