I know that most people were using their home equity as an ATM machine. That go millions of people in trouble.
I would have had a problem, if I had to report what I was doing with my home equity loan on my CA home. I used it to buy my TX home for cash. Then I sold my CA home and paid off the remaining mortgage and paid off the home equity loan; and still had money left over from the deal. This is why it is good to buy "down" when you are ready to retire. Of course the only way to really do that successfully is to move to another State that has lower home prices.