The Federal Reserve Board raised the amount of fees a bank can charge without triggering additional Truth-in-Lending Act restrictions.
Lenders now can charge $412 in fees, a 3% increase.
The Home Ownership and Equity Protection Act of 1994 requires the Fed to adjust the fee threshold annually. The change is based on 3.1% increase in the Consumer Price Index for 1995.
Truth-in-Lending was amended in 1994 to protect consumers from high-fee loans. However, the rules allow banks making small home equity loans to avoid the disclosures if they limit their fees to $412.