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The Federal Reserve's April survey of bank-employed senior loan officers isn't exactly surpising: more than 90% of those who responded made basically no change over the last three months in their credit standards for prime home borrowers, who have relatively high credit scores and well-documented financial statements. For nontraditional residential loans, which include interest-only mortgages and "alt-A" products with limited income verification, credit standards have actually tightened a little since January.

To really get a grasp on just how much things have changed from only a few years ago, though, the Fed asked these loan orignators a series of questions about the likelihood of making home loans to certain borrowers today, compared with 2006, at the height of the market...and you know what?

Nearly 60% of these lenders said they were "much less likely" to approve a home loan for a borrower with a down payment of 10% and a FICO score of 620 -- a big change from 2006. Even for an applicant with a respectable credit score of 680 and a 10% down payment, almost 29% stated they were "somewhat less likely" to approve that application and 21% of those lenders said they were "much less likely" to say yes today compared with 2006.