The second-lien home equity credit line loan ( HELOC ) allows self-employed borrowers and real estate investors to access their home equity while maintaining a low-interest first-lien mortgage, even if their income does not meet the requirements specified in the standard documents.
Lake Forest, California, November 10, 2026 /PRNewswire/ -- Truss Financial Group ( TFG ) indicates that following the Federal Reserve's interest rate hike in September, the company is helping homeowners with low-rate first-mortgage loans avoid a difficult choice: either to forgo their current rates and refinance, or to leave their record-high home equity unused. The company offers a second-mortgage HELOC program that allows borrowers to keep their existing first mortgage unchanged, including options for self-employed borrowers and real estate investors, suitable for those whose income does not meet the standard documentation requirements.
According to Mortgage Professional America, the Federal Reserve raised its benchmark interest rate by 25 basis points in September, marking the first interest rate hike in three years, and kept the rates unchanged at its October meeting. Within a month of the hike, mortgage rates rose by about 0.75 percentage points, approaching 7.33% in late October, which made many homeowners less willing to replace their existing low-rate mortgages with new ones. Meanwhile, home equity continued to increase. ICE reported that in the second quarter, mortgage holders held a record $18 trillion in home equity, of which $11.7 trillion was available equity.
Homeowners have already begun to take action. According to data from ICE, in the first quarter, second-lien loans accounted for 54% of the net value of all properties sold; among homeowners who took out primary mortgages between 2020 and 2022, 3.9 million of them subsequently added second-lien loans.
Truss Financial Group CEO and founder Jeff Miller stated: "Homeowners who are locked into low interest rates should not be forced to give up these rates in order to use their accumulated net worth. Second-lien loans can maintain the first-lien mortgage unchanged; for self-employed borrowers and investors, a suitable approach also means qualifying based on their actual income, rather than just what is shown on their tax returns."
Truss Financial Group indicates that its second-tier loan scheme is designed around the income patterns of such borrowers. HELOC is aimed at self-employed entrepreneurs who do not need to submit tax returns; DSCR HELOC allows investors to withdraw the net value of rental properties based on the property's cash flow rather than personal tax returns; the bank transaction record scheme, on the other hand, enables business owners to use their deposit records as the basis for qualification determination, rather than tax returns.
For borrowers whose income situations do not conform to traditional guidelines, the question is increasingly becoming: how to withdraw the net value of the property while retaining the existing mortgage. Homeowners can check whether a second-lien HELOC is suitable for their own circumstances.
About Truss Financial Group
Truss Financial Group was established in 2006 and is headquartered in Lake Forest, California. It is a mortgage lending institution that specializes in providing innovative financing solutions for self-employed individuals, business owners, and real estate investors. Truss indicates that the company is gradually reducing its highly homogenized institutional loan business and is instead leveraging its extensive industry experience to offer alternative loan products, bridge loans, and specialized net worth extraction solutions for borrowers with complex income structures. Truss Financial Group is a licensed institution; regulatory details and licensing information for each state can be found at https :// trussfinancialgroup.com / state-licensing.
Contact persons: Jason Nichols, CMO, Partner, Truss Financial Group; Email: [email protected]; Phone: 888-878-7715
