Oregon Banks Are Hit With Large Volumes of Bad Loans  

11-17-2009

According to figures by the Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation (FDIC) Oregon's 33 chartered banks lost about $280,000,000 in the first 6 month of this year. The bad loans from these banks climbed 78% in the past year pushing 5.4% of all loans to be in noncurrent status. A noncurrent loan simply means that the homeowner is behind on their payments. Oregon bank foreclosure holdings have tripled to $268,000,000 from one year ago. Two years ago Oregon banks held $4,000,000 in foreclosed properties. 

When comparing Oregon banks to National banks the Oregon banks are far worse off than the rest of the nation. This is caused by people's inability to pay their mortgage which is caused by people not being able to hold a job, which is caused by tough environment for businesses to operate. There is approximately 12.2% unemployment in August compared to 9.7% nationally. Oregon's banks have their assets tied up in real estate. Approximately 65% of the banks' assets are involved in real estate according to the FDIC. Single family home prices are stabilizing but the land values continue to decline because the banks are not doing construction loans anymore.

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