Banks in the U.S. saw increased demand from businesses andconsumers for lending and in turn made those loans more readilyavailable, according to a Federal Reserve report.

“Domestic banks, on balance, reported having eased their lendingstandards on many types of business and consumer loans and havingexperienced increases in loan demand, on average, over the pastthree months,” the Fed said today in its quarterly survey of seniorloan officers.

The survey shows banks loosening the reins of credit for manycategories of lending, including commercial real estate, commercialand industrial loans for firms of all sizes, credit cards, autoloans, and other consumer loans. An exception was declining demandfor mortgages.