Banks help keep borrowers afloat
Andy Hallmark recently faced a financial squeeze familiar to thousands of Americans: The interest rate on his home-equity line of credit (HELOC) had shot up to uncomfortably high levels.
But Hallmark decided to try something other than refinancing his loan or biting the bullet and paying big mortgage bills for a while. Instead, he called his bank and asked to convert his floating-rate HELOC into a fixed-rate second mortgage – and surprisingly, the lender said “yes.”
“We were totally shocked when (the bank) said ‘Sure, no problem,’ ” Hallmark said.