Bank Lending Standards (SLOOS, C&I)
This series comes from the Fed's quarterly Senior Loan Officer Opinion Survey (SLOOS), reporting the net percentage of banks tightening standards on commercial and industrial loans to large and middle-market firms — the share tightening minus the share easing. Around 80 large domestic banks participate, making it a direct read on whether business credit is getting harder or easier to obtain.
Latest reading
As of April 2026, Lending Standards (Net % tightening) stands at 8.1 — up from 5.3 the prior reading. Positive readings mean net tightening (credit harder to get); negative means net easing. Tightening peaks before recessions and easing peaks during recoveries, and sustained readings above +20% have historically preceded equity weakness; above +50% is crisis-level (2008, 2020). Several quarters of rising tightening matter far more than a single spike — pair it with the survey's loan-demand readings, since weak demand plus tight supply is especially negative. Series history runs from 1993 to present.
Net % tightening
Next release: TBD
Full history
How to read it
Positive readings mean net tightening (credit harder to get); negative means net easing. Tightening peaks before recessions and easing peaks during recoveries, and sustained readings above +20% have historically preceded equity weakness; above +50% is crisis-level (2008, 2020). Several quarters of rising tightening matter far more than a single spike — pair it with the survey's loan-demand readings, since weak demand plus tight supply is especially negative.
Methodology & data
Lending Standards is sourced from Fed via the Federal Reserve's FRED service (Federal Reserve SLOOS via FRED (DRTSCILM), quarterly, net percent). We pull the complete history, chart it on a quarterly basis, overlay SPY for context, and generate a dated plain-English reading from the latest release — with no smoothing or adjustment beyond what the chart legend states.
Every reading is stamped with its release date, last updated 2026-06-09. See our methodology for the standards every series on the site is held to.
- Category
- Money & Credit
- Frequency
- Quarterly
- Source
- Fed
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Frequently asked questions
What is the Bank Lending Standards (SLOOS, C&I)?
This series comes from the Fed's quarterly Senior Loan Officer Opinion Survey (SLOOS), reporting the net percentage of banks tightening standards on commercial and industrial loans to large and middle-market firms — the share tightening minus the share easing. Around 80 large domestic banks participate, making it a direct read on whether business credit is getting harder or easier to obtain.
How do you read Lending Standards?
Positive readings mean net tightening (credit harder to get); negative means net easing. Tightening peaks before recessions and easing peaks during recoveries, and sustained readings above +20% have historically preceded equity weakness; above +50% is crisis-level (2008, 2020). Several quarters of rising tightening matter far more than a single spike — pair it with the survey's loan-demand readings, since weak demand plus tight supply is especially negative.
Where does the Lending Standards data come from?
Federal Reserve SLOOS via FRED (DRTSCILM), quarterly, net percent. We chart the full history and publish a dated, plain-English reading with every release; the raw series is downloadable as CSV at /data/indicators/bank-lending-standards.csv.
How often is Lending Standards updated?
Lending Standards is a quarterly series from Fed, refreshed here as soon as a new release posts to FRED.