National City unit suspends home equity loan offers

NEW YORK (Reuters) - National City Corp NCC.N, a large U.S. midwest regional bank, said on Monday its National City Home Equity unit has temporarily suspended offering new home equity loans and lines of credit, citing tighter mortgage market conditions.

"We have taken a number of steps to help insure that our originations are in line with existing and anticipated market conditions," said Kristen Baird Adams, a National City spokeswoman. "We're certainly continuing to closely monitor the market, and will take appropriate steps."

Loans in the pipeline at National City Home Equity are "being looked at," she said.

The unit is separate from Cleveland-based National City's main mortgage unit, which has also taken steps to limit product offerings, Adams said.

National City is one of many lenders to tighten loan standards as homeowner defaults rise and investors fearful of taking on too much perceived risk grow wary of buying mortgage loans or mortgage-backed securities.

(Reporting by Jonathan Stempel)