A May 3, 1973, district court order made the certification and determination contemplated by F.R.Civ.P. 54(b) and entered final judgment dismissing Counts Fourth through Ninth of such complaint. The parties agree that if final judgment for the defendants was correctly entered on the Fifth Count, the defendants are entitled to entry of judgment in their favor on the other counts related thereto (Counts Seventh-Ninth). Also, plaintiffs concede that they "have not pursued Count Four in this appeal" and that they have consented to the dismissal of "Count Six" (see page 3 of appellants' brief)

Other federal courts have expressly relied upon the district court opinion in Stavrides in dismissing similar claims. See Kinee v. Abraham Lincoln Federal Savings & Loan Ass'n, 365 F. Supp. 975 (E.D.Pa.1973); Munn v. American General Investment Corp., 364 F. Supp. 110 (S.D.Tex., 1973); Williams v. American Savings Ass'n, No. CA-3-6350-D (N.D.Tex., March 26, 1973). See also Umdenstock v. American Mortgage & Investment Co. of Oklahoma City, 363 F. Supp. 1375 (W.D.Okl.1973)

The case of Liberty National Life Insurance Co. v. United States, 463 F.2d 1027, 1030 n. 6 (5th Cir. 1972), relied upon by appellants in interpreting the term "escrow," is distinguishable from the instant case since in Libberty National the court was concerned with interpreting the word "escrow" as it applied to mortgages insured by the Federal Housing Administration, which are subject to requirements not applicable to private mortgages

We note that the staff of the Federal Reserve Board, which was designated by Congress to administer and interpret the Truth-In-Lending Act, has consistently concluded that the nonpayment of interest on such escrow deposits need not be taken into account in computation of the finance charge or the amount financed. In a Federal Reserve Board Public Information Letter dated July 15, 1971, No. 504, 4 CCH Consumer Credit Guide p 30,707, Thomas J. O'Connell, General Counsel of the Federal Reserve Board, stated:

"[Y]ou inquire whether the failure to allow interest on escrow deposits under a real estate mortgage should be reflected in the finance charge disclosed under Regulation Z. . . .

"Section 226.4(e) . . . specifically excludes escrow deposits of the type you describe from the finance charge. In addition, although Sec. 226.8(e) . . . provides that certain 'required deposit balances' must be excluded before determining the 'amount financed' (which would result in their being reflected in a higher annual percentage rate), that section specifically provides that it does not apply to escrow accounts of the type covered by Sec. 226.4(e) . . . . By these two provisions it was the Board's intention to allow computation of the annual percentage rate on real estate mortgages without regard to whether escrows were required, and by extension, without regard to whether interest was paid on those deposits. Consequently, it is the staff's view that neither the requirement of escrow deposits, nor the failure to pay interest on them, must be reflected in the annual percentage rate or finance charges disclosed under Truth-In-Lending."

Similar conclusions have been expressed in Public Information Letters by J. L. Robertson, Vice-Chairman of the Federal Reserve Board, the Board member given specific responsibility for Truth-In-Lending (Letter No. 265, February 24, 1970) and by Griffith L. Garwood, then Chief of the Truth-In-Lending Section (Letter No. 580, March 8, 1972). 4 CCH Consumer Credit Guide p 30,518 and p 30,820.

As recently as May 25, 1973, in another Public Information Letter, 4 CCH Consumer Credit Guide p 30,980, the Federal Reserve Board Staff reiterated its position. It was there stated:

". . . The Regulation, however, does not provide that the loss of interest on an escrow account represents a charge for the credit transaction to the customer. Under the same line of reasoning, the Regulation provides in Sec. 226.4(f) . . . that interest or dividends paid by a creditor on a customer's deposits or investments held by the creditor shall not be deducted from the amount of the finance charge or taken into consideration when computing the annual percentage rate.

"By these provisions, it was the Board's intention to allow computation of the annual percentage rate on real estate mortgages without regard to whether escrows were required, and by extension, without regard to whether interest was paid on those deposits. Consequently, neither the requirement of escrow deposits, nor the failure to pay the interest on them, must be reflected in the annual percentage rate or finance charges disclosed under Truth in Lending.

"It might be noted that the Act allows a creditor to round the annual percentage rate to the nearest quarter of 1%, so that it is unlikely that the effect of the failure to pay interest on escrow accounts would require a higher annual percentage rate to be disclosed in most cases (See Sec. 226.5(b)) . . . . Also any disclosures taking into account the lack of escrow interest would often soon become inaccurate because such disclosures would be based upon the escrow requirements at the time the transaction is entered into, while the amount required for escrowed items typically continues to increase during the life of the mortgage as taxes increase. Finally, viewing such lost interest as a finance charge would further complicate already complicated disclosures perhaps to the consumer's detriment, and would certainly increase the burden to the creditor."