This is no more true than saying building societies pump up house prices when they grant mortgages.

Local banks soon stopped granting mortgages and home-improvement loans for the area.

The changes would send property values plunging, they say, because banks would not grant mortgages on property without insurance.

It then lends the money to house purchasers for a long period of time by granting mortgages (typically these are paid back over 20 to 30 years).

Today, however, they have become much more similar, with building societies now offering current account facilities and cash machines, and commercial banks granting mortgages.

Mr. Leach recalled a hearing on red-lining, the practice that banks use to block off neighborhoods where they will not grant mortgages.

Property values have increased, and banks are granting mortgages.

Spokesmen for several of the banks disagreed, saying there are relatively few opportunities to grant mortgages in the area.

Financial institutions that granted unrealistic mortgages at the height of a market they inflated themselves should be taking the hit here.

He was finally able to procure money through loans from a number of different friends by granting mortgages on most of his land.