The next credit crunch? -- chicagotribune.com

The next credit crunch? -- chicagotribune.com: "The next credit crunch? As home loan market tightens, mounting credit card debt could spur new crisis By Susan Chandler | Tribune staff reporter August 26, 2007 Now that the easy money in home mortgages is all but over, consumers may soon be caught in a financial squeeze with their credit cards. That's the worry among some economists and credit counselors as home lending has shifted abruptly into low gear this summer. That leaves homeowners owing big sums to Visa or MasterCard without an important escape hatch -- the ability to pay down the plastic by dashing off a check from their home equity line of credit or rolling the debt into a new, bigger mortgage. 'You're not going to be able to get that mortgage loan. You'll be stuck with the higher interest credit card debt,' warns Carl Steidtmann, chief economist with"