Appeals Court Bars Banks from Offsetting HELOC Credit Card Debt

Banks can’t access a customer’s deposit accounts to pay off outstanding debts on credit cards linked to home equity lines of credit, a federal appeals court ruled.

A split panel of the US Court of Appeals for the Fourth Circuit found that credit cards linked to HELOCs are covered by regulations blocking lenders from offsetting outstanding credit card debt by drawing directly from a customer’s bank account.

“The type of credit (secured, unsecured, home-secured, or secured by something other than a home) is not what matters,” Judge Roger L. Gregory wrote in a majority opinion Wednesday. “What matters is that ...