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December 4, 2008 10:19:25 AM CST


home equity loans

home equity loans news stories

6 Stories

Bank Ads Helped Spin
2nd Mortgages

Home equity loans, once desperate moves, now total $1 trillion

(Newser) - Until recently, borrowing against one's home was considered a desperate measure, but now it's commonplace. Since the 1980s, outstanding home-equity loans—once called second mortgages—have exploded a thousandfold to more than $1 trillion. The New York Times looks at how banks waged a concerted advertising campaign to transform Americans' attitude toward debt, enriching themselves while leading homeowners to financial ruin. More »

More about:  advertising debt mortgage debt lending practices home equity home equity loans

Morgan Stanley Cuts Off Home Equity Lines

Thousands whose homes' value has fallen see credit frozen

(Newser) - Morgan Stanley has told thousands of its home-equity credit clients they can no longer draw on the lines, Bloomberg reports. Most had property values that had fallen, and were frozen to cut back on risk, a source said. A Morgan Stanley spokesman confirmed that “a segment of clients” had been notified of changes, but said it wasn’t out of the ordinary. More »

More about:  credit market Morgan Stanley home equity home equity loans

 Banks Play
 Hide-and-Seek
 With Bum Loans 

Changing definition, moving mortgages to subsidiaries among tactics

(Newser) - Banks are increasingly finding creative ways to lessen the impact of shaky loans on their bottom lines, shifting them to subsidiaries or changing their definition of non-performing, the Wall Street Journal reports—a legal, if not exactly confidence-inducing, strategy. "Spending all the time gaming the system rather than addressing the problems doesn't reflect well on the institutions," one analyst said. More »

More about:  credit crisis mortgage defaults bank regulation real estate values home equity loans

ANALYSIS

Creditors Fed Off Equity Boom, Creating 'Double Bubble'

US charged against home value now gone

(Newser) - As home values boomed, banks raised credit limits and extended offers for new cards, urging consumers to pay off the debt by drawing on their equity, USA Today reports. Many of those borrowers now face high interest rates on homes tapped of equity and hemorrhaging value—and the boom in foreclosures has been accompanied by a 6-year high in credit-card delinquencies. More »

More about:  foreclosure bank credit card default home equity home equity loans

Americans Falling Behind on Credit Cards

Amount overdue on
US accounts surged
26% in October

(Newser) - It’s already looking like an iffy New Year for many credit-card holders: the number of Americans falling behind on their payments spiked sharply this year and analysts don’t expect 2008 to be much brighter. The value of credit card accounts at least 30 days late surged 26% in October to $17.3 million, the AP found. Defaults—when lenders give up and write off the debt—jumped 18% to almost $961million. More »

(Newser) - The American housing crisis is echoing in Europe, where home prices are dropping after a decade of rapid growth. The damage is limited, however, by intercontinental differences. High interest rates and shaken confidence are catching up to prices in France, Ireland, and particularly Spain, where new home construction had spurred major growth but permits are now plummeting, the Journal reports. More »

More about:  France Germany housing crisis Europe Spain mortgage Ireland home equity loans

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