Lisa and JR Falkenhagen opened a letter from Countrywide Financial informing them that, effective immediately, they could no longer withdraw funds from their home-equity line of credit. The reason: a significant decline in their home's value from the appraised value when the loan was made.

Lisa, 31, an office manager for a Re/Max real estate agency, and JR, 31, a Web developer, purcha...

Plaza Bank, a state chartered commercial bank, is headquartered in Seattle, Washington with a branch office in the Seattle suburb of Kent. The bank was founded in April 2006 with an equity capital base of $22.0 million, at the time the most capital raised by a Washington de novo bank. Plaza Bank is a commercial bank with an emphasis on the Latino market, the first de novo bank in Washington to...