the numbers major banks made it tougher for borrowers to qualify for a loan in the spring and lending standards are likely to get even tighter by year end “banks’ lending standards have tightened since 2022 for all loan categories” the federal reserve’s senior loan officer survey for the second quarter reported banks have tightened lending standards in response to rising us interest rates worries about a recession and the failure of several regional banks in the spring the failures triggered a rush of customer withdrawals that also forced banks to raise interest rates to stanch the flow of deposits tighter lending standards have coincided with reduced demand for loans especially among home buyers and large businesses planning big projects overall lending is still near a record high however key details the net percentage of banks tightening standards on crucial commercial and industrial loans rose to 508 from 46 in the first quarter and 448 in the 2022 fourth quarter that’s the highest level since the onset of the pandemic in 2020 when the index hit 712 households were also feeling the pinch banks reported tighter standards for credit cards and most consumer loans fewer banks beefed up standards for auto buyers however instead they required higher financing requirements on borrowers auto sales have surged this year big picture getting a loan these days isn’t hard but it is getting harder the failure of several midsized banks in the spring spooked regulators and wall street djia  a problem compounded by nagging worries about a recession banks have pulled back to husband their money and get a better read on the economy yet a muchfeared “credit crunch” in which banks dramatically cut lending has failed to materialize giving support to the idea that the economy might avoid a recession fed officials had been worried banks would begin to freeze out borrowers and cause economic growth to seize up “so far that’s been the dog that has not been barking” chicago fed president austan goolsbee said monday in an interview with yahoo finance market reaction the stock market djia 002 spx 007 was basically unchanged in monday trades the yield on the 10year treasury note tmubmusd10y 3928 slipped to 393