Our payment program isn’t like cash or a loan. It’s better.
For years, if you wanted to pay for home improvements, you were limited to paying cash or going with a credit card or home equity loan.
We didn’t think that was good enough—and we wanted to offer built-in accountability—so we came up with a better option: the Sealed energy-savings guarantee.
Rather than having to pay for the work upfront, you decide how much you’d prefer to pay upfront, if anything. If you’d prefer to pay cash for your upgrades, that’s an option, too.
And if you don’t save energy? We take the financial hit. Simple as that.
In this article, we’ll explain more about our program and why working with us is better than a cash project or a traditional loan without accountability.
Paying for home improvements the old way
Before Sealed, you only had about five options to choose from to pay for big home energy and comfort improvements:
- Personal credit cards
- Personal lines of credit from your bank
- Home equity loans
- Home equity lines of credit
- Cash
Personal credit cards
A personal credit card offers immediate access to money.
But interest rates can be 20% or higher for new accounts (1). And the credit card company can’t fix it if the work goes sideways or doesn’t have the impact you hoped.
You spent the money, and now you have to repay the credit card company—whether the upgrades work or not.
Personal lines of credit from your bank
Another option is a personal line of credit from your bank.
Interest rates on these loans are typically lower than a credit card—about 10.7% on average if you have good credit (2). But if you have a lower credit score, watch out. Some rates go up to a whopping 32% interest! (3)
And don’t forget that some personal lines of credit require loan origination fees, which can fall between 1% and 8% of your total line of credit (4).
Similarly to a credit card, you won’t have any protections if the work is shoddy or incomplete.
Home equity loans
Many homeowners also consider home equity loans as a way to pay for home energy and comfort upgrades.
And average interest rates for home equity loans—about 7.7%—tend to be significantly lower than the average credit card interest rate (5).
Even if the interest rates tend to be lower for home equity loans, those aren’t your only financing costs. You need to cover closing costs, too. And again, some loans come with penalties if you pay them off early.
But ultimately (again), there is no accountability if your improvements don’t work or are done incorrectly. You took out the loan, chose a contractor to the best of your ability, and you’re responsible for paying it back—whether or not it was what your house really needed or if the work performs well.
Plus, some loans come with high closing costs and penalties if you pay them off early.
Home equity lines of credit
A home equity line of credit (HELOC) is another traditional route to financing a big home improvement project, and interest rates usually are fairly similar (but a little higher) than home equity loans, averaging about 7.9% in 2022 (6).
This type of financing also can come with closing costs or origination fees of about 2% to 5%, and annual fees that can get up to $100 or more (7, 8).
You could pay for penalties if you pay it off early (depending on the financial product you choose)…. and—once more, just as a reminder—there’s absolutely no accountability if the upgrades are done incorrectly.
And our depth of energy upgrade expertise comes in handy here, of course. With Sealed, you only get the upgrades your house needs to perform excellently. We don’t propose fluff projects that don’t truly make your house feel better or cut energy waste big time.
The real difference between our program and cash or loans is accountability.
Cash
Paying cash, of course, means no interest, closing costs, origination fees, or annual fees. (Hooray!)
Plus, with cash, there are no early payment penalties because you’ve already paid for everything. (Another bonus, of course.)
But not everyone has cash laying around to upgrade their home, and not everyone wants to drain their bank accounts, either… that’s why all these different financing options exist, after all.
And cash won’t do anything to help guarantee the quality of the work. Once the money’s gone, it’s gone—you won’t be able to access those funds for anything else that comes up.
If you didn’t correctly vet your contractor’s background and areas of expertise, you could be on the hook for a job done incorrectly that could cause issues in the long-run. (We take care of this part for you, too, if you choose to work with us. So you can rest easy.)
Cash won’t do anything to help guarantee the quality of the work. Once the money’s gone, it’s gone.
What makes the Sealed program different?
The big difference between getting upgrades through Sealed and cash or traditional loans is accountability.
We designed it that way on purpose.
Our eligible customers get an energy-savings guarantee.
If you choose to work with Sealed, we deliver results. If Sealed upgrades don’t perform, we’ll take the financial hit, not you.
We know it’s our job to make sure we deliver measurable results. And we believe your upgrades should inform powerfully—and as intended.
This accountability not only gives you peace of mind as a homeowner, but it’s also good for our customers and our communities.
Reducing energy waste, helping you have a healthy, comfortable home, and lowering the carbon footprint of your neighborhood is why we do what we do, after all!
We are environmentalists, so Sealed really fits our ideals.
Stuart B., Sealed customer
With Sealed, your monthly energy waste goes down while your overall comfort goes up.
Got questions? Still curious?
We work to keep things simple and transparent every step of the way.
If I don’t have to spend any extra money to get a huge improvement to my home, it’s just a no brainer at that point.
Scott. R, Sealed customer
A better way of paying for home improvement: The Sealed program is it!
Give us a call today at 917-382-3729.
We love saving homeowners energy—all while creating more comfortable, healthier homes.
And we’d love to help you too. See if your house qualifies to work with Sealed.