HOME EQUITY LOANS have become an important part of the bank consumer credit business, reaching new popularity with both customers and bankers at the end of the 20th century. But in Texas, laws dating from 1837 had prevented any borrowing against homestead property value, except for actual home improvement loans. After debating the issue for 25 years, the Texas legislature passed a home equity law in May 1997 that left the issue up to the vote of the electorate. The law was accompanied by red tape that lenders viewed as
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