That seemed like a simple consumer question. But finding the answer led me deep into the Big Muddy. That lets you compare one lender's rate with another's. Thanks to this law, consumers can evaluate whether the credit they're being offered is expensive or cheap. But public utilities, such as phone companies, are generally exempt from Truth in Lending, said attorney Kyung Cho-Miller of the Federal Reserve, which administers the law.
Public services are exempt.
After checking with the state of Illinois, Cho-Miller concluded that installing a second phone line is a public service. They aren't authorized to do that' My next port of call was the Illinois Commerce Commission. The commission administers what's left of local phone company regulation. Illinois maintains price caps on the cost of installing both basic dial-tone service and a second line, said attorney Matt Harvey in the commission's office of general counsel. But there's no requirement to disclose the annualized rate charged for installment payments.