TARP-Funded Banks Lending Less

According to a report by the U.S. Treasury Department, the banks that received billions of dollars of taxpayer money from the TARP fund have actually been less forthcoming with credit than before. The report shows that the total amount of all outstanding loans from the banks that received taxpayer money has fallen 0.8 percent in a month’s time.
 
This means that the total amount of money involved in lending contracts has shrunk from $5.28 trillion to $5.24 trillion from February to March in the 500 financial institutions that received taxpayer money. Commercial loans have fallen 1.2 percent $2.35 trillion in everywhere from the smallest banks to the major financial institutions.
 
This report, which was released today, marks the first time that the Treasury Department has given concrete information about the lending status of the smaller banks affected by the TARP fund. The Treasury Department has been releasing such information about the 21 largest financial institutions.

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