Liz Pulliam Weston: Thaw Out Your Frozen Credit

[MattH]

http://articles.moneycentral.msn.com/Banking/HomeFinancing/thaw-out-your-frozen-credit.aspx?page=1

[haulingthescoreup]

Good article! And finally, a list of tactics. I'm not sure that they work, as we've had members here try some, but at least it's something. And especially for HELOC's. I had never thought about that, just borrowing it all and sticking it somewhere, so they can't drop your CL.

Here's a hyperlink for the article:

Thaw out your frozen credit

Instead of targeting delinquent consumers as they have in the past, lenders are now taking action against huge groups of borrowers -- raising rates or lowering limits on credit card customers who pay on time but carry large balances, for example, or freezing home equity lines for every homeowner in certain troubled real-estate markets.

"Banks are counting on consumers just accepting this," said credit expert Ben Woolsey, the director of marketing and consumer research for CreditCards.com. "Just like the stock market is going down and costs are going up, they're hoping consumers will just swallow this as a fact of life."

[Anonymous]

Great article, Matt. Thanks for posting. 

I'm a big fan of Liz's column. She's known for always

giving very sound and level-headed advice to her readers.

And she's right about the combined loan to value (CLTV)

of 80% or better. Navy Fed sent me their latest HELOC offer

in the mail a couple of weeks ago. Their rates are as low as prime plus .50%

(now 3.75%) for max CLTV of 70%, and prime plus 1% (now 4.25%) for

max CLTV's of 80%. If you elect to go with a fixed rate home equity

loan, they'll let you borrow up to 90% CLTV, but the rate is much

higher (8.150%) . 

So like I said, she's right on the money. And thanks again for posting!

CanDo

"The right attitude is everything" 

Message Edited by CanDoAttitude on 12-20-2008 04:45 PM