Fed Survey Indicates Some Easing of Lending Requirements

The Federal Reserve’s Senior Loan Officer Opinion Survey on Bank Lending Practices for July indicates that a “modest” fraction of domestic banks have made borrowing easier on most types of loans. Foreign bank branches, however, have tightened credit for commercial and industrial borrows and remained unchanged for commercial real estate loans.

From the report:

At domestic banks, lending policies for loans to businesses generally eased over the past three months, and demand increased somewhat. Although a modest fraction of domestic banks reported having eased standards on C&I loans to large and middle-market firms, standards on loans to small firms were little changed on balance. …

Regarding loans to households, reported changes in standards were mixed across loan categories, while demand increased somewhat. Lending standards over the past three months were little changed, on net, for prime mortgages and tightened somewhat for nontraditional mortgages. However, a relatively large fraction of respondents reported having experienced stronger demand for prime mortgages over the same time period. Modest fractions of domestic banks, on net, indicated that they had eased standards on auto loans and on credit card loans. Standards on other consumer loans remained little changed. Small net fractions of banks reported increased demand for credit card and other consumer loans, while a relatively large fraction of banks reported an increase in demand for auto loans.

The Fed’s report is available here.