Washington Mutual just finished sending out the last of their HELOC freeze notices. The damage: customers have lost the opportunity to draw on $6 billion from home equity lines. We reported on this story earlier, but the total extent of the line freezes was not known at that time.

Housing Wire explains the latest:

“Washington Mutual, Inc. has either suspended or cut down a total of $6 billion in available home equity lines of credit in the latest effort by a major bank to reduce its exposure to the mortgage mess. The cuts, which were first reported last week by National Mortgage News, affect an unknown number of customers; the bank has declined to identify the number of affected customers to the press.”

However you look at it, that $6 billion represents a lot of customers who have received home equity line reductions. Since the letters were mailed last week, almost all WaMu customers are now aware of their status. If WaMu is your lender and you didn’t recieve a HELOC freeze notice, you’re probably in the clear. For now, at least.

See Also:

Lenders Freezing HELOC Lines

How the HELOC Freeze Can Damage Your Credit Score

Tags | Heloc, heloc freeze, home equity loan, lenders, Washington Mutual