Roanoke Times
                 Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.

DATE: THURSDAY, April 4, 1991                   TAG: 9104040573
SECTION: BUSINESS                    PAGE: B-7   EDITION: EVENING 
SOURCE: Associated Press
DATELINE: WASHINGTON                                LENGTH: Short

LENDING PRACTICES LEVELING/ FEWER BANKS REPORT TIGHTENING RULES

But the poll also found little relaxation of requirements.

The Bush administration has urged banks to make more loans available to credit-worthy customers as a stimulus to economic growth. And last month, federal banking regulators changed some accounting rules in an effort to encourage more lending.

The Fed polled senior loan officers at 56 large domestic banks.

"Fewer respondents reported tightening in the six weeks ending in mid-March than in the previous survey, which covered the three months ending in late January," the report said.

At the same time, however, only two banks reported easing their lending standards and that action affected only residential mortgages.

The survey said 14 percent of the banks reported tighter residential-mortgage standards, less than half of the 33 percent that reported more stringent requirements in the previous poll.

The new survey found the number of banks willing to make general-purpose consumer loans, including consumer installment and home equity lines of credit, was unchanged since the January poll, when one-sixth of the respondents reported less willingness.

"Almost one-fourth of the domestic respondents reported tightening their credit standards for approving applications for commercial real estate loans . . . compared to about one-half in the January survey," the report said.