Mortgage lender · Raleigh, NC · LEI 549300SHE1JTCOWBP090

State Employees' review: approval odds, rates and grade (2025)

State Employees' earns a C, in line with the typical performance of home-equity (HELOC) lenders. It turned down 30.2% of the applications it decided on in 2025, which ranks in the 34th percentile for approval odds. Its median loan was priced 0.69 points below the average prime offer rate, ranking in the 81st percentile on pricing. Compared against 412 home-equity (HELOC) lenders using 2025 HMDA filings.

49kApplications2025
57.5%Originatedof applications
30.2%Decision denial ratenational 22.6%
6.25%Median ratenational 6.63%
$5.5BLoan volume14 states

State Employees' at a glance, 2025

Every figure is from the lender's own HMDA filing. "vs national" compares with all lenders combined.

25.2%Denial rate (all applications)+7.20 pts vs national
30.2%Denial rate (decided applications)+7.56 pts vs national
57.5%Origination rate-0.49 pts vs national
11.3%Withdrawn by applicant
5.1%Closed for incompleteness
6.25%Median interest rate-0.38 pts vs national
-0.69Median rate spread (pts over APOR)-0.94 pts vs national
$125,000Median loan amount
$4,432Median total loan costs
$93kMedian applicant income
73%Median loan-to-value
0High-cost (HOEPA) loans

How the C grade breaks down

Each component is a percentile rank among 412 home-equity (HELOC) lenders. Higher is better. Components the lender does not report are left out and the weights redistributed.

Approval oddsdecision denial rate, weight 45%

34th30.2% denied

Pricingmedian rate spread over APOR, weight 30%

81st-0.69 pts

Processwithdrawn + incomplete share, weight 15%

30th16.5%

Closing coststotal loan costs ÷ loan amount, weight 10%

40th3.55% of loan

Trend, 2023–2025

YearApplicationsOriginatedDenial rateDecision denialMedian rateVolume
202353,21933,94319.8%23.4%5.65%$5.4B
202446,50728,06523.7%27.9%7.25%$4.7B
202549,35428,39725.2%30.2%6.25%$5.5B

What State Employees' lends

Applications by purpose and loan type in 2025, with the denial rate for each. A lender's mix explains a lot of its headline rate: HELOCs and FHA loans are denied far more often than conventional purchase loans.

By loan purpose

Home purchase 15,503 31% · 13.6% denied
Refinance 8,129 16% · 26.1% denied
Cash-out refinance 5,601 11% · 31.1% denied
Home improvement 12,216 25% · 31.5% denied
Other / HELOC 7,905 16% · 33.0% denied

By loan type

Conventional 49,354 100% · 25.2% denied

Also: 26,168 home-equity lines, 0 reverse mortgages, 1,945 manufactured homes, 3,389 investment properties.

Why State Employees' denies applications

Primary reason reported for each of the 12,426 denials in 2025. Lenders can cite up to four reasons; this is the first one listed.

Debt-to-income ratio 7,241 58%
Credit history 3,628 29%
Collateral 1,078 9%
Other 272 2%
Employment history 87 1%
Insufficient cash 65 1%
Unverifiable information 54 0%
Incomplete application 1 0%

How these reasons compare nationally →

Who gets approved at State Employees'

Decision denial rate by applicant profile. Groups with fewer than 20 applications are omitted.

Applicant incomeApplicationsOriginatedDecision denial rate
Under $50k7,2072,54756.9%
$50k – $100k19,16210,46833.3%
$100k – $150k11,6457,63120.9%
$150k – $250k7,7365,42915.1%
Over $250k2,8501,95915.1%
Applicant ageApplicationsOriginatedDecision denial rate
Under 251,33985923.6%
25–348,0755,03324.9%
35–4410,5966,03732.0%
45–5411,5786,62231.7%
55–649,7745,45731.6%
65–745,6523,13829.8%
Over 742,3401,25130.9%

Where State Employees' lends

14 states and 308 counties in 2025. Click a state for the lender's full record there.

StateApplicationsOriginatedDenial rateMedian rateRank in state
North Carolina47,89327,57525.2%6.25%#1
South Carolina85949324.6%6.15%#66
Virginia31917823.2%6.15%#155
Georgia1608726.3%6.15%#273
Tennessee1126417.9%5.83%#300

Frequently asked questions

State Employees' denied 30.2% of the applications it decided on in 2025. The national figure across all lenders was 22.6%. On approval odds it ranks in the 34th percentile of home-equity (HELOC) lenders.

The most common reason State Employees' gave in 2025 was "debt-to-income ratio", cited on 58.3% of its denials. Lenders report up to four reasons per denial to the CFPB; the full breakdown is on this page.

The median interest rate on loans State Employees' originated in 2025 was 6.25%, and its median rate spread over the average prime offer rate was -0.69 points. Rates on this page are what borrowers actually got, not advertised rates.

In 2025, 31% of its applications were for home purchases, 28% for refinancing (including cash-out), and 41% for home improvement or other purposes. By loan type: 100% conventional, 0% FHA, 0% VA.

Every figure on this page comes from the Home Mortgage Disclosure Act (HMDA) Loan/Application Register published by the CFPB, which lenders are required by federal law to file. We add the grade and the comparisons; we do not add facts.

About this data. HMDA data is published once a year by the CFPB. The current release covers applications acted on in calendar year 2025. Figures describe applications the lender acted on, including loans it later sold. Interest rates and costs are medians on originated loans only; some depository institutions are exempt from reporting pricing fields, which is why a few cells read "—". MortgageGrades is not affiliated with State Employees'. Data sources · Methodology