U.S. banks may lend $500 million to E. Germany.

A consortium of U.S. banks led by Bank of America has offered East Germany the line of credit, according to the West German magazine Der Spiegel. A report to be published today said the offer originally was for $150 million, but there was so much interest from U.S. banks that B of A increased it to $500 million. The magazine said that finalizing the deal depends on East Germany supplying detailed information on the state of its economy. But it said the consortium believes there are few risks, since it expects the Soviet Union to step in if East Germany has any payment problems. Officials at B of A, whose headquarters are in San Francisco, were not immediately available for comment.