Housing Woes Lead to Frozen Credit Lines

Relying on your line of equity in your house for monetary reasons right now is a bad idea. Sure, it may seem like a rotten thing for Countrywide to do, but in the long run, they might be helping save some of these peoples homes in the long run.

I agree!

First people were mad because lenders allowed people more than they could afford, now people are mad because lenders won't let them borrow more than they can afford. Grow up folks. Live within your means. You don't need the HDTV, the Lexus, the daily cup of Starbucks, or the expensive bottle of wine. The old TV is fine, the 1975 Gremlin still runs good, Mrs. Olson was right, Folgers is good to the last drop, and pick up some two buck Chuck on the way home from work.

(((LOL))) The old TV is fine, the 1975 Gremlin still runs good, Mrs. Olson was right, Folgers is good to the last drop, and pick up some two buck Chuck on the way home from work

If the U.S. can grant debt relief to countries in over their head to us, they could certainly take a look at something similar for its own citizens. Sure, they didn't lend the money out in the latter case, but I'm sure they can step in.

Take the next zillion posts to slam that idea, folks, popping off about how people shouldn't be in over their heads and take responsibility for their finances - great notion, but not always feasible for everyone, you righteous, never-made-a-mistake-in-my-lif e types - but the government won't be laughing much longer when the majority of its citizens can't make capitalism work anymore.

Oh, and Gremlins never ran all that good.

I refinanced away from Countrywide and they bought my loan back. I don't like their tactics but business is business and they are just trying to protect themselves as any of us would do.
A friend had a Gremlin once, and one day the door fell off! I always liked the 1969 Javelin AMX.

Alice wrote:

First people were mad because lenders allowed people more than they could afford, now people are mad because lenders won't let them borrow more than they can afford. Grow up folks. Live within your means. You don't need the HDTV, the Lexus, the daily cup of Starbucks, or the expensive bottle of wine. The old TV is fine, the 1975 Gremlin still runs good, Mrs. Olson was right, Folgers is good to the last drop, and pick up some two buck Chuck on the way home from work.

Ah, HDTV is a necessity, or have you been living in the 70s these past 30-odd years. You're blaming the home buyers here, but there's much to blame on the government too. For example, they're forcing us to watch HDTV by February of next year. That means people will have to spend more monthly to watch TV in their own homes. It's an option for us now to pay extra for HD channels, and that's the way it should be.

That's just one example of how this country is being run. We're being told what to do and when to do it and it's costing us more each time. A lot of people could afford the house they bought but over the last several years everything has gone way up in price and there's no end in sight. The government thrives on people like you who have the mentality it's always our fault, not theirs.

Lenders are not going to give anyone a home equity line of credit when housing prices and equity values are still dropping. Many home owners have a little or no equity in their home at this point.

The subprime loan and home equity pyramid scheme is over.

If your home value goes up, the lenders let you increase your borrowing against the increased value.

If your home value goes down, the lenders rightfully decrease your borrowing limit.

You can't have it both ways.

The quote below is actually false.

Back to the forum's topic, I can't believe that this story is quoting someone saying they should use their home equity line of credit right away if they think they might need it in the next 3-6 months. A home equity loan or line of credit is not free money.
I'm 36 but I remember when a "home equity loan" was called a second mortgage. And that's exactly what it is.
Countrywide has every right to reduce the availability of home equity lines of credit.
With all the news about home foreclosures, dropping home prices and people who can't make their mortgage payments, it is highly irresponsible to encourage people to take out a second mortgage and thus be possibly "upside down" with negative equity in their home.

Raiderfan wrote:

<quoted text>
Ah, HDTV is a necessity, or have you been living in the 70s these past 30-odd years. You're blaming the home buyers here, but there's much to blame on the government too. For example, they're forcing us to watch HDTV by February of next year. That means people will have to spend more monthly to watch TV in their own homes. It's an option for us now to pay extra for HD channels, and that's the way it should be.

My husband and I have been married taxpayers for almost 35 years. We have great credit and have never been at risk for loosing our home due to financial difficulties. We called Countrywide in OCT. 2007 to either refinance our loans, get a rate interest freeze, have our rate decreased or obtain some sort of loan term extension or modification. Countrywide's customer rep. said they would assign a case manager to our loan account and get back to us in 15 days. After numerous phone calls trying to talk personally to the 'case manager', we have NEVER been able to speak to anyone in the workout department. We were told that any federal programs by the president or governor were unclear and that they were overwhelmed by the amount of customers calling. Duh! Ms. Waters, our case munipulator, has never phoned us, nor written a letter to even suggest that Countrywide is acting in a sincere, professional manner. We'll keep calling, but the attorney general of CA. needs to investigate Countrywide as did Florida, Illinois, and New York. What's the next program from the President going to be called?(1)Hope,(2)Lifeline ...
"CPR"???
Keep calling your representatives and your lenders. Good luck!

Talk about taking it up the $$.

Thanks Countrywide, give me another

No more paying extra to my HELOC! I'll just pay minimums and save the extra for a rental deposit in 2012 when I might foreclose.

having just gone through several months of "countrywide negotiators" not talking to us and being ignored. i recieved my "reset" loan papers. countrywide set my loan at 9.3% not the original 6.3% their reason was given as "Thats what the determined that i can afford" and if i did not like it i could go to another lender. someone should start a class avtion lawsuit aginst country wide for these kind of practices.

when i mentioned that this waas not what the cov of ca and the feds agreed to with countrywide i was told that they could do whatever they wanted as these aagreemants were not really clear

Loosing Hope wrote:

My husband and I have been married taxpayers for almost 35 years. We have great credit and have never been at risk for loosing our home due to financial difficulties. We called Countrywide in OCT. 2007 to either refinance our loans, get a rate interest freeze, have our rate decreased or obtain some sort of loan term extension or modification. Countrywide's customer rep. said they would assign a case manager to our loan account and get back to us in 15 days. After numerous phone calls trying to talk personally to the 'case manager', we have NEVER been able to speak to anyone in the workout department. We were told that any federal programs by the president or governor were unclear and that they were overwhelmed by the amount of customers calling. Duh! Ms. Waters, our case munipulator, has never phoned us, nor written a letter to even suggest that Countrywide is acting in a sincere, professional manner. We'll keep calling, but the attorney general of CA. needs to investigate Countrywide as did Florida, Illinois, and New York. What's the next program from the President going to be called?(1)Hope,(2)Lifeline ...
"CPR"???
Keep calling your representatives and your lenders. Good luck!

Alice wrote:

First people were mad because lenders allowed people more than they could afford, now people are mad because lenders won't let them borrow more than they can afford. Grow up folks. Live within your means. You don't need the HDTV, the Lexus, the daily cup of Starbucks, or the expensive bottle of wine. The old TV is fine, the 1975 Gremlin still runs good, Mrs. Olson was right, Folgers is good to the last drop, and pick up some two buck Chuck on the way home from work.

Everything but the Gremlin, and anything but the Gremlin.

I received this letter today from my bank, IndyMac Bank. They froze the account more than a week ago and I was never notified. I am facing returned checks changes because I made some payments using this account and they will not pay them. "The fact that I have excellent credit and that I am not late didn't count for much". My house was appraised less than a year ago and the market area in my area is higher than what appraised for. Now the bank is telling me the value went down. This is ridiculous.

anonymous wrote:

I received this letter today from my bank, IndyMac Bank. They froze the account more than a week ago and I was never notified. I am facing returned checks changes because I made some payments using this account and they will not pay them. "The fact that I have excellent credit and that I am not late didn't count for much". My house was appraised less than a year ago and the market area in my area is higher than what appraised for. Now the bank is telling me the value went down. This is ridiculous.

You should look into small claims court to recoup all fees incurred as a result of them freezing your account without first notifying you.

anonymous wrote:

I received this letter today from my bank, IndyMac Bank. They froze the account more than a week ago and I was never notified. I am facing returned checks changes because I made some payments using this account and they will not pay them. "The fact that I have excellent credit and that I am not late didn't count for much". My house was appraised less than a year ago and the market area in my area is higher than what appraised for. Now the bank is telling me the value went down. This is ridiculous.

I don't have one of those types of accounts. What makes you so special?

arbitrageur wrote:

<quoted text>
I don't have one of those types of accounts. What makes you so special?

It is not about been special. I have an excelent credit. My HELOC works like a credit card and I can use checks to make payments. I basically make high payments to this account (depositing my pay check) and use this account to make all my house payments. This way it is tax deductible and I can manage my budget better.

Raiderfan wrote:

<quoted text>
The government thrives on people like you who have the mentality it's always our fault, not theirs.

I couldn't disagree more. Our government bureaucracy's welfare state mentality thrives on people who want to blame somebody else for their problems and want government to step in 'fix' things. In this case, the only permanent fix is for housing prices to return to their normal ratio to incomes. Any government measure to stop that from happening will just prolong the pain and further undermine the economy. Just look what is happening to mortgage interest rates this week despite further drops in short-term rates.