Freezing HELOCs by zip code is illegal

[noppenbd]

Check out this post on Clark Howard's site:

Clark's been receiving a lot of calls from listeners who had HELOCs shut off with no notice -- sometimes in the midst of a renovation!

Now it turns out this practice is illegal. New federal guidelines* have been issued that forbid banks from redlining via zip code, via state or any other blanket method. They are not allowed to arbitrarily shut down HELOCs in a neighborhood where home values are dropping.

If a bank wants to curtail your HELOC, they must look at your house and circumstances on an individual basis. So if you got the squeeze, go talk to your loan officer and get it rectified. They are required to restore your HELOC -- unless they have individual proof for your address or your situation that compelled them to cut it in the first place. Get in there and fight for your rights!

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And the link to the federal guidelines:

http://files.ots.treas.gov/481121.pdf