Home Equity Loans

Not surprisingly, the days of using our homes as ATMs with no withdrawal limit are over. Freddie Mac reports that, in the second quarter, net dollars of home equity converted into cash as part of refinancings of conventional, prime mortgages totaled about $7.5 billion. That was about the same as in the first quarter, but well below the peak of $83.7 billion converted in the second quarter of 2006.