Christian Science Monitor has this story: Has the credit crunch hit your home equity line?

A snippet:

Many homeowners may receive bad news this summer, either through a letter from their lender freezing or reducing their HELOC, or when they try to tap their home equity and are denied. Some lenders are substantially reducing their exposure to such credit due to rising defaults, falling home prices, and declining home equity. Moody’s Economy.com reported that HELOC delinquencies were up 47 percent in the last year.

These credit lines were aggressively marketed by banks and other financial institutions over the past several years when home prices were rising rapidly. HELOCs were often offered at a teaser rate with no credit underwriting, assuming that houses (the collateral) would continue to rise in value.

Now, while a home equity line of credit has been a popular way to pay for college expenses or home improvements … keep in mind what the property values are in your neighborhood right now. If the property values are down, so is the available equity in your home. You can’t access money that doesn’t exist - no matter the reason.

If you are a print subscriber to The Monroe Evening News, this article is on page 16 of the Thrive - Boomers and Beyond magazine section in today’s newspaper.