As the national media continues to focus on what it is calling a credit crisis in the United States, local banks — which continue to lend money and grow their loan portfolios — are asking "what credit crisis?"

Neither Mark Primeau, president of Laconia Savings Bank, nor Sam Laverack, executive vice president of Meredith Village Savings Bank, denies that there is a problem on Wall Street — which Congress is currently attempting to fix through a $700 billion bailout.

But as they've been saying for weeks, Primeau and Laverack on Tuesday again stressed that "Main Street" banks are doing just fine, both in New Hampshire and especially here in the Lakes Region.

Those opinions are shared by New Hampshire Banking Commissioner Peter Hildreth, who pronounced that Granite State financial institutions are "safe and sound."

"When I talk to bankers and credit union folks, I hear a lot of them have been writing a record number of loans," said Hildreth, who is a Laconia native. "They're filling the voids left by some folks, the ones who caused the problems."

The latter group Hildreth was referring to includes both borrowers, some of whom had no ability to repay the mortgages they were taking out, and the lenders who gave them the money, later washing the transactions through a number of new, complex financial instruments whose unraveling was the demise of several major investment banks and which directly led to the current crisis facing the nation.

"Part of the problem with folks who got 'subprime' loans is that they really shouldn't have been in a house," said Hildreth. "Their credit scores weren't good, they didn't have as much of a down payment as needed and their incomes didn't support a mortgage. So the truth is they went to the banks and the banks said 'you have to fix your credit, then we can get you into a house," but instead, they went to another lender, got a mortgage and ended up being foreclosed upon."

Hildreth supports Congress doing something to shore up the financial markets.

"I'm not an economist but it seems to me that Congress has to take some action if for no other reason than they are taking action and that the economy is going to work again. A lot of the problem with any of the downturns is people's confidence. They're worried and Congress needs to take action to say 'we will fix this.'"

Primeau agreed that there has been "very serious damage to customers confidence" in America's financial system because of the subprime meltdown.

"However New Hampshire banks and Laconia Savings continue to be very strong," he said. "In the case of LSB, we have over $100 million in capital and reserves and a very low percentage of delinquent loans. We're very much open for business to lend money for homes, vehicles, education, to buy equipment and for capital.

"People have read about a credit crunch in America and nothing could be further from the truth here in New Hampshire. There is no credit crunch. We have not been canceling lines of credit or pulling back on our credit standards. We have, like most banks in the area, been conservative and prudent."

Primeau stressed that potential customers should know that local banks are still open for business as usual.

"Locally, I think it's important to let consumers and businesses know that Laconia Savings Bank and other community banks are very much open for businesses and are eager to lend money for credit-qualified individuals and there is absolutely no credit crunch in the local market area," he said.

"What we're trying to say," Laverack added, "is that Main Street banking or small town banking is still strong and viable and making money. We've avoided some of the investments that have gotten some other institutions in trouble and we've stuck to our main focus, which has been lending to people who live and work in the Lakes Region."

MVSB, like its Lakes Region brethren, "sees this as an opportunity to have a bigger impact in our area," Laverack said. "As we build more confidence, we hope they (consumers) use us more" to purchase financial products that they may previously have bought from national firms.

"I have not seen any crisis of confidence in any New Hampshire institutions. We've been monitoring it all along and thankfully people seem to be trusting all the local institutions, not just Meredith Village Savings Bank."

A 32-year veteran of MVSB, Laverack remembers the days of soaring interest rates during the Carter administration and the real estate crash of the late 1980s.

"This is Round 3 for me and this (the current economic crisis) only makes us more conservative and more focused on looking down the road" to make sure that MVSB is doing things right, said Laverack.

As to what's happening nationally, "We're in unchartered waters and I believe that the underlying foundation of the country is strong. We've got some things to work through."

While unsure how it'll happen, Laverack is confident that "we'll come out fine on the other end."