Banks see loan market slowing
Published 6:43 pm Tuesday, January 6, 2009
Business has been slowing down everywhere. Some have even slowed down to the point of laying off employees or closing their doors for good.
The economy is in such a delicate state that even small changes in the way people spend their money is making big changes in the wallets of businesses. Many people have found that, in these hard times, paying their bills as best as they can while keeping food on the table is more important than going out and buying new clothes or spending money on a night out at the movie theater.
“Business has slowed down, but with people not making as many large investments right now we could only expect the business to slow,” said Harvey Clapp, Peachtree Bank President.
Peachtree Bank has been doing business like normal. According to Clapp, the business of people coming in and getting loans is slowing, which in return is bringing down the amount of business the bank does.
“We are not losing money. Of course, we are not doing as good as we could be if times were good, but things are hard for people right now,” Clapp said.
Loans are the main key to a banks success. Through loans, a bank makes most of its income. With the current state of the economy, people struggle to do normal activities and are, therefore, taking out less loans.
For many who took out loans before the recession, bankruptcy has been the only solution to their bill problems. For all of the institutions that loaned these people money, they end up losing a large portion of the loan as well as any money they would have made off the interest.
“We are not changing our loan policies. We may have less people coming in, but we hope that things will get better quickly so that everyone can start to enjoy life more,” Clapp said.