Metro 2 Account Type Code 89: Home-Equity Line of Credit

Specification

Code	89
Meaning	Home-Equity Line of Credit
Field	Account Type (Field 15)
Record	Base Segment
Length / position	2 chars · 84–85
Category	Lines of Credit
CRRG reference	CRRG Exhibits 1 & 2 (Account Type Codes)

Real-estate collateral plus a revolving structure. That combination is what distinguishes a HELOC from both a mortgage and an ordinary line of credit.
Reported as Portfolio Type C, not M. A HELOC behaves as a line of credit for reporting purposes even though the lien is on real estate.
Does NOT mean a closed-end home-equity loan. A one-time advance secured by the home and repaid on a fixed schedule is an installment obligation, not a line.
Does NOT mean a purchase-money mortgage. Account Type 26 and the government mortgage codes cover those, with Portfolio Type M.
The transition from draw period to repayment period changes the payment obligation substantially, and it is a frequent source of reporting drift when the scheduled payment is not updated.

1A bank reports a HELOC in its draw period with an interest-only minimum payment and a large unused line.
2A credit union reports a HELOC that has entered its repayment period and now amortizes the drawn balance.
3A lender reports a HELOC frozen to further draws after a decline in property value, with the outstanding balance still owed.
4A servicer reports a HELOC that was paid off at the sale of the home and the lien released.
5A lender reports a second-lien HELOC that charged off after the first-lien mortgage foreclosed.

Report the approved line as the Credit Limit and the drawn amount as the Current Balance. A HELOC with a zero Credit Limit is unusable for utilization.
Update the Scheduled Monthly Payment when the loan enters its repayment period. Continuing to report the interest-only draw payment understates the obligation.
Report a freeze on further draws through the Account Status and the reported limit rather than by closing an account that still has a balance and a lien.
Do not report a HELOC as Portfolio Type M just because the collateral is real estate.
Report the payoff at sale as paid and closed with a zero balance and a Date Closed.

A file can be structurally valid and still be wrong. These are the cross-field conditions Account Type Code 89 has to satisfy.

Portfolio Type must be C (Line of Credit), not M (Mortgage), even though the collateral is the consumer's residence.
Because Portfolio Type is C rather than M, the K3 Mortgage Information segment does not apply. Shipping a K3 segment with a Portfolio Type C HELOC is a segment-versus-portfolio contradiction.
Portfolio Type C expects a populated Credit Limit; Highest Credit records the peak drawn balance and is a different number.
Current Balance above Credit Limit should be rare and is worth investigating: it usually means the reported limit is stale after a line reduction.
Scheduled Monthly Payment must track the current phase of the loan, interest-only during the draw period and amortizing during the repayment period.
Date Closed is populated when the line is terminated and the lien released, not when the balance merely reaches zero during the draw period.
A joint HELOC ships the second borrower in a J1 segment where the address matches, or a J2 segment where it does not, with a joint ECOA code.