Evening star., 1937-03-13
HOME LOAN BANK
CREDITS SWOLLEN
3,77O Savings and Loan As
sociations Have S973,000,-
600 Potential Total.

The 3,770 savings and loan asSocia-
tions holding membership in the Fed
eral Home Loan Bank System have
potential credit capacity of S973,-
100000 from which resources can be
drawn for home construction and
financing throughout the United
Stats this year, according to a state
ment today by Preston Delano, gov
ernor of the system.
He cited a report showing how
rapidly this great reserve credit sys-
TEN has grown since its organization
by Congress in July, 1882, and the
widespread use now being made of its
facilities in providing loans for the
building, repair, purchase and ref
nancing Of homes.
In December, 1882, there were but
1l9 members institutions of the Fed
eral Home Loan Bank System, with
only s2l7,oO0,OOo in assets" said Mr..
Delano. To-day the 3,770 members,
located in all parts of the country,
have total assets of more than $3,-
300,000,000 These thrift and lending
institutions form a huge national net
work to provide American citizens
with funds to finance their homes
through lorg-term loans"
536 in One Region.
The largest number of members in
one Home Loan Bank region are in
the Pittsburgh district, there being
536 as of January |.
ip
cago third, 473; Winston-Salem N c.,
fourth, 427; New York fifth, 412; Lit
tie Rock sixth, 266; DeS Moines sew
enth, 227: Topeka eighth, 224, Indian
apoliS ninth, 189 Los Angeles tenth,
l73; Boston eleventh, 172; Portland
twelfth, 1876.
These u banks constitute ma
tional reservoir of funds from which
member institutions can borrow in
much the same way that commercial
banks can draw on the Federal Re-
serve System" Mr. Delano explained.
With home construction agai on
the upgrade, partly because credit
is availablee, it should be empha-
sized that more liberal lending policies
have been widely adopted over the
country by such associations.
The long-term amortized loan,
popularized by savings, building and
loan associations, is becoming uni
versal, and families wishing to build,
buy or retain homes can now do SO
under more advantageous circum-
stances as the result of the progress in
reshaping the home mortgage struc-
ture of the Nation. Membership in
the Federal Home Loan Banks is
open to three classes Of thrift inStitu-
tions that finance large percentage
of urban homes, namely, savings,
building and loan associations, saw
ingS banks and insurance companies.
Sc far savings and loan associations
have taken the greatest advantage of
the protection and of the facilities
offered by tbs new reserve system.
Increased Volume Offered.
ITO families which may desire to
finance their homes on a long-term
basis with a member institution the
Federal Home Loan Bank System
means security against sudden with
drawal of mortgage credit. 1t means
also an increased volume Of funds
available for various types of home
financing, and particularly a better
distribution of such funds over the
Nation.
The former isolation of home
financing institutions frequently
West and South as a whole to suffer
from an undersupply of credit for
home financing at the time when
large financial centers had surplus.
The bank system acts now as a sta
bilizer, transferring surplus funds from
one community to another where the
demand exceeds the supply"
Mr.. Delano also emphasized the
necessity for safeguards that will as
sure the home builder more value for
his money. The bank system is en-
couraging the use of better designs,
materials and construction methods,
he said.
The experiences of the depression
have brought home the fact that the
average family cannot, unaided, assure
itself housing of a necessary standard,
and that too many homes are jerry
built, waSteful and spiritually frus-
trating. The home-financing insti-
tuition has the power, because of its
control of the purse strings, to protect
the borrowing home owner against
substandard housing
THE system is attempting to en-
courage and aid its member institu-
tions to use this power. With the
collaboration of the architectural pre-
fession it is seeking to make available
through member institutions expert
technical advice and supervision to
the purchaser of even the lowest cost
home"