A sea change is under way in Americans’ debt habits: They are changing how they borrow, how they pay their loans, how they get out of debt and when they default.

It used to be that smaller, revolving credit loans – like credit card debts – were the most likely to go unpaid. Now, it’s home equity loans that have the highest rates of default.

The problem, reports the New York Times, is essentially crashing real estate values, which are driving people to walk away from their home equity loans. In 2009, lenders wrote off around $31 billion in home equity loans and lines of credit. Read full article…