PACE Questions

We’ve made Ygrene financing as simple as it can be — but when it comes to a financial commitment, it makes sense to ask all the right questions. We’ve provided answers to the ones customers ask most below. If you don’t find what you’re looking for here, please contact us directly.

Want to find out if your home is eligible for Ygrene PACE financing? You can easily find out if you qualify in a few seconds.

Ygrene financing provides 100% no money down financing to help property owners make energy efficiency, renewable energy, water conservation, and storm protection improvements to residential, multifamily, commercial and agricultural buildings. Ygrene is a provider of Property Assessed Clean Energy (PACE) financing. (See below for more specific details on PACE.)

Eligibility for Ygrene is based primarily on home equity, among other factors. No minimum credit score is required for approval — but your credit will only be pulled to verify certain underwriting criteria. The credit pull is a soft credit pull and will not negatively affect your credit score. Payments can be spread out up to 20 years for residential properties and 30 years for commercial properties (depending on the useful life of the improvement) with no payments for up to 17 months*, subject to date of funding. Interest will accrue after funding.

Depending on where you live, PACE financing can be used for improvements on commercial, residential, nonprofit, light industrial and agricultural properties. PACE helps communities at all levels by creating green jobs and helping local governments achieve important environmental goals.

Ygrene's PACE program delivers greater choice for home and business owners by providing accessible and affordable financing for energy efficiency, resiliency, renewable energy, water conservation, wind resistance, storm protection, wastewater treatment, flood and water damage mitigation and sustainable building improvements. (Qualifying upgrades vary by state. Explore qualifying projects by state here.)

PACE is different from many other financing options because the financing is an assessment on the property, which is why eligibility is based primarily on property equity and what you can afford based on your income, instead of your credit score. The financing uses the property as collateral and a first priority lien will be placed on the property ahead of other liens including mortgages. The financing is repaid over the financing term and paid with your property taxes.

To date, PACE has been successfully used by over 220,000 residential and commercial property owners to improve their property's energy efficiency, lower utility bills^^, protect from hurricanes, and reduce their carbon footprint. By providing over $1 billion of private capital to more than 550 local communities, Ygrene has created thousands of jobs and invested millions into local economies across the U.S. Learn more at ygrene.com. Learn more about how PACE works here.

Ygrene can be used to pay for hundreds of energy efficiency and renewable energy upgrades for both home improvement and commercial projects. In certain states, storm protection improvements, electric vehicle charging stations, water conservation projects, and seawall installation are also eligible. You can find out which projects are available in your area here.

Some common improvements that Ygrene can be used for include solar, energy-efficient heating and cooling (HVAC) systems, windows, doors, roofing, insulation, ducts, pool pumps, water heaters, drought-tolerant landscaping, and water-conserving indoor plumbing repairs. Here is the full list of projects that Ygrene can finance, by state.

It’s simple. First, check your eligibility. If your property is in one of our service areas, you can apply online and get a decision in 30 minutes or less. Eligibility is primarily based on property equity, among other factors and no minimum credit score required. Applying for PACE financing with Ygrene will have no effect on your credit score.​

Approval criteria varies by state but are primarily based on the existing equity in your property according to terms set forth in the financing agreement.

Specific criteria required for approval include:

• Property taxes paid current for at least the past 3 years
• Mortgage payments must be current
• All owners on property title are on the application
• No reverse mortgage
• No mobile homes
• A minimum of 10% equity in your property
• No involuntary liens on the property
• No current or previous bankruptcy in the past 5 years unless it was discharged, or dismissed in last 2 years
• PACE estimated payment cannot exceed 10% of property owners annual household income
• Mortgage lender consent is only required on commercial PACE only

For a full list of underwriting requirements in your state, call us at 866-634-1358.

No minimum credit score is required to qualify. A soft credit pull is still necessary to check for bankruptcies and mortgage history, but your actual credit rating will not affect the final approval decision. A soft credit pull will not affect your credit score. ​

Part of our underwriting criteria requires that we check for bankruptcies and mortgage payment history, which are most easily accessible through your credit report. Ygrene completes a soft credit pull that will not affect your credit score.

A soft pull typically occurs when a person or company checks your credit report as part of a background check. A soft pull may be recorded in your credit report, depending on the credit bureau, but does not affect your credit score. Ygrene completes a soft credit pull when you complete a PACE financing application. ​

No, PACE is not a loan. Although you may have heard of PACE referred to this way, the term “PACE loan” is actually a misnomer. Unlike loans or revolving lines of credit, PACE is a property assessment. This means that the financing is affixed to your property with a first priority lien ahead of other liens, including mortgages, instead of your personal credit history. It’s also why approval for PACE is primarily based on the equity in your property, which is used as collateral for the financing, as well as your debt payment history **. (Property eligibility for PACE financing varies by state, so requirements may vary.) Repayment is completed through your property tax bill, usually on an annual basis, over the lifetime of your financing agreement.

Your PACE financing will be added as an assessment which will show up as a new line item on your property tax bill. This new tax payment will remain on your bill for the length of the term you selected when you completed your financing agreement. Simply pay your property tax bill in the same way you have previously—either when the bill arrives or via your impound/escrow account.

Payments are due on the same schedule and deadlines as your current property taxes. This applies whether you pay the tax bill directly or monthly through an impound or escrow account. Contact Ygrene Customer Care for more details.

There is no prepayment penalty for paying off your financing early.

Is PACE a discount program or government subsidy? Does it include a discounted rate or free services?

No, PACE financing is not a government discount, subsidy, or incentive program. Though PACE offers affordable interest rates, it does not offer discounts or free services. PACE is a type of financing used to pay for the cost of the property improvements.

More specifically, PACE is a specialized financing program; before it can be offered to commercial and residential property owners in a specific service area, it must first be adopted by the state government and then enabled at the municipal level. Once PACE is available in a particular area, private companies are able to offer PACE financing products such as Ygrene. The upgrades are then completed by an independent contractor who provides PACE as a financing option to their customers.

The cost of your home improvement project is determined by your independent contractor, based on what their company charges for such services. PACE offers an avenue for homeowners to pay for those upgrades through affordable financing. The property owner voluntarily chooses to enter into a financing agreement, and is solely responsible for complete repayment, according to the financing terms.

Yes. When you accept Ygrene financing, you agree to make the PACE repayments as a part of your property taxes. Ygrene PACE financing is then repaid with your annual property taxes and secured by a continuing lien on the property, which is used as collateral for the financing. The lien is a first priority lien which takes priority over existing liens on the property such as mortgage liens. The lien is only in effect for the term of your financing, and will not remain on your property once the financing is repaid and the county has removed the lien from the property. Ygrene has no control over the amount of time a county's removal of the lien takes and the process may delay a refinance or sale of the property.

As the property owner, you will very likely have to pay off the PACE financing in the event of a sale or refinance. Keep in mind that PACE is a “first priority lien”, which means that it could be prioritized over a mortgage loan if you were to default on payments. While property taxes are legally transferable, most mortgage lenders require full repayment (payoff) of your remaining PACE tax assessment as a condition of a refinance or sale. Ygrene has also given residential property owners the ability to re-pay down their PACE assessment with no penalty. Although they will still incur the interest associated with the financing, homeowners can remove the PACE assessment through prepayment and sell their home.

Before obtaining PACE financing through Ygrene, you should consider the likelihood and timing of a possible sale or refinance (as well as the costs to prepay the tax obligation). To determine if PACE is right for you and you are looking to sell or refinance, speak with your lender.