3 regional Fed banks had wanted to raise emergency lending rate to banks

Some Fed banks wanted higher emergency loan rate

WASHINGTON — A new document shows three of the Federal Reserve’s 12 regional banks made a push last month to bump up the interest rate banks pay the Fed for emergency loans.

The regional banks were in Kansas City, St. Louis and Dallas. They wanted to boost the discount rate to 1 percent from 0.75 percent. The rate doesn’t directly affect borrowing costs for Americans.

Late last month, Federal Reserve Chairman Ben Bernanke and his four other board members unanimously decided to keep the current rate.

In mid-February, the Fed raised the rate by one-quarter percentage point to 0.75 percent, a move to bring policy closer to normal after the financial crisis.