Some urban areas are experiencing the worst of the bubble burst. Vegas is near the top of that list. Today, Bloomburg published an exclusive article claiming that Countrywide has suspended HELOC lines for pretty much all of their Las Vegas customers:

“Homeowners’ pain is acute in Las Vegas, where property values soared 50 percent or more during 2004 and 2005 and since have plummeted. Las Vegas housing prices declined 23 percent in February, leading 20 U.S. cities tracked by the S&P/Case-Shiller Home Price Indices. Nevada had the highest U.S. foreclosure rate in March: one of every 139 households…

Amid flashing neon signs along the Vegas Strip, residents are losing access to credit that might have financed businesses or bought cars and other goods.

As many as 15,000 people in Las Vegas, or 5 percent of the total homeowner population, had credit lines suspended by Countrywide and other lenders, said Brad Henderson, president of Henderson, Nevada-based mortgage banker and broker Evofi One.”

5% of the population losing access to their HELOC lines is no small deal. Unfortunately, many of these people were probably relying on their HELOCs to be a safety net during financial trouble. Now that financial trouble is here, that doesn’t seem like the most reliable financial planning method.

See Also:

What to Do if You’re Hit by the HELOC Freeze

Countrywide HELOC Loans 

Tags | Countrywide, Heloc, heloc freeze, lenders