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If you have poor credit and want to get a home equity loan, here's what you need to have before more lenders will risk lending to you: a credit score above 500-540 (depending on the lender), a full-time well-paying job, and the ability to repay what's essential a second mortgage.
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Benefits of home equity loans and home equity lines of credit are numerous, but the primary ones include the fact that you can pay them out over an extended time; the fact that there are often no closing costs; and, with lines of credit, you often have to pay only the interest payments.