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Banks report tighter standards for loans

WASHINGTON — Banks tightened the spigots further on all sorts of lending, from home mortgages to credit cards and business loans, as the worst financial crisis in seven decades took a bigger toll on the economy.

The Federal Reserve said Monday that its latest quarterly survey of bank lending practices found high numbers of banks reporting tighter credit standards across a broad range of loan products. Nearly 60 percent of banks responding to the survey said they had tightened lending standards on credit card debt.

"We're into the eye of the storm here," said Brian Bethune, chief U.S. financial economist at IHS Global Insight in Lexington, Mass.

The survey was conducted in the first two weeks of October, too soon to reflect possible effects of the government's program to inject about $250 billion into U.S. banks by directly buying shares in them as part of a broader financial rescue effort. The government also plans to buy billions in distressed mortgage-related assets that banks hold.

The Fed survey of 55 domestic banks and 21 U.S. offices of foreign banks found that sizable percentages of banks had "continued to tighten their lending standards and terms on all major loan categories over the previous three months."

The Fed found 85 percent of domestic banks reported that they had tightened their lending standards for commercial and industrial loans, up from 60 percent in the June survey. Nearly all banks — 95 percent — reported tighter standards for the lines of credit they extend to large and medium-sized businesses.

A large number of banks also reported they were tightening standards for both credit cards and other types of consumer loans.

Besides the nearly 60 percent of banks tightening standards on credit card debt, 65 percent said they had tightened lending standards for other types of consumer loans over the past three months.

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