House Panel Votes Full Information on Home Equity Loans

WASHINGTON — The House Banking Committee voted unanimously today to require banks and credit unions to provide more timely and complete information on home equity loans, or second mortgages.

Rep. Frank Annunzio (D-Ill.), chairman of the committee’s consumer affairs subcommittee, said: “This legislation will enable consumers to understand fully the conditions of this new form of consumer borrowing. It will make clear to them that they risk the loss of their home in the event of default.”

The American Bankers Assn., in a statement handed out in the committee room after the bill was approved, said the disclosure and advertising provisions “will result in an unnecessary overload of information for consumers, and they will severely limit the creditors’ ability to design informative advertisements.”