Feb. 22--In the world of banks, it's raining. The clouds have settled in, and the Doppler radar shows no sign of imminent clearing.

So in steps the U.S. Treasury Office of Financial Stability. In come the Troubled Asset Relief Program and a Capital Purchase Program that allows banks to apply for funding.

As of midmonth, 16 banks in Washington have received CPP money.

Consumers wonder, and some complain that the money given to banks has not flowed to borrowers. Banks have been accused, correctly or not, of hoarding the money.

Brad Williamson, director of banks at the state Department of Financial Institutions, said last week, "Most financial institutions used the money to shore up their capital. It's unrealistic that banks would turn around and lend money out when the economy is in challenging times. It's not that banks won't lend money out -- if they don't, they're out of business -- but banks have to be prudent on how they lend money out."

Loans are being made. Banks are soliciting new business, especially commercial and industrial business, with sound borrowers. They are even making some real estate loans, as Williamson explains.

"There are still good commercial real estate borrowers out there," he said. "There's guys who never played the high-leverage, go-go-go game. The problem is, those guys are having to work a lot harder to get their credit."

THE BANKS

Tacoma-based Columbia Banking System, parent of Columbia Bank, has received nearly $77 million.

Not all of that money has been used for loans.

"One of the misconceptions about the money is that somehow the $77 million is tied to lending," said Melanie Dressel, Columbia president and CEO, last week.

"I view it more of an umbrella. It's part of the capital structure of the bank," she said. "We are going to continue to loan money. We are going to continue to invest in our communities. It gets down to be able to function in a business-as-usual fashion."

The money is not free. The banks accepting it will pay a 5 percent annual dividend for the privilege.

Another South Sound bank -- Northwest Commercial -- announced Monday that it had received $2 million in CPP funding.

"We're a fairly small bank with limited capital. We're in pretty decent shape, but a little more wouldn't hurt us," said Cliff Rubert, Northwest Commercial executive vice president and chief credit officer, in an interview last week.

"We took a lot of time to consider it. The board had several meetings to thrash out how we would use it and what the costs were," he said. "We mulled this over quite a bit and finally came to the conclusion that if you attempted to get capital in the 12 percent to 15 percent range, 5 percent seemed more reasonable."

Not all state banks have applied. The 16 banks that have accepted the funding represent just over 16 percent of banks based in Washington.

David Brown, president and CEO of Puyallup's Valley Bank, chose not to apply.

"We have an abundance of capital. We have money to loan. We didn't need the additional capital," he said.