Point vs. Unison: 2026 HEI Comparison & Review
The Scout Executive Summary
- Choose Point if your credit is under 620, if you need a bigger check, or if the property is a rental or second home. It funds down to a 500 score with no income verification, invests up to $600,000, and covers properties Unison generally will not.
- Choose Unison if your home is likely to grow slowly. It measures its share from a starting value only 5% below your appraisal instead of roughly 27% below, which makes it the cheaper of the two in a flat or soft market.
- What settles it is your credit and your expected appreciation. Qualify at both if you can, then pick based on how fast you think your home will grow, because that single variable flips which one costs less.
In this Article
- Point vs Unison at a Glance
- How Do Point and Unison Work?
- Which One Costs More After 10 Years?
- Which One Lets You Access More of Your Equity?
- Which Is Easier to Qualify For?
- How Do They Handle Home Improvements?
- Where Can You Get Each One?
- What Should You Know About Unison’s Lawsuits?
- Point vs Unison: Which Is the Better Fit for You?
- Frequently Asked Questions
Point and Unison both sell the same basic deal. A Home Equity Investment gives you cash today in exchange for a share of your home’s future value, with no monthly payment and no interest. But these two are further apart than most HEI pairs. They want different customers, they measure your home differently, and the gap between them can run tens of thousands of dollars on the same house.
This guide puts those differences side by side so you can see which one fits your credit, your property, and your market. Every number here can change, so confirm current terms with each company before you sign. If you are still narrowing the field, start with our roundup of the top HEI companies.
Curious what you’d qualify for? Point’s pre-qualification takes about 60 seconds with no impact on your credit. See your Point estimate.
Point vs Unison at a Glance
Point takes weaker credit and more property types. Unison takes a smaller bite out of your starting value. The table below sums up how they line up. Terms are current as of August 2026; confirm directly.
| Feature | Point | Unison |
|---|---|---|
| Product type | Home equity investment | Equity sharing agreement |
| Cash you can access | Up to $600,000 (up to 20% of home value) | $30,000 to $500,000 (up to 15% of home value) |
| Minimum credit score | 500 | About 620 |
| Income check | None | Required, and DTI is reviewed |
| Starting value discount | About 27% below your appraisal | 5% below your appraisal |
| Share it takes | Share of appreciation above the discounted starting value | Investor Percentage of the change in value, commonly 2 to 6 times the percentage invested |
| Cost ceiling | Homeowner Protection Cap, a maximum that grows at a fixed annual rate | Equity Appreciation Limit, but only during the early restriction period |
| Shares a loss if your home drops | Yes, once value falls below the starting value | Yes, but not in the first five years and not if you buy out |
| Up-front fee | Processing fee up to 3.9% (minimum $2,000) | Transaction fee 3.9% (no published minimum) |
| Max combined loan-to-value | About 73% | About 70%, and it drops as your credit drops |
| Term length | Up to 30 years | Up to 30 years |
| Eligible properties | Single-family, condo, townhome, 1 to 4 units; second homes and rentals allowed | Owner-occupied single-family, condo, townhome; rentals generally excluded |
| States available | About 27 plus D.C. | 23 plus D.C. |
| Founded | 2015 | 2004 |
Terms current as of August 2026; confirm directly.
Point vs Unison HEI Provider Snapshots
Wider access, deeper discount.
How it works: Cash now for a share of your home’s appreciation, measured up from a risk-adjusted starting value about 27% below your appraisal. No monthly payments, no income check.
Strengths
Accepts credit down to 500 with no income verification; funds rentals, second homes, and 1 to 4 unit properties
Largest maximum investment in the pair, and a cost cap that runs the full 30-year term
Tradeoffs
The 27% starting discount means you can owe a large amount even if your home barely grows
A $2,000 fee minimum makes small investments less efficient
Small discount, large share.
How it works: Cash now for an Investor Percentage of your home’s change in value, measured from an Original Agreed Value only 5% below your appraisal. No monthly payments.
Strengths
The smallest starting-value discount in the category at 5%
Longest track record of any major provider, and it shares real losses after year five
Tradeoffs
Needs about a 620 score plus income verification, and your borrowing limit shrinks as your credit falls
Owner-occupied homes only, and it faces active 2026 litigation over how the product is marketed
See if Point fits your situation. Prequalify in about 60 seconds with no credit impact. Check your Point estimate.
How Do Point and Unison Work?
Both companies pay you a lump sum now and collect a share of your home’s value later, but they build that share in opposite ways, and the difference is the whole story of this comparison.
Every HEI provider starts by writing down your home’s value. That becomes the line they measure growth from, so the bigger the write-down, the more you owe later. Point applies what it calls a risk adjustment, typically around 27% based on its own published examples, so a $500,000 home is treated as if it started at $365,000. Unison applies a 5% Risk Adjustment, so the same $500,000 home starts at $475,000. That is a $110,000 difference in where the meter starts.
Unison balances that by taking a much larger percentage of the change. Its Investor Percentage commonly runs two to six times the percentage it invested, so a 10% investment often carries a 40% share. Point’s share of appreciation on a comparable deal works out closer to 28%. Neither number is published in advance. Both are set during underwriting and appear in your offer. Both companies also record a lien on your home, which can make refinancing harder while the agreement is open.
So one company starts the clock far below your home’s worth and takes a smaller slice. The other starts near your home’s worth and takes a bigger slice. Which structure is cheaper depends entirely on how much your home actually grows.
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- Qualify in minutes. No credit impact.
- Close in as little as 3 weeks1
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- Credit scores starting at ~500+
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- Keep your low-rate mortgage
- Access up to $500,000
1 “Close in as little as 3 weeks” reflects the average timeline under standard conditions. Actual timelines vary based on documentation, title, property location, and local recording or notarization requirements. Timing is not guaranteed.
Which One Costs More After 10 Years, Point or Unison?
Neither one is cheaper across the board. Point costs less in a fast-appreciating market and Unison costs less in a slow one, and the crossover sits at roughly 4% annual growth.
Get a preliminary funding estimate with a brief digital check.
That is an unusual thing to be able to say, because HEI providers do not publish their shares. We can say it here because both companies have published enough of their own math to model it. Point’s website shows a five-year example on a $500,000 home that works out to a 28% share of appreciation above a $365,000 starting value. Unison’s own “Unison vs Point” comparison page assumes a 40% Investor Percentage for itself and 28% for Point on the same size deal. Those two independent sources agree on Point’s share, so we used them.
The scenario: a $500,000 home, $50,000 in cash, settled at year 10. Point measured from $365,000 with a 28% share. Unison measured from $475,000 with a 40% Investor Percentage. Illustration only. Your offer will differ.
| If your home does this | Home value at year 10 | You owe Point | You owe Unison | Cheaper |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Falls 15% | $425,000 | $66,800 | $30,000 | Unison by $36,800 |
| No growth at all | $500,000 | $87,800 | $60,000 | Unison by $27,800 |
| Grows 3% a year | $671,958 | $135,948 | $128,783 | Unison by $7,165 |
| Grows 5% a year | $814,447 | $175,845 | $185,779 | Point by $9,934 |
| Grows 7% a year | $983,576 | $223,201 | $253,430 | Point by $30,229 |
Read the top row twice, because it is the one nobody writes about. If your home loses 15% of its value, you would still owe Point $66,800 on the $50,000 you received. That is not a penalty or a trick. It happens because your home would have to fall more than 27% before it drops below Point’s starting value, so on paper the home still “appreciated” from $365,000 to $425,000. Unison, measuring from $475,000, would take a real loss with you.
Point’s answer to this is that the discount is what pays for the rest of the product. It is how the company can fund a 500 credit score with no income check, charge no prepayment penalty, and cap your total cost for 30 years. That is a fair trade, and for a borrower who cannot qualify anywhere else it may be the only trade available. It is still the single most expensive feature in a flat market, and you should know that before you sign rather than after.
Scout’s Tip: Ask each company for your exact share in writing before you compare anything else. Point’s share of appreciation and Unison’s Investor Percentage are the two numbers that decide your cost, and neither appears on a website. An offer without that percentage in it is not an offer you can evaluate.
Unison vs Point in a fast market
Flip the appreciation and the advantage flips with it. Above roughly 3.9% annual growth over ten years, Unison’s 40% share of a larger gain overtakes Point’s 28% share of a bigger baseline gap. At 7% a year the difference reaches about $30,000 in Point’s favor. Phoenix-area homeowners should think carefully about which side of 4% they expect to land on, and should model both.
The caveat that matters more than any row above: those share percentages are illustrative, not quotes. Your real Investor Percentage or share of appreciation is set during underwriting based on your credit, your equity, and your property. Get a written estimate from each company, run both calculators with the same home value, the same cash amount, and the same time frame, and model it at 0%, 3%, and 5% so you see the range instead of a single number.
Which One Lets You Access More of Your Equity?
Point lets you tap more, on two separate counts. It invests up to 20% of your home’s value against Unison’s 15%, and its maximum check is $600,000 against Unison’s $500,000. Point also allows a combined loan-to-value around 73%, while Unison caps at roughly 70% for its strongest applicants and lowers that ceiling as credit scores drop.
See what Point would offer on your home. No credit impact. Check your Point estimate.
Unison also sets a minimum. Its investments start at $30,000, so a homeowner who only needs $20,000 is not a fit. Point has no comparable published floor, though its $2,000 fee minimum means small investments carry a higher effective cost.
Point vs Unison: Which Is Easier to Qualify For?
Point is easier, and it is not close. This is the biggest practical difference between the two and it rules out a large group of homeowners before any cost comparison matters. Point’s 500 floor is the lowest among major HEI providers, while Unison sits at the top of the range for HEI credit score requirements.
See if an HEI is right for your situation and check your estimate today.
For a self-employed owner, a recent retiree, or anyone whose income is real but hard to document, that income verification line is often the whole decision. Point does not look at income at all. Unison verifies it and reviews your debt-to-income ratio, and it tightens your allowable loan-to-value as your credit score falls, so a 630 score does not get the same offer as a 760.
How Do Point and Unison Handle Home Improvements?
Both Point and Unison give you credit for renovations so they do not take a share of value you created, but the process differs and the timing catches people out. Unison requires you to wait three years before submitting documentation for eligible improvements. If approved, the value those renovations created is carved out of Unison’s share. Point recognizes eligible improvements and adjusts the ending value the same way.
See if an HEI is right for you and check your estimate with no credit impact.
The practical advice is identical for both: keep every receipt, permit, and before-and-after photo from day one, and confirm in writing which categories qualify before you start the work. A kitchen remodel you cannot document is a kitchen remodel you share.
Where Can You Get Each One?
Point reaches more states, but the two footprints do not simply nest inside each other, so check both. Point’s HEI is available in about 27 states plus Washington, D.C. Unison lists 23 states plus D.C. on its own site.
Nine states have Point but not Unison, including Colorado, Georgia, Illinois, Maryland, North Carolina, Pennsylvania, and Washington. Five have Unison but not Point: Delaware, Kansas, Nebraska, New Mexico, and Rhode Island. Both serve Arizona, so Valley homeowners get a real choice between them.
One note on Washington state. Unison does not currently list Washington, which is the state where a federal appeals panel examined its product most closely. See the next section.
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Best Overall
- Qualify in minutes. No credit impact.
- Close in as little as 3 weeks1
- Access up to $600,000
- Flexible credit terms
- Credit scores starting at ~500+
- Access up to $600,000
- MaturityMatch™ term alignment
- Keep your low-rate mortgage
- Access up to $500,000
1 “Close in as little as 3 weeks” reflects the average timeline under standard conditions. Actual timelines vary based on documentation, title, property location, and local recording or notarization requirements. Timing is not guaranteed.
What Should You Know About Unison’s Lawsuits?
Unison faces active 2026 litigation over how its agreements are marketed and regulated. Point does not have comparable known actions. Both statements deserve a fuller explanation than a table row can give.
In August 2025, a Ninth Circuit panel ruled in Olson v. Unison Agreement Corp. that the agreement in that case met Washington state’s statutory definition of a reverse mortgage rather than a real estate option contract, and that the homeowners had stated valid consumer protection claims. Unison settled with the Olsons that October, and the panel vacated its own judgment while leaving the opinion able to serve as precedent in future cases. Separately, a class action filed in April 2026 in Colorado alleges the agreements are deceptively marketed as a debt-free alternative to loans, and a consumer advocacy organization has brought its own suit on similar grounds. The allegations are unproven, the cases are unresolved, and Unison disputes the claims.
Two things keep this in perspective. First, the legal questions are aimed at the HEI category, not only at Unison. The CFPB’s own market overview of home equity contracts flags discounted starting values and rate caps as structural features across the industry, and the Colorado complaint would affect every provider if it succeeds. Unison drew the first ruling partly because it has been in the market since 2004 and has the oldest contracts to litigate. Second, an absence of lawsuits is not a promise of safety for anyone. It is a fact about a company’s record so far.
Point vs Unison: Which Is the Better Fit for You?
There is no overall winner here, because these two companies are built for different homeowners. Here is who each one actually suits.
Curious what you’d qualify for? Pre-qualification takes minutes with no impact on your credit. See your estimate.
Do neither, yet, if you have not priced a HELOC or a home equity loan. Both of these products cost more than borrowing does in most appreciation scenarios. An HEI earns its place when you cannot qualify for a payment or cannot carry one, not because it is cheap.
Scout’s Tip: Not sure an HEI is the right path at all? Our Arizona home equity rates page tracks today’s HELOC and home equity loan pricing for local homeowners, so you can weigh a monthly-payment option before giving up a share of your home’s value.
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- Point vs Splitero comparison
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- Hometap vs Unison comparison
- HEI vs HELOC cost comparison
Point vs Unison Frequently Asked Questions
Point, clearly. Point funds credit scores down to 500 and does not verify income. Unison generally wants about a 620 score plus income documentation, and it reduces how much you can access as your credit falls. If your score is under 620, Point is your only option of the two.
It depends on how fast your home grows. Unison costs less in a flat or falling market because it measures its share from a starting value only 5% below your appraisal, while Point starts about 27% below. Above roughly 4% annual appreciation, Point’s smaller share overtakes Unison’s larger one. Model both at your own expected growth rate.
Point, yes. Unison, generally no. Point funds second homes, rentals, and 1 to 4 unit properties. Unison is designed for owner-occupied primary residences and expects you to live in the home at least 180 days a year, though it will occasionally look at a second home by request.
Both do, but the thresholds are very different. Unison shares losses measured from a value 5% below your appraisal, though not in the first five years and not if you buy out rather than sell. Point shares losses only once your home falls below its risk-adjusted starting value, which can be around 27% below your appraisal, so your home could lose value and you would still owe more than you received.
Yes. As of 2026 Unison faces a class action filed in Colorado and a suit from a consumer advocacy organization, both alleging its agreements are deceptively marketed, and a 2025 Ninth Circuit opinion found its product met Washington’s definition of a reverse mortgage. Unison settled that case and disputes the current claims, which remain unproven. Point has no comparable known actions.
Yes, both operate in Arizona, so Valley homeowners can compare real offers from each rather than being limited to one.
No. Neither charges interest or requires a monthly payment. With both, you settle once, in a lump sum, when you sell, refinance, or buy the investment out, with up to 30 years to do it.
Yes, but only if the provider approves a subordination agreement to keep their lien in second position. This requires a rate-and-term refinance with no cash pulled out and total combined debt remaining below 80% to 85% of your home’s value.
Yes, early buyouts carry high effective costs due to structural minimum returns and initial baseline haircuts. Point enforces annualized return caps (typically 18% to 20% per year), while Unison’s 5% initial risk adjustment creates an immediate equity gain you must pay back on Day 1.
Death opens a 6-to-12-month settlement window for the estate or heirs to satisfy the lien on title. Heirs are not forced to sell and can keep the home by buying out the provider’s share using estate funds or a new mortgage.
Point permits converting the home to a rental after an initial 12-month primary occupancy period. Unison strictly requires the home to remain your primary residence, and converting it to a rental without written approval can trigger a contract default.
No, the upfront cash lump sum is an equity investment transaction rather than earned income, making it non-taxable upon receipt. The final settlement payment will instead factor into your capital gains tax basis when you eventually sell the home or buy out the contract.
No, routine repairs and structural maintenance do not reduce your payoff obligation. Only major structural additions that increase total square footage or room count qualify for pre-approved renovation credits.
EquitySquirrel is an educational resource operated by Scout Media LLC, not a lender or HEI provider. This content does not constitute financial, legal, or investment advice. All settlement figures are illustrations based on published provider examples, not quotes. HEI terms vary by provider and are subject to change; confirm current terms directly. Consult a licensed financial professional before making decisions about your home equity. Aleksandra Kadzielawski, Lic #SA694336000.
