Consumers must have a trifecta of enough equity, a high credit score and a healthy relationship between their debt and income to take money out of their house via a cash-out refinance, home equity loan or home equity line of credit, also called a HELOC. “The standards were already fairly tight, but now with a lower volume of refis being done, you have more people looking at every file,” says Paul Anastos, president of Mortgage Master Inc. “There's more scrutiny from banks and the agencies.”
