Dropping home values crunch credit lines

As home values fall, home equity credit lines -- a favorite cash source for entrepreneurs -- are vanishing

When Marcia Blackwell and her husband Tom founded Blackwell's Organic Gelato in 2005, they did what many small business owners do: They funded their efforts with a home equity line of credit. The interest rate was then about half that of a traditional business loan, even one backed by the Small Business Administration, and the money was available fast.


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