MAX YOUR HELOC!
My sources within the banking industry tell me that next week a number of large banks will start to freeze the Home Equity Lines of Credit on many of their borrowers. This means if you have any available credit/balance on your credit line it will be frozen and home owner will NOT be able to use it. I can confirm that USAA has already started this process in the state of Arizona.
Why would banks do this?
Lets say you have a line of credit for $100,000 on your home. At the time that you took out equity to 90% of the value of your home. Currently you only have $30,000 on the line of credit, but the ability to take out $70,000 more at any time. Now the bank that has your HELOC has looked at it's portfolio and sees that when they lent you the money your line was at 90% of the value , now due to declining markets they feel that this line of credit could be leveraged at 120% in some markets. Not only is there collateral worth less, but the return on that investment is dropping. Prime has declined 1% over the last year and will drop another .5% by the end of the month, so the rate of return on the banks investment into your property has dropped significantly. Basically declining values and a decrease in rate of return is forcing the banks to make a decision, FREEZE ALL HELOCS.
What I know?
USAA has started doing this, Countrywide, Wells Fargo, Bank of America, Citi Bank, Chase and a long list of others will follow. There are number of banks that have completely shut down their Home Equity division, so I guess this move should be expected.
As I am writing this my business partner and an employee left to go their bank to cash out their HELOC. This move by the banks make sense, so if you think you might need that line of credit you now need to transfer the money out of the HELOC and into your savings account today.
I will let you know when the official word is passed.
Troy Schuricht

7575 E Redfield Rd Suite 235
Scottsdale, AZ 85260
480-305-8905 - office
480-393-8801 - fax
http://www.communityfirstfinancial.com/
http://www.yourlendertroy.blogspot.com/
http://activerain.com/tschuricht