Under pressure from builders and Congress, federal regulators are moving to ease lending restrictions imposed on savings and loans under last year's bailout law. The Office of Thrift Supervision is proposing to temporarily quadruple to 60 percent the percentage of capital that a qualified thrift institution may lend to one borrower, an agency official said Tuesday. The office was under intense pressure from lawmakers who were inundated with complaints from builders that the rule was forcing them to curtail projects, putting their employees out of work. Last year's S&L legislation had sharply reduced the lending limit, aiming to sever the cozy relationship between highflying S&Ls and some developers. In the past, loan limits were so high that the default of a single loan could bankrupt a thrift. However, builders complained that the shift was too abrupt and left many reputable builders unable to arrange alternative financing for sound projects. Last month, the National Association of Homebuilders cited the regulation as one element in a credit crunch they predicted would cut housing construction nationally by 100,000 units to 1.28 million this year. Under a draft regulation submitted by the thrift agency to the Treasury Department and the Office of Management and Budget, the strongest S&Ls would be allowed to lend up to 60 percent of their capital to a single U.S. developer for residential construction. That is four times the 15 percent limit imposed by S&L bailout legislation enacted last August. The limit would drop to 30 percent before returning to the 15 percent mark at the end of 1991, said the thrift office official, who spoke on condition of anonymity. Before passage of the S&L bailout law, thrifts had been allowed to lend 100 percent of their capital to one borrower. The new transition rule would not apply to commercial projects, and only S&Ls currently meeting strict capital standards effective in 1995 would be eligible. The thrift office official said 1,185 of the nation's 2,502 solvent S&Ls meet the test. ``This will give us some breathing room,'' said economist David Seiders of the homebuilders group. ``We think it will provide a lot of help.'' The association had been pushing for a somewhat longer transition period and had wanted regulators to make a larger group of thrifts eligible for the relaxation. But, Seiders said, ``This is a step in the right direction.'' The homebuilders had mounted a campaign in Congress, where legislators in both chambers were preparing amendments to the S&L law. A transition rule proposed by Rep. Peter Hoagland, D-Neb., had attracted more than 60 cosponsors. However, Seiders said the builders all along had been looking for relief from regulators rather than having to wait months for Congress to change the law. Details of the loan-to-one-borrower proposal were first reported in Tuesday editions of American Banker, a trade newspaper. The thrift office hopes to formally announce the policy by the end of the month, the agency official said. Regulators, in testimony to a House Banking subcommittee in February, indicated that last year's law left them with no discretion to issue a transition rule. However, Treasury Undersecretary Robert Glauber told the Senate Banking Committee in May that thrift office lawyers were working to establish their authority to interpret the law. Seiders praised Timothy Ryan, the new director of the thrift office, for his willingness to review the matter after taking office two months ago. ``We think it's a good sign in terms of (prospects for) working with Ryan'' and the agency, the homebuilders official said.
