I know a couple of people who created home equity credit lines, just in-case things got tight financially or an emergency came up.  The cash is available if they needed it.  Well, when they went to pull out that emergency cash, the home equity line of credit was CLOSED! 

Because of property values going down, banks around the country are just closing up home equity lines of credit.

If you think you may need some cash from your home equity credit line in the near future, WITHDRAWL IT ASAP! 

Yes, you'll have to pay interest on any cash you withdrawl, but if you think you'll really need the money down the road, take it out now and deposit it into your bank account. 

Note: Some of the interest on the loan will be offset by the interest earned while the money is sitting in your bank account.  And of course if you can invest the money into something else, you can make money with it!