What Happened To The Credit Crunch?

Would you like of line of credit, she asked. The bank has a very good interest rate, 3.99% for fifteen years.

If I needed the money, maybe I'd take her up on it. But I don't. And I wouldn't be doing a lot of borrowing against the equity of my home these days. Who knows what that equity might be in a year?

There was supposed to be a credit crunch, in spite of the government bail-out that was meant to unfreeze lending. Does this mean it's working?

Or does it mean that the bank is calling me because it knows that I have loads of equity built up? They want me in hock for more because I pay my mortgage precisely on time every month, and they'd really like to loan money to someone with a good track record.

There's just something utterly insane about considering a loan unless there were some dire emergency. To take advantage of credit just because it's there is what got us into this mess, and I'm not going to dip a toe into the world of reckless financing for the sake of giving it a try.

However, if you're in the market for a home loan, the banks have money that they'd like to get out there in the free market. They have so much of it that they've got a telemarketer calling clients, trying to push the product. If only the line of credit came with a Sham-wow...