If there's any doubt that American homeowners didn't learn their lesson when it comes to treating their home like a veritable ATM, then consider that the percentage of people who converted equity in their home into cash is at a 17-year low. That's according to a new data from Freddie Mac, which says that of the value of all cash-out refinancings during the second quarter totaled only $5 billion, down from a peak of $84 billion during the second quarter 2006.
Here's another interesting tid bit: The median interest rate reduction for a 30-year fixed-rate mortgage was about 1.5 percentage points, a savings of 28 percent in interest rate. That was the largest percent reduction in the 27 years of record keeping.
