Some U.S. banks eased underwriting for business loans to largefirms, but standards for small businesses remained the same,according to the July 2012 Senior Loan Officer Opinion Survey onBank Lending Practices released Monday by the Federal Reserve.

Loan demand from large and middle-market firms strengthened overthe past three months, but demand from small businesses was unchanged during the sameperiod.

A modest fraction of banks reported that they had eased lendingstandards on commercial real estate loans over the past threemonths, while a relatively sizable fraction, on net, continued toindicate that demand for such loans had strengthened, the Fedsaid.

Prime mortgage underwriting standards showed little change, butnontraditional mortgage lending standards tightened somewhat.However, a relatively large fraction of respondents reported havingexperienced stronger demand for prime mortgages over the same timeperiod.

A relatively large percentage of banks reported stronger demandfor auto loans, on balance, while fewer banks reported strongerdemand for credit cards and other consumer loans.

About one-third of respondents participating in the FederalHousing Finance Agency's revised Home Affordable Refinance Programreported that HARP 2.0 refinance applications accounted for a significantshare of total refinance applications over the past threemonths.

Additionally, a large majority of respondents indicated theyanticipate more than 60% of HARP applications will be approved.

Another question in the survey revealed that lending standardsfor most categories of loans remained at least somewhat tighter, onbalance, than the middle of their respective ranges since 2005, theFed said.