Rates on home equity products were split this week.

The average home equity line of credit -- or HELOC -- fell 19 basis points, to 5.56 percent. HELOCs have been falling steadily as a result of the Federal Reserve's latest rate-cutting campaign.

Meanwhile, fixed-rate home equity loans rose 5 basis points, to 7.74 percent.

Although home equity products have been falling of late, fewer consumers are taking advantage of the opportunity to borrow. Late last week, Freddie Mac reported a sharp downturn in the amount of equity cashed out by homeowners during the first quarter of 2008.

Just 56 percent of homeowners with Freddie Mac-owned loans who refinanced their mortgages cashed out 5 percent or more of their equity, according to the lender. That's the lowest cash-out refinance percentage since the second quarter of 2004.

Freddie Mac is a government-sponsored enterprise that buys mortgages from savings and loan associations, pools them with other loans and sells the debt to investors.

It said tighter mortgage underwriting standards and falling home values were responsible for the decline in equity activity.

-- Chris Kissell

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