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NEWS ABOUT: home equity loans

Almost 40% of Second Mortgages Underwater

And it's proving a drag on the recovery

(Newser) - Homeowners who took out a second mortgage are twice as likely as those who didn’t to be underwater on their mortgages, with a whopping 38% owing more than their homes are worth, according to a CoreLogic report released today. They were also much deeper in the hole, with an... More »

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'... More »

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... More »

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... More »

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... More »

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... More »

Housing Ills Ripple Across Pond

(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... More »

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