Better, the first New York-based fintech company to fund $110 billion in loan volume, has launched the Better Home Equity Card—built on Stripe Issuing and Treasury, part of Stripe’s embedded finance platform. The card lets homeowners immediately spend funds drawn from their Better Home Equity Line of Credit (HELOC). The funds are deposited into a Better-branded financial account, which is linked to a Better Mastercard. Purchases also earn cashback rewards.

US homeowners collectively hold $21.4 trillion in home equity, with more than 85 million homeowners sitting on a median of $276,000 in available capital. Despite that wealth, non-mortgage consumer debt has climbed to $857 billion nationwide, as many homeowners turn to high-interest credit cards to fund projects their home equity could otherwise cover.

“Homeowners are reaching for a credit card to pay for a kitchen renovation or backyard upgrade because the tools to access their equity haven’t evolved,” said Vishal Garg, CEO and founder of Better. “We've built the Better Home Equity Card to fix that.”

A new way to spend home equity

Unlike a traditional credit card, which draws from an unsecured revolving balance, the Better Home Equity Card is a prepaid debit card that gives homeowners easy access to funds drawn from their secured Better HELOCs. Approved funds are deposited into a dedicated, Stripe-powered financial account and made available immediately, eliminating disbursement delays and reducing the need to juggle multiple payment methods. Cardholders also earn 1% cashback on eligible purchases, a rewards feature that traditional HELOCs typically do not offer.

Better uses Stripe’s money management suite to power the card issuing, account management, and compliance infrastructure. This allows homeowners to easily pay contractors and purchase materials as work progresses. Eligible home improvement purchases are automatically organized into a live cost-basis tracker, Home Base, helping homeowners maintain records that may be useful for refinancing or a future sale.

Connecting financing and spending in one system

Using Issuing and Treasury, the Better Home Equity Card connects financing, spending, and record-keeping in a single integrated system. Rather than treating financing and spending as separate steps, homeowners can draw on their equity and use it easily through one card.

“Banks have known for years that homeowners were overpaying for credit cards when they had equity sitting right there,” Garg said. “This card gives them a smarter way to put that equity to work.”

With the launch of the Better Home Equity Card, Better continues to expand its digital home ownership platform, offering homeowners a more unified way to access and spend the capital they already have.

*Better Home Prepaid Debit Cards are issued by Cross River Bank, Member FDIC and Equal Housing Lender.

Better Mortgage Corporation partners with Stripe Payments Company for money transmission services and account services with funds held at Fifth Third Bank N.A., Member FDIC and Equal Housing Lender.