No, a home equity loan lets you tap into your home’s equity to borrow a lump sum that’s often used to pay for home improvements. But they can also be used for other things, and common uses include covering education or medical costs. These are a specific type of loan; a financial product that’s been designed to allow homeowners to borrow against the equity that they have built up in their homes. A home improvement loan, on the other hand, can refer to anything. It could be any type of loan that is advertised to homeowners who want to borrow to finance a remodeling project, so it’s really important that you do your research to understand what that ‘home improvement loan’ that you’ve been offered really is. What many don't realize is that these are often just high-interest personal loans that are marketed under the name of ‘home improvement loans,’ rather than being a specialist financial product. Other times, the term ‘home improvement loan’ is used to refer to what’s known as a home renovation loan, a loan that lets you borrow based on your home’s after renovation value.