Mark it down... car loans will dry up, and then credit card companies will raise rates & fees... [View All]

IMHO we are in the pre-panic 'get as much as we can right now out of the consumer because shortly he is going to be under water' phase.

Credit card companies who can shift people to default rates at 30% or higher will do so. They will also ratchet up the fees for late payments and over limit. And these changes will occur without there being any missed payments by the consumer.

And when it comes to buying cars, anyone without excellent credit and a substantial downpayment will be denied financing.

We are headed into a serious storm here when you consider most folks have been using their home equity as a loan source. Now as house prices drop, that source is gone.

IT is never as bad as it could be, but it might be worse than anyone thinks.