Home as a piggybank? Not yet

Housing prices are back, jobs are growing fast and interest rates remain low. Thats usually a good combination for tapping home equity.

Still, homeowners arent rushing for the dollars yet.

The value of home equity loans has declined every quarter for the last five years. At the end of March, outstanding loans in the U.S. were 25 percent lower than the 2008 peak.

And Texas banks reported a deeper decline, according to data from the Federal Deposit Insurance Corp.

But one large Dallas lender, Comerica Bank, said Texans are flocking to its home equity products. Others are ramping up efforts and betting the niche will improve soon.

The Dallas metro area and Texas rank among the top five nationwide for positive home equity, according to CoreLogic. So theres a big upside here.

No one wants a return to the easy credit days when homes were serving as ATMs. Some borrowers piled on more debt than their houses were worth, worsening the real estate crash. When prices fell, many walked away from the properties.

Last week, a survey of mortgage bankers warned of rising risks in residential loans and credit cards. Bankers are wary of a return to reckless borrowing, said Mike Gordon of FICO, whose credit scores are widely used in lending.

Mortgage debt seems unlikely to get out of hand. Most homeowners with good credit have already tapped the refinance market, taking advantage of record low interest rates.

High credit standards

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Home as a piggybank? Not yet