Despite protections built into most loans, there are still financial risks posed by a strike.

Such repurchases help hold up the stock price and are a good sign that management is not looking to plunge into risky loans.

The money is divided into loans and offered to members of the association.

That led them into loans for commercial real estate and junk bonds.

Many common commercial transactions ultimately turn into short-term loans.

But siding with the anti-foreign-aid Republicans, they'd turn the rest of the aid into loans.

The contracts are used to leverage people into high-cost loans.

The bank has also said it wants to shift some of its $28 billion investment in securities into loans, where profit margins are larger.

What bank mergers won't do, of course, is make bad loans into good loans.

Most of the recent refinancing activity has been into 30-year fixed-rate loans.