In the run up to the credit crunch that took place at the end of 2008 and into the early part of 2009 the line of credit loan was something that many people used to extend the amount of borrowing available to them to enable them to continue to spend money.  Perhaps one of the crimes of the last administration in this country was that they gave the impression of prosperity but the actual level of wages simply did not rise in the same way that the perception that they rose did.  This was a classic case of the rich doing very well out of the economic prosperity, whilst the less well off simply borrowed in order to fund their increasingly spendthrift lifestyles.  This of course was a real shame, and has largely gone uncommented upon, but the very folk who were not prospering the most are the ones who have subsequently suffered the most as the credit that they relied so much upon is now much harder to get hold of and the lenders who were so willing previously to lend to them are foreclosing as fast as they can.  This is simple not a just situation.