Closer to home, major players in the mortgage business, like JPMorgan, continue to struggle with mountains of defaulted loans, foreclosed properties and demands that they repurchase flawed mortgages from government-controlled Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac as well as private investors.
Despite recent increases in commercial lending, JPMorgan officials say loan demand from solid businesses is spotty, leaving them with deposits overflowing — and open to accusations that they are too tightfisted after having been bailed out by the government.