Voting Question: how do i find a source that lists the best rates for a home equity loan without having to apply for the loan

THis friend has lost al his savings, maxed out home equity and credit cards too. We think he has charged his corporate card and unless he pays off the balance might loose his job. He has closed his trading accounts and his church is helping him too. A few of his friends and I want to help but want to do this:
1. Ensure this time he has really quit and
2. We are giving him a loan (no interest required) and that he will pay us back within a few years.

How do we proceed?

Resolved Question: Getting a loan from overseas....taxed or not?

This is a complicated situation but I am going to try to explain this as easy as I can. My in-laws are dutch. They live overseas and are loaning us 56k to pay the second mortgage of our house. The reason they are doing this is they want us to have more equity in our house than just 5% (we will have 20% after we accept their money). They cannot just "gift" us that amount of money overseas because their government will tax them so they actually have to charge us 3.5% interest (the lowest rate they can) for an interest only loan. I have several questions about this...1. If we transfer it, can we transfer the entire amount without getting taxed on it here (if a $56k amount hits our bank account in the US, I think they will alert the IRS..right?)? Should we transfer this in smaller amounts little by little.
2. We will be setting up an American account to pay the interest back to them monthly. We are currently paying 8.12% on our second mortgage....so we will save $200 a month with the loan

Voting Question: how do i find a source that lists the best rates for a home equity loan without having to apply for the loan

every web site is tied to a bank or lending service. i'm looking to shop for the best rates before applying or giving out personal info. any suggestions?

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