It's a new landscape in the banking and lending world.
Loans that used to be so easy, maybe too easy, are now very tough to get.
Jim Blankenship teaches a multimedia class at Serra High School in San Diego, California.
But lately his focus has been as much on his students, as his finances.
"I consider myself really financially savvy, but I was absolutely shocked to see that they could cancel these lines of credit without any notice whatsoever," said Blankenship.
Blankenship got a letter from Morgan Stanley saying the company was canceling his home equity loan.
Money he was using to put his son through law school.
The blame pointed at a drop in local real estate values.
"Suddenly out of nowhere they come and cancel it totally on me," said Blankenship.
Morgan Stanley said he could reapply for the loan, but clearly the ground rules were changing.
"So too many people got loans that shouldn't have and now the chickens are coming home to roost because they can't afford to refinance the loans," said Mark Riedy with the Burnham-Moores Center for Real Estate at the University of San Diego.
Riedy says even good people, good about paying their bills, are caught up in the mortgage crisis.
"They're going to be penalized if they want to refinance their home or take out a new mortgage loan because lenders are necessarily being much more restrictive in making new money available," said Riedy.
Jim Blankenship says he's now learned a few lessons.
His confidence shaken, his game plan changed.
"Oh man it hit home, it hit home really hard. I realize now I am not nearly as secure as I thought I was," said Blankenship.
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