Teaching users how to acess their equity
Overview
This project focused on simplifying the home equity experience by helping homeowners learn about equity, compare borrowing options, understand the process, and confidently explore the best path for their financial goals.
Role
Lead Product Designer
Team
Product, SEO, Legal, Engineering
Timeline
6 week
Opportunity
User research showed that homeowners viewed home equity as a separate journey from refinancing, while rising mortgage rates increased demand for ways to access cash without replacing existing low-interest loans. This created an opportunity to design a dedicated home equity experience focused on education, comparison, and confidence-building.
Challenage
Even though interest in home equity was growing, research still found that 54% of homeowners were hesitant to tap into their equity because the process felt complex and unfamiliar. The experience needed to simplify borrowing options, reduce uncertainty, and help users feel confident before applying.
Reframing the experience
To better support exploratory users, we restructured the experience into a dedicated home equity hub focused on education, comparison, and process transparency. Key entry points across the site were redesigned to better surface and connect the new experience throughout the broader ecosystem.
Simplifying product comparison
One of the biggest challenges was helping users understand the differences between home equity products. Early comparison experiences relied on financial jargon and abstract labels, making it difficult for users to understand which option fit their goals. To improve clarity, the redesigned experience introduced plain-language explanations, real-world examples, and simpler mental models.
Designing a guided process flow
The process experience was designed to reduce uncertainty around applying for home equity products. User testing showed that homeowners were often unclear about timelines, required documents, and what to expect before funding. To address this, I designed a guided process experience with clearer timelines, transparency, and step-by-step guidance. An early A/B test also showed a 2% lift in engagement when users were given an “Explore the process” entry point.
Iterating through user testing
Usability testing became a major driver of iteration throughout the project. Research consistently showed that users struggled with abstract financial language, needed more real-world examples, and wanted to understand products before being asked to choose between them. These insights directly shaped the comparison system, timeline interactions, terminology, and responsive layouts, shifting the experience from product-focused to guidance-driven.
Outcome
The final experience combined education, comparison, and process transparency into a connected system designed to help users confidently explore home equity options before applying.
