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Morgan Stanley HELOCs: Don't Delay, Act Now!

Message to homeowners: If you have a line of credit or Home Equity (HELOC) and are even considering hitting it, you better hurry up and tap that thang.

Wait too long, and you may receive a nastygram from your Bank/Broker telling you "Too Late!"

At least, that's what happened to "several thousand" Morgan Stanley clients. The nation's second largest brokerage firm, after a periodic review, stated:

"Consistent with the terms of the HELOC, or home-equity line of credit, Morgan Stanley periodically reassesses client property values and risk profiles,'' said Christine Pollak, a Morgan Stanley spokeswoman in New York. "A segment of clients was recently notified of a change in the status of their home equity line of credit or HELOC due to a change in the value of their property and/or their credit profile.'' 

Its good to see that lenders have become more proactive about risk, albeit 5 years to late.

There's a lesson in this to home owners who were thinking about using this line of financing: If you have those HELOC checks your lender sent you -- AND YOU CAN AFFORD TO SERVICE THE LOAN -- then you better hurry up and use them before its too late!

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Source:
Morgan Stanley Said to Freeze Client Home-Equity Credit Lines
Christine Harper
Bloomberg,  Aug. 5 2008
http://www.bloomberg.com/apps/news?pid=20601087&sid=aBkoAMJY74G8&

Wednesday, August 06, 2008 | 10:58 AM | Permalink | Comments (20) | TrackBack (0)
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Comments

Maybe it would be better NOT to cash those HELOC checks. It'll just add to your debt load and delay matching your income to your expenses. Some banks on the West Coast already notified customers of restrictions some weeks ago.

Posted by: OldVet | Aug 6, 2008 11:05:32 AM