Better launches bank statement HELOC for small business owners

Better announced on Wednesday the launch of its Bank Statement home equity line of credit (HELOC) aimed at the 36.2 million small business owners in the United States who often don’t fit within traditional underwriting standards.

The new program lets self-employed borrowers access home equity without tax returns, W-2s or profit-and-loss statements. Instead, applicants can verify income with 12 or 24 months of personal or business bank statements. Better’s TinMan, the company’s end-to-end loan origination system, analyzes those statements to calculate income trends and provide nearly instant approvals.

The program eliminates physical appraisals and streamlines title insurance for loans up to $400,000, the company said.

“Better’s HELOC customers consolidated $193 million in high-interest debt, generating an average monthly savings of $1,120 in Q2 2025,” said Vishal Garg, CEO and founder of Better.com. “Unlike traditional home equity lenders who operate on multiple fragmented and outdated point solutions, Tinman AI has been trained to detect alternative sources of data and automate verification without the need to review endless stacks of PDFs. Now that we’ve established the processes with our AI to deliver a seamless customer experience to small business owners across America, we’ve brought the Better Bank Statement HELOC to market.”

The launch comes as household debt climbs, with credit card rates averaging 27% and personal loans topping 17%, according to Better. By contrast, HELOCs average about 8%, offering borrowers a lower-cost way to consolidate debt.

Better said customers who used HELOC funds for consolidation improved credit scores, with gains ranging from 25 to 60 points. The biggest gains were among lower-credit FICO bond borrowers, with an average increase of 37 points.

“With Better’s new Bank Statement HELOC, we believe we would have been able to capture over 6,000 customers that were previously denied — that translates to $600 million in home equity loans we could’ve helped fund had this program been in place,” said Chad Smith, president and chief operating officer of Better Mortgage Corporation, a wholly owned subsidiary of Better.

“This point of pain is why we developed a new product, that will allow us to lean forward, help more customers, and continue to catalyze our growth as one of the fastest growing AI native home equity lenders in the country, growing over 150% year over year.”

The Bank Statement HELOC targets small business owners, freelancers, gig workers and borrowers with complex or recently increased incomes. Customers can also apply through Betsy, Better’s AI loan assistant, by asking if they qualify with bank statements alone.