Bank of America (NYSE:BAC) Lending Down 10 Percent

Lending for the full year by Bank of America (NYSE:BAC) dropped by almost 10 percent, as the weak economy keeps businesses on the sidelines.

Some that are ignorant as to how banking works, attempt to make it look like banks are holding back on lending, but the truth is businesses are the ones making decisions on whether or not to apply for loans or not, and if they don't have a reason for borrowing, they're not going to borrow.

That's not to say banks haven't been playing it safe, as letting the money sit safely at the Federal Reserve has been one major practice during the year.

But businesses overall have stated and implied the future doesn't look bright at this time as far as growth goes, and until it does, there is no reason to borrow.

It doesn't matter what is said, if there isn't a market for loans there will be a drop in borrowing, the reason large banks like Bank of America have fallen in the number of loans they've lent out over the last year.

In 2009 Bank of America loaned out a total of $758 billion. In 2010 that fell to $685 billion.

Bank of America was trading at $14.75, gaining $0.46, or 3.22 percent, as of 1:21 PM EST.