A line of credit on the house in your trust, with the trust left exactly as it is.
You put the home in a revocable living trust so your family would never face probate. Then a bank said the trust was a problem. On the programs that accept trust vesting it is routine: the trustee signs, you borrow, and nothing in your plan changes.
Offered through West Capital Lending by Korbin Spangenthal, NMLS #2079029. Revocable trusts on programs that accept trust vesting; subject to credit approval, valuation, title and trust review. Not legal advice. Not available in New York.
39 states and D.C.Korbin is licensed in 29 and D.C.; licensed loan officers on his team cover ten more.
NMLS #2079029Verify the license on NMLS Consumer Access in under a minute.
The house never leaves the trustWe do not ask for a deed out and back. If a program needs it, we use a different program.
The bank blamed the trust. The trust was fine.
A trust decline is a decision about the bank's back office, not about you.
Most home equity desks are built for a deed with a person's name on it. When the owner is "Jane Doe, Trustee," the online application has no box for it, the file drops out of the automated path, and someone has to read a legal document the bank never budgeted time for. The shortest route through their system is a no, or a suggestion to deed the house to yourself and put it back later.
Programs that lend to trusts handle the same file as routine. The lender's title insurer confirms the trustee's authority from a certification of trust, the trustee signs the security instrument, you sign the line agreement, and the plan your attorney drafted stays intact.
Revocable living trusts are an ordinary file
A certification of trust and a few pages, in most cases, instead of the whole document
A straight answer on your trust before you send anything
Most family living trusts drafted in the last few decades pass all four. When one fails, it is usually the borrowing language, and your attorney can fix that with an amendment.
It is revocable
Created by one or more individuals, not a company, and still changeable by the person who made it. Irrevocable trusts, land trusts and LLCs generally fall outside standard programs.
A settlor is a trustee
The person who created the trust still manages it, or a bank or trust company does. The trust document gives the trustee the power to borrow and to mortgage the home.
A settlor lives there and signs
On a primary residence, the person who created the trust occupies the home and signs the loan as the borrower on their own credit and income.
Title insures cleanly
The lender's title insurer will insure the lien without carving out an exception for the trust or the trustee. In Florida and California, a certification of trust is usually enough.
Trust first, then the loan
The trust review happens at the start, so nobody spends a week on a file the title insurer will not accept.
How the home is titled
The trust's name and date, the trustees, whether it is revocable, the home's value and mortgage balance. Soft credit pull only.
Program match
Which programs accept your trust in your state and on your home, and exactly which trust pages each one wants.
Trust review
The certification and excerpts go to the lender and title insurer before income documents, valuation or anything else.
Sign and fund
Borrower and trustee signatures, a spouse's joinder where state law calls for it, recording, and funding.
Will your trust work?
Four questions. Runs in your browser; nothing is sent and no credit is pulled.
Vice President and Mortgage Loan Originator, West Capital Lending
Korbin places home equity lines for homeowners whose files do not fit a bank's default path: trust-owned homes, self-employed income, homes already listed for sale. He reads the program guidelines himself, so the answer on your trust comes from the person who will carry the file, and when a question belongs to your attorney you hear that too.
He lives in Boca Raton and works with clients by phone, text, email and video in 29 states and D.C.; licensed loan officers on his West Capital Lending team cover ten more.
NMLS #2079029, CA DRE #02178533, FL SL #3633081. West Capital Lending, Inc., NMLS #1566096, CA DRE #02022356, 17911 Von Karman Avenue, Suite 400, Irvine, CA 92614. Verify on NMLS Consumer Access.
What trust owners ask first
Can I get a HELOC if my house is in a living trust?
Yes, if the trust is revocable and the program accepts trust vesting. You sign the line as the borrower, and as trustee you sign the document that pledges the house. The trust itself does not change.
Why did my bank say no because of the trust?
Usually because its home equity process has no step for reviewing a trust or for the title insurance a trust-vested lien needs. It is a decision about the bank's workflow, not about you or your trust.
Should I take the house out of the trust to qualify?
Not as a first resort. A deed out and back opens a gap in your estate plan, and the second deed is easy to forget. Programs that accept trusts make it unnecessary in most cases.
Will the lender read who inherits my house?
Usually not. A certification of trust, plus the pages naming the trustee and the power to borrow, is what most lenders and title insurers rely on. Florida and California have statutes built around exactly that.
What if my trust is irrevocable?
Standard home equity programs generally do not lend to irrevocable trusts or land trusts, because the person living in the home no longer has the control those programs require. Start with your attorney.
Does a HELOC change my property taxes?
Not in Florida or California: a new lien is not a change of ownership, so the homestead exemption, the Save Our Homes cap and Proposition 13 assessments stay where they are. Other states have their own rules; your county assessor or attorney can confirm yours.
Do I have to refinance my first mortgage?
No. The line sits behind your existing mortgage, and that loan's rate and payment stay as they are.
How much can I borrow, and at what rate?
Each program sets its own limits and pricing, and they change, so none are published here. A soft credit pull, which does not affect your score, shows real terms for your home.
Guides
Each one answers a question that comes up on real trust files, with the public rule cited.
