savings and loan association

See synonyms for savings and loan association on Thesaurus.com
noun
  1. a cooperative savings institution, chartered and regulated by a state or the federal government, that receives deposits in exchange for shares of ownership and invests its funds chiefly in loans secured by first mortgages on homes. Abbreviations: S&L, S and L

  • Also called building and loan association, cooperative bank; British, building society .

Words Nearby savings and loan association

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British Dictionary definitions for savings and loan association

savings and loan association

noun
  1. a US name for a building society

Collins English Dictionary - Complete & Unabridged 2012 Digital Edition © William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. 1979, 1986 © HarperCollins Publishers 1998, 2000, 2003, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2009, 2012

Cultural definitions for savings and loan association

savings and loan association

A financial institution that resembles a bank but that historically did not offer services such as personal checking accounts and that invested capital mainly in home mortgages. In the late 1970s, Congress passed legislation freeing savings and loan associations (often called S) from their traditional dependency on home mortgage loans. In response, S invested their capital, often unwisely, in a range of enterprises, especially real estate. In the late 1980s, hundreds of S went bankrupt, leaving the federal government, which insured the accounts of depositors, with an enormous bill. Since then they have been subject to tighter regulation.

The New Dictionary of Cultural Literacy, Third Edition Copyright © 2005 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. All rights reserved.