Small and midsize businesses, sensing better times ahead, call up the bank for a loan

Now that demand is up and business is finally improving for many companies, they're doing what they always do at the beginning of an expansion — calling the bank and asking for a loan. And in a stark contrast to the depths of the financial crisis, the banks are saying yes.In the last three months of 2010, U.S. Bancorp wrote $8 billion in new business loans, the most in two years. JPMorgan Chase added 400 midsize companies as clients. And bank loans overall grew for the first time in two years, according to the Federal Reserve.

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