Over the past four months, we’ve been keeping a list of major lenders sending out home equity line freeze letters.  To date, an estimated 400,000 HELOC freeze notices have been sent and we receive information about new line freezes almost weekly.

Here’s the latest update.

Lenders Freezing Home Equity Lines of Credit

Countrywide (recently froze almost all HELOCs in Las Vegas)

Washington Mutual (sending more letters this week)

IndyMac Bank

Capital One (Greenponing Mortgage Unit)

Bank of America

Chase

CitiGroup

National City

Suntrust

USAA Federal Savings

AmTrust Bank

Wachovia

It’s important to note that these lenders are not freezing all of their customer’s HELOCs. Certain customers are receiving freeze notices when the lender determines that their property value has declined. The value is generally based on the lender’s AVM (automated valuation model) and not a physical appraisal.

Some mistakenly believed that the HELOC freeze would end in January. However, borrowers are still receiving notices. Since property values are continuing to decline, it is safe to assume that the HELOC freeze will continue.

See also:

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

How the HELOC Freeze Can Damage Your Credit Score

Tags | Heloc, heloc freeze, home equity loan, lenders, loans