As a commenter said, “Money is cheap but not easy.”

I played handball last night at the downtown Phoenix YMCA. One of my partners who works in the auto industry told the story of a guy who wanted to put $5,000 down on a $30,000 car but GMAC, the General Motors lending arm, nixed it! He said he verified the story with the comptroller of the dealership.

It sure looks like lenders are being too conservative. It’s a classic swing of banks going from being crazy-liberal to being crazy-conservative.

If lenders are only going to lend on sure things, it sure seems like this would be a good time to start a bank.