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vicu: versa. As a result, man of the hiloso hies and attitudes ex- pressed by the en ers and t:hese governmenta agencies are the same. FH�'s oi�jective is to help people finance homes who otherwise would not be able tc� do s4. Their emphasia betweer� n�w construction and existin� hom�s tends to vary� froTn time to time; but generally their anajor direc- tion has been towaxd financing nP;�v �onstruction. The VA, on the other hand, was set up to facilitate o'otaining housing for veterans and to m�.ke it easier for them to rneet the �ninimum qualifi.catione. Otl�er federal. a�gencies--the Feder3l Reserve Bank Board, the Home Loan Bank Bnaxd, F�deral National Mortgage Association (Fanny May), and the Home L.oan Bank Iiisurance Corporation--have al� had significant influence collectively and individually in the lendi�ng field. Their influ- ence is primaxily in the direction of setting the ground rules under which most of the lenders operate and, establishing such things as mortgage interest rates. For our purposes, there are three factors whicll underlie and greatly influence the action of lend�rs, F�iA, and VA. The first of these is the existence of a national mortgage markeit. Its implications are many, but the prime one is that interest rates are set nationally, far the most part, for both mortgages and savings. Thus, in order to compete, iocal lending institutions must usually meet or at least approach the g4ing rate in �ther parts of the country. This is particularly �rue in the attraction of outside investors who are relatively free to invest in any ge�graghical area in the country. On the local sc�ne t�iis fact is of particular im�ortance to the sa�Jings and 1Qan associations because they are in stiff cornpetition with eas:h other and the commercial banks to attract savings and investrxients which they can in turn rei.nvest in residential mo�tgages. The se�ond significant factor is that lendin institutions , like all invest- ors, must kee their mone turnin over and have it in productive use. This has rami ications in terms o how individual mortgage applications or rnortgage commitments are viewed. When idle funds can mean thousands of dollars per day in loss of interest, it is a�parent that the�e funds cannot remain idle for very long. Consequer.tly, there is great pressure to invest money as soon as possible in a reasonable and prudent manner. A third factor, which is a local condition centers on the state foreclosure laws. These laws, which are quite restrictive from the lender's stand- point, tend to both inhibit the flow of investment money fr.om outside and restrain local lending institutions from being more liberal in their loan- to-value ratio and amortization periodso Savings and loan associations, for ins-tance, �.re authorized by law to loan up to 90 per cent of ihe valtie; whereas, in fact, none of the on.es interviewed went much higher than 75 per cent. Most lenders contend that a more liberal state foreclosure law would allow them to make loans at a higher loan-to-value ratio. �