The final vote-263 to 171 today as the House passed a 700 billion dollar financial bailout

The original bill was defeated by the House on Monday, but after some changes to the bill in the Senate, the House agreed to the plan this afternoon

Government officials say many of the nation's banks have been unable to lend money recently because of the situation. But what about here in North Dakota? Dan Erdmann reports.

Out of luck: that's where many companies and individuals around the country stand that are in need of a loan. Some banks simply don't have the financial backing to support any lending right now, but in our area, that is not the case.

Terry Zeltinger, President - United Community Bank: "We're kind of insulated from this, because our economy is robust and things are going very well. Our houses are not going down in value, they're going up in value, especially in the Minot area, so we have a little bit of an anomaly compared to the rest of the country."


Darrell Olson, President - Town & Country Credit Union: "We never got involved in any of the risky lending ventures that the rest of the country did. A lot of the big Wall Street areas, they were taking high-risk yields. There's ample money supply. We see no reason for anybody to worry about that at all.”

Some of the national dilemma stems from housing and sub-prime housing loans, in which people who were unqualified, received loans. Zeltinger says it was only a matter of time before the years of debt caught up with lenders.

Terry Zeltinger, President - United Community Bank: "It just spiraled out of control and certain lenders around the country have an enormous amount of houses for sale or under foreclosure."


This is also not the case for our area. Housing availability is on the decline and many developers are struggling to keep up with the demand. Although the national lending crisis could have an indirect impact on North Dakota, both Zeltinger and Olson agree, the problem has not affected our state's borrowing.

Darrell Olson, President - Town & Country Credit Union: "Not the case at all. We're making loans every day and we haven't missed a beat."


Terry Zeltinger, President - United Community Bank: "We're making loans just like we always have. We've continued to use the same credit standards that we've used before. We've always done things in moderation, so we don't get carried away with generating a whole bunch of fees by making questionable loans in order to increase our income."


So even though some areas of the country are awaiting credit, at least for right now, it's business as usual for North Dakota. And you can take that to the bank. watch the video | save this article / add to your favorites list