The Economic “Meltdown felt on Main Street” “In Delaware and around the nation, the squeeze on cash flow is on -- forcing businesses to tighten up on hiring and expenses, keep inventory low, press for prompt payment and cozy up to whatever bank has extended credit to them. … Businesses that don't have tight control of their bottom line, or lack an ongoing relationship with a banker, are in dire straits if they need new credit to expand or plug a cash-flow disruption.” (Delaware News Journal, 9/29/08)

College, Home and Auto Loans “Out of Reach,” Hurting Americans With Good Credit “The credit crunch: Loans out of reach. … The market meltdown has caused banks big and small to tighten their credit standards, making it tougher to get loans for a home, car and even college.” (CNNMoney.com, 9/25/08)

• “Students find getting college loans tougher. … Every day, it seems, Kathleen Gailor, the University of Bridgeport's director of financial aid, is crossing another name off a list she keeps of lenders willing to give out student loans. Increasingly, the line outside her door, includes upperclassmen who suddenly find themselves having to change lenders or find new ways to pay for college. ‘It's getting hard,’ she said.” (Connecticut Post, 9/28/08)

• “Credit crunch hurts people with good credit. … The crisis on Wall Street began on Main Street. Credit flowing freely to loans that fell into foreclosure. What that's led to is a tightening to credit that some in the financial industry say they've never seen. ‘About 90 to 95 percent of the loans that we do get turned down,’ said Ken Blaudow, Indy Mortgage. Even people with jobs and good credit are being routinely turned down for home loans and equity lines of credit. Jessica Wright is selling her home and looking to buy another. She and her husband have good credit but are worried about a buyer getting financing. They could also face trouble getting a mortgage.” (WTHR 13 TV-NBC, 9/29/08)

• “Tightening of credit strikes nerve among consumers. … When Deb Freitag applied for a credit card so she could replace her roof, her leaky refrigerator and her old dishwasher, she was offered a $1,000 line of credit, not the $5,000 she needed.” (Associated Press, 9/27/08)

• “Area caught in credit squeeze … Businesses, homebuyers feel pinch of national crisis … Bertram Chatham, owner of a Citrus Heights Halloween store, says he's just as good a businessman today as he was a year ago. So when Wells Fargo & Co. slashed his available line of credit this summer from $26,000 to $10,000, he knew he'd gotten snared by the nation's credit crunch. The reduced financing prodded him to scale back his operation this fall, at a cost to the economy of about 30 jobs.” (Sacramento Bee, 9/28/08)

Auto Lenders Reject “Thousands of Loan Applications” as Carmakers Experience “Worst Month Since ’93” “U.S. auto sales cratered to their lowest level in 15 years last month as the destructive, long-reaching tentacles of the nation's economic crisis reached deep into the consumer psyche, dealership showrooms and auto-lending offices. … And auto lenders with little cash at their disposal rejected thousands of loan applications from consumers who had the stomach to attempt to buy a new car or truck.” (Detroit Free Press, 10/2/08)

Local Banks “Weakened” by Economic Crisis “Twelve of the region's 16 established banks -- those at least two years old -- lost money through the first half of 2008. The biggest loser was First Priority Bank of Bradenton, so weakened by losses that state and federal regulators stepped in on Aug. 1 and closed it. It was the first bank failure in Florida in more than four years, but likely not the last.” (Sarasota Herald Tribune, 9/29/08)

• “Largest Bank Failure in U.S. History”: “These are nail-biting times for bank customers. On Thursday, the Federal Deposit Insurance Corp. seized the assets of Washington Mutual, the nation's largest savings and loan, and brokered the sale of the company to JPMorgan Chase. The collapse of Washington Mutual — often called WaMu — is the largest bank failure in U.S. history.” (USA Today, 9/29/08)

Small Businesses “Might Shutter the Doors,” “Feeling the Chill,” American Jobs in Jeopardy “Marilyn Gordon might shutter the doors of her Bradford bed and breakfast even after her bank reduced her mortgage payment so that she could pay other pressing bills.  Allen Johnson is paying larger fees and a higher interest rate on the credit card he uses to help run his Manchester software business.  And Dan van Kalken needs someone to loan him money for a new truck for his Dunbarton landscaping business.  They are among the real faces of the nation's credit crunch and the country's economic downturn.” (New Hampshire Union Leader, 9/29/08)

• “Small Businesses Feeling the Chill. … Some small companies say they are no longer able to get loans from newly cautious banks as credit tightens across the country, and even those who do qualify are increasingly reluctant to borrow and expand, fearful of overextending themselves in the midst of the financial crisis. … Small businesses in America — the 27 million companies employing fewer than 500 people and in most cases fewer than 20 people — account for half of the nation’s output. A downward swing, whether caused by expensive borrowing or pessimism, could weaken the economy and shrink employment.” (New York Times, 10/2/08)

• Small Business Administration chief economist, Chad Moutray: “Small businesses are sitting on their hands. Either they can’t get the capital or they don’t want the capital. They read what is happening, and frankly they are scared.” (New York Times, 10/2/08)

• Demand at the nation’s factories has fallen by its largest amount in nearly two years: “Orders for manufactured goods fell by 4 percent in August from July. Economists had expected a 2.5 percent decline. It is the biggest drop since a 4.8 percent decline in October 2006.” (The Associated Press, 10/2/08)

• “The Money Squeeze: National troubles hit home. … In Columbia City, photographer Will Austin relies on credit to pay his bills, and then client payments to pay off that line of credit. Though business is booming, Austin has already noticed that bill payments are slowing. ‘The idea of a credit crunch is the scariest thing,’ said Austin, owner and only employee of Will Austin Photography. ‘The first thing we thought of as a family is thank God my wife has a job at the University of Washington.’” (Seattle Post-Intelligencer, 9/26/08)

• “Tight credit becomes problem for small-business owners. … Year to date, SBA loans to small businesses have plummeted compared with the same period last year. Volume in the agency's principal loan program has fallen 30%, with 28,000 fewer loans approved this year…. The National Small Business Association trade group says that 67% of small-business owners surveyed last month said they've been ‘impacted by the credit crunch.’ Some 63% said they've been hit by worsening credit card terms, and 32% said they suffer tougher bank loan terms.” (USA Today, 9/29/08)

• “Resorts to lay off hundreds of workers. … Company President David Siegel said Friday that Westgate is facing a financing squeeze that came on with the suddenness of a ‘heart attack.’ He blamed the national financial meltdown and said until the situation in Washington straightens out, Westgate and all other time-share companies likely are in for very hard times.” (Orlando Sentinel, 9/27/08)

Crisis “Has Taken a Toll on Nest Eggs” “The financial crisis that toppled major Wall Street banks and snarled credit markets around the world has also taken a toll on nest eggs, forcing people to rethink when — and even if — their savings will allow them to retire. More than half of people surveyed in an Associated Press-GfK poll released Wednesday said they worry that they will have to work longer because the value of their retirement savings has declined. … Morningstar Vice President John Rekenthaler said investors can expect to wait as much as three years to recover the market losses they see in their 401(k) or other investment accounts.” (Associated Press, 10/2/08)

Credit Crunch Hurts States, “Frozen Florida’s Ability to Borrow Money” “Credit crunch makes borrowing harder for Florida. The nation's credit crunch has frozen Florida's ability to borrow money … Florida has been unable to borrow money for nearly three weeks, said Ben Watkins, director of the division of the state's Division of Bond Finance. As such, the state cannot issue bonds for schools, roads or programs to purchase environmentally sensitive land, Watkins said … Chief Financial Officer Alex Sink …. a former president of Bank of America operations in Florida, was adamant that something needed to be done quickly to stabilize the financial markets. ‘We are in a very critical situation in our country,’ she said. ‘If a solution is not found by the Congress, then the whole financial economy is faced with a crisis of enormous.” (AP, 10/1/08)

Home Foreclosures Rise “Area home foreclosures increase; prices follow … Foreclosure rates in Tulsa increased for the month of July over the same period last year, according to First American CoreLogic, a collector of national, state and local data on home prices, foreclosure and delinquency activity, real estate sales volume and mortgage loan activity.” (Bixby (OK) Bulletin, 9/24/08)

• “Peninsula suffers double-digit increases in home foreclosures. Mortgage woes continue to afflict Northern Olympic Peninsula homeowners as Clallam and Jefferson counties see double-digit increases in foreclosed homes over the last year.” (Peninsula Daily News, 9/27/08)

Construction, Community Projects “Ground to a Halt” “In recent weeks, hotel and other big construction projects have ground to a halt as financing suddenly went dry, and automobile finance companies have suddenly found it hard to lend. Credit markets reflect an important intersection between Wall Street and Main Street.” (Kansas City Star, 9/29/08)

• “Credit crunch nips at Rochester. … Companies and municipalities looking to borrow money for construction projects are facing higher interest rates, which has led to the delay of at least one big-ticket job — a planned $21 million nursing home at Unity Health System's Greece campus … James Thorne, chief investment officer of equity for MTB Investment Advisors, an affiliate of M&T Bank. ‘Right now it is isolated, predominantly, on Wall Street. But there is no way ... that the ripple effect cannot go to Main Street.’” (Rochester (NY) Democrat and Chronicle, 9/28/08)