ii. The creditor may reduce a credit limit or refuse to extend new credit in a particular case due to changes in the creditor’s financial condition or the consumer’s creditworthiness. (The rules in § (f), however, limit the ability of a creditor to suspend credit advances for home equity plans.) While consumers should have a reasonable expectation of obtaining credit as long as they remain current and within any preset credit limits, further extensions of credit need not be an absolute right in order for the plan to meet the self-replenishing criterion.6. Verifications of collateral value. Creditors that otherwise meet the requirements of § 1026.2(a)(20) extend open-end credit notwithstanding the fact that the creditor must verify collateral values to comply with Federal, state, or other applicable law or verifies the value of collateral in connection with a particular advance under the plan.
7. Open-end real estate mortgages. Each such plan must be independently measured against the definition of open-end credit, regardless of the terminology used in the industry to describe the plan.
(iii) The amount of credit that may be extended to the consumer during the term of the plan (up to any limit set by the creditor) is generally made available to the extent that any outstanding balance is repaid.
The fact that a particular plan is called an open-end real estate mortgage, for example, does not, by itself, mean that it is open-end credit under the regulation
(21) Periodic rate means a rate of finance charge that is or may be imposed by a creditor on a balance for a day, week, month, or other subdivision of a year.
1. Basis. The periodic rate ple, 1 and 1/2% per month) or as a ple, .015 monthly). It may be based on any portion of a year the creditor chooses. Some creditors use 1/360 of an annual rate as their periodic rate. These creditors:
i. May disclose a 1/360 rate as a daily periodic rate, without further explanation, if it is in fact only applied 360 days per year. But if the creditor applies that rate for 365 days, the creditor must note that fact and, of course, disclose the true annual percentage rate.
ii. Would have to apply the rate to the balance 
to disclose the annual percentage rate with the degree of accuracy required in the regulation (that is, within 1/8th of 1 percentage point of the rate based on the actual 365 days in the year).
2. Transaction charges. Periodic rate does not include initial one-time transaction charges, even if the charge is computed as a percentage of the transaction amount.
(22) Person means a natural person or an organization, including a corporation, partnership, proprietorship, association, cooperative, estate, trust, or government unit.
This criterion does not mean that the creditor must establish a specific credit limit for the line of credit or that the line of credit must always be replenished to its original amount
2. Attorneys. An attorney and his or her client are considered to be the same person for purposes of this part when the attorney is acting within the scope of the attorney-client relationship with regard to a particular transaction.
(23) Prepaid finance charge means any finance charge paid separately in cash or by check before or at consummation of a transaction, or withheld from the proceeds of the credit at any time.
1. General. Prepaid finance charges must be taken into account under § (b) in computing the disclosed amount financed, and must be disclosed if the creditor provides an itemization of the amount financed under § (c).
