Survey: Banks more willing to lend

That’s according to the latest quarterly survey of senior loan officers at U.S. banks by The Federal Reserve. The results, released this afternoon, also show increased demand for loans for homes and other purchases. Most importantly, only a handful of banks reported any tightening of loan standards. (Boat loans aren’t broken out separately.)

Some of the highlights:

• 23 percent of banks are more willing to lend to consumers than they were three months ago. Less than 2 percent are less willing.
• While 77 percent of banks have not changed their lending standards for auto loans, 23 percent of loan officers said they had eased.
• 95 percent of banks said their lending standards for small businesses have not changed, but 5 percent said they had eased in the last three months. 12 percent of loan officers said their banks are willing to lend larger amounts to small businesses.
• The most important reason cited by banks for less restrictive lending standards was “more aggressive competition” from other banks and lenders, cited as at least somewhat important by nearly 93 percent of lenders
• 58 percent of banks reported stronger demand for residential mortgages over the past three months, even when considering the seasonal impact of the normal summer selling season. Only 5 percent said they were seeing less demand.

Click here to read the full report.