I have opened an Equity Line of Credit with Bank of America about 2 years ago. I live in NJ, so the local laws state that the bank can not impose a prepayment penalty on any mortgage loan. When I was signing the HELOC contract the bank included a statement that if the line is closed within 3 years I would be subject to the prepayment penalty of {$450.00}. I questioned that statement and asked the officer to remove it but the closing officer told me that the bank has standard closing forms for all the states and it does not alter it for the individual states. However, when the issue arise they abide the local laws, so in NJ the prepayment penalty would not apply. I signed the contract without further insisting on changing that part. Recently, I negotiated a better mortgage rate and decided to refinance my mortgage. In the process, I did not have an option to keep my HELOC with BoA open, so it was required to be closed. As a result, BoA charged me {$450.00} of the prepayment penalty. I contacted BoA and explained that I 'm being penalized for refinancing my mortgage. I pointed out that in NJ the banks are not allowed to charge the prepayment penalties but in response the BoA representative told me that in their opinion the definition of mortgage loan in NJ law provides enough gray area that they do not feel the laws would apply to HELOC. I explained that HELOC meets a full definition of a mortgage loan:1. A loan secured by a lien on the property. 
2. The document specifying the terms and conditions of the repayment of such a loan. 
3. The repayment obligation associated with such a loan4. The lien on the property associated with such a loan. 
BoA has been avoiding my calls. I spoke with the branch manager but as he said " did not want to get involved '' and referred me to the central HELOC Department, which is the same Dept that has been refusing to refund the prepayment penalty they charged me. 
I will greatly appreciate your assistance. 
