serial refinancing

[unpakwon]

Please help me understand the following in bold.

In particular, during the height of the now-burst housing bubble, artificially low interest rates maintained by the Fed encouraged the "serial refinancing" of many American homes. American homeowners then used equity drawn from their homes in the form of cash loans to boost their consumption, and a big chunk of those ATM dollars flowed offshore to China.

In the above, does "equity drawn from their homes" refer to something like "home equity loan?"

Thank you.

[Soup]

Please help me understand the following in bold.

In particular, during the height of the now-burst housing bubble, artificially low interest rates maintained by the Fed encouraged the "serial refinancing" of many American homes. American homeowners then used equity drawn from their homes in the form of cash loans to boost their consumption, and a big chunk of those ATM dollars flowed offshore to China.

In the above, does "equity drawn from their homes" refer to something like "home equity loan?"

Thank you.

1. Refinancing three or more times
2. Home Equity Basics, Ch. 1: What equity debt is (Page 1 of 2) :

Equity is the difference between how much the home is worth and how much you owe on the mortgage (or mortgages, if you have more than one).

A home equity loan (or line of credit) is a second mortgage that lets you turn equity into cash, allowing you to spend it on home improvements, debt consolidation, college education or other expenses.

Equity loans, lines of credit defined ...
There are two types of home equity debt: home equity loans and home equity lines of credit, also known as HELOCs. Both are sometimes referred to as second mortgages, because they are secured by your property, just like the original, or primary, mortgage.

Home equity loans and lines of credit usually are repaid in a shorter period than first mortgages. Most commonly, mortgages are set up to be repaid over 30 years. Equity loans and lines of credit often have a repayment period of 15 years, although it might be as short as five and as long as 30 years.