Real Estate Weekly: Home-equity-loan woes continue to mount

Date: Fri, 04 Jul 2008 12:18:46 -0400

The delinquency rate on home-equity lines of credit rose to its highest
in more than a decade during the first quarter, the American Bankers
Association said this week.

Higher food and gas prices, coupled with little income growth, have made
it more difficult for people to manage their debt, the group's chief
economist said. That caused the percentage of HELOC accounts more than
30 days past due to reach its highest rate since 1997.

But it isn't just people who are late on their payments who are having
trouble with their home-equity lines these days. Plenty of borrowers
with strong credit histories, a good amount of equity in their homes and
decent income streams have had their HELOC limits reduced.