Definition

1. Noun:
   • A type of financial institution: A savings and loan is a specific kind of thrift institution. Its primary historical purpose was to accept savings deposits from members and use those funds to provide home mortgage loans. It is often structured as a cooperative or mutual organization.

Usage

• Noun:
  • My grandparents got their first mortgage from a local savings and loan.
  • The savings and loan industry was heavily regulated for most of the 20th century.

Advanced Usage

• "Savings and loan association": This is the full, formal name for the institution.
  • He worked as a manager at a savings and loan association for thirty years.

Variants and Related Words

• Thrift institution (n): A general term for a financial institution, like a savings bank or a savings and loan, that primarily focuses on taking deposits and providing home loans.
  • Credit unions and savings and loans are both considered thrift institutions.
• S&L (n): A common abbreviation for "savings and loan."
  • Many S&Ls faced financial difficulties in the 1980s.

Synonyms

• Thrift: A less common, more general synonym for a thrift institution.
• Building society: The term commonly used in the United Kingdom and some other countries for a similar type of institution.

Related Phrases

• Savings and loan crisis: A historical term referring to the widespread failure of savings and loan institutions in the United States in the 1980s and early 1990s.
  • The savings and loan crisis led to significant changes in financial regulations.

Noun

1. a thrift institution that is required by law to make a certain percentage of its loans as home mortgages