Prabhakar Putheti, a first-time home buyer with a 5 percent down payment, was preapproved for a $380,000 mortgage in an hour and closed less than two months later. Craig Bovaird took just three weeks to nail down $1.2 million in financing to expand his Lancaster plastics company.
Denise Hansford got a loan for two autos the day after she and her husband picked out a new Hyundai sedan and Chevrolet truck.
"It was very easy," she said, adding with chuckle, "Too easy."
As these experiences show, businesses and consumers in Massachusetts can still get loans without much trouble. Gone are the days of easy money, when credit history, income, and likelihood of repayment received scant attention. But for borrowers with decent credit and earnings, local banks, credit unions and other institutions say their lending windows are open.
While the credit crunch is contributing to the national economic slowdown, the difficulty in borrowing hits different parts of the country differently, with Massachusetts apparently spared the worst of it, so far. A credit crunch occurs when lenders make it hard or impossible to borrow by toughening standards, raising rates or both.
During the 1990s recession, for example, the collapse of the New England banking system from bad real estate loans dried up money for even well-established businesses, deepening a recession that became the state's worst since World War II.
This time around, however, most local banks effectively navigated the boom-to-bust in housing, steering clear of risky subprime mortgages that snared national lenders and investment firms, and roiled financial and credit markets, analysts and bank officials said.
In addition, Massachusetts, with a relatively small construction industry, largely avoided the speculative home building now pummeling other states, such as Florida, Nevada, and California. The result: The Massachusetts economy is in better shape, and so is the banking system.
"The credit crunch is very much a regional issue," said James Chessen, chief economist at the American Bankers Association, a trade group in Washington, D.C. "Massachusetts' banks were conservative over the past few years, and now they are in position to get in there and lend."
And many are. Wainwright Bank & Trust Co., of Boston, for example, said it tripled its mortgage lending in 2007, regaining market share lost to mortgage companies that have gone out of business or sharply curtailed lending because of exposure to the subprime crisis. Enterprise Bancorp Inc. of Lowell, said it doubled its loans to small businesses last year. Citizens Financial Group, a unit of Royal Bank of Scotland, estimated its commercial lending in Massachusetts rose 20 percent last year.
"We've got a lot of money to lend," said Robert E. Smyth, president of Citizens Bank, Massachusetts, "and we want to lend it."
Local banks said they haven't tightened lending standards in the wake of the subprime meltdown, but maintained traditional criteria that includes decent credit and earnings, and borrowers' willingness to put their own money into the deal.
Certainly, bank officials said, they are more careful in lending to real estate development projects or companies proposing to take on high proportions of debt. But competition for many other types of loans remains fierce.
At Framingham
Hansford, 51, of Pepperell, also received a rate of about 5 percent for the loan to buy the new Hyundai and Chevrolet truck for herself and husband, Michael. They traded in their old vehicles, a 1998 Oldsmobile and 2004 Chevrolet SUV, and financed the rest through the credit union at Hanscom Air Force Base, where she works. She applied online, picked the cars, submitted the purchase information, and voila: Money. She declined to disclose the loan amount.
"There's plenty of money available for auto loans," said Adam Connolly, president of Herb Connolly dealerships in Framingham, where Hansford bought the vehicles. "We just need more people to be looking for it."
Local banks feel the same away about commercial borrowers. With the economy slowing and possibly in recession, businesses are moving more cautiously. As a result, bank officials said, more money is chasing fewer deals.
But that has meant good deals for business. Bovaird's $1.2 million loan will finance a 7,500-square-foot building addition, new equipment, and an expanded line of credit. His company, Built-Rite Tool & Die Inc., makes molds for plastic components, and its Reliance Engineering division makes precision plastic parts for medical, aerospace, and electronics industries.
The interest rate from TD Banknorth: a little over 6 percent - about the same as prime rate, which banks charge their biggest and best customers.
Putheti, who closed on his $400,000 Newton townhouse in December, got a mortgage rate of 5.87 percent, which is lower than the average national mortgage rate in 2007.
Putheti, 30, has a household income of about $85,000 and a credit score of about 700, which is good, but not a top score on the scale of 850. Scores below 650 are considered subprime. When he applied to NE Moves Mortgage LLC, an affiliate of real estate firm Coldwell Banker, he worried tougher lending standards would keep him from a mortgage. Instead, he said, "It was quite easy."
Still, Bill Mullin, president of NE Moves Mortgage, conceded the lending's not as easy as during the subprime spree of a few years ago. Borrowers now need good credit, often a minimum credit score of 680; verifiable income; and a reasonable down payment.
In other words, said Mullin, "We're just returning to traditional lending standards."
Robert Gavin can be reached at rgavin@globe.com.
