by KYW's Salil Gutt

The pendulum has swung the other way and the face of banking is changing. Bankers who had liberally sprinkled loan money around are clamping down much to the dismay of their customers. Even those with good credit histories are being affected.

For instance, banks are arbitrarily lowering or even eliminating home equity lines of credit without notice to customers. If you are planning a major home improvement and will be relying on a previously approved home equity line of credit, I suggest you recheck that with your lender before you start construction.

In addition they are squeezing down on business lines of credit and stopped writing loans. This unfortunately has resulted in small businesses being scammed by advance fee con artists.

This reduction in debt availability is actually a good thing.  Debt is the main reason why people stay up at night when they worry about their personal finances. Now would actually be a good time to develop a program to free yourself from the shackles of banks permanently.