LOS ANGELES (KTLA) – With the devastating Palisades Fire still smoldering, Lisa Pelton and some of her neighbors in Mandeville Canyon received an unpleasant notice from their bank: their home equity lines of credit were being slashed.
“I was appalled,” Pelton told KTLA 5 News on Thursday. “I thought it was unconscionable what they did. They sent this letter out four days after the fire started to everyone in a certain ZIP code.”
City National Bank informed Pelton that it was abruptly cutting her HELOC, which allows homeowners to borrow against their available equity, by $50,000 even though her property was untouched by the 23,000-acre fire.
“I think whoever approved that letter should be fired,” she said.
The explanation City National Bank offered was that Pelton’s property, and others in the wildfire burn area, had “declined significantly” in value. Rather than cancel the line of credit outright, the bank said it would reduce her line of credit “until further assessments” could be made.
KTLA consumer reporter David Lazarus doesn’t question the bank’s motives – just its timing and haste.
“To be sure, financial institutions have a responsibility to minimize their exposure to risk after a natural disaster. That’s all perfectly understandable,” Lazarus said. “But what should be concerning to homeowners is the speed at which City National Bank moved and the fact that it didn’t seem to do any due diligence whatsoever. It just cut first and asked questions later.”
Pelton fought back. She called City National Bank and spoke to a representative who expressed some empathy about her situation, she said. The bank eventually reversed its decision and fully restored her HELOC.
Lazarus said this case should serve as a lesson to all homeowners.
“Clearly this is a time when people are feeling very vulnerable, and they might not respond in an aggressive or responsive manner. If you don’t step up and defend yourself, nobody will for you,” Lazarus said.
