FACTBOX: U.S. credit tightening, but by how much?

NEW YORK (Reuters) - Lenders who freely provided funding earlier this decade are taking a far more cautious approach by tightening credit standards -- thereby limiting companies' expansion plans and potentially hampering the U.S. economy's capacity for growth

The most recent U.S. Federal Reserve survey of bank lending practices asked about credit standards for commercial and industrial loans or credit lines, and found:

* 53.8 percent have tightened standards for large and mid-sized firms

* 3.8 percent have tightened considerably

* 61.5 percent have tightened standards for small firms

* 63.5 percent have tightened cost of credit lines

* 48.1 percent have tightened somewhat premiums on riskier loans, 28.8 percent have tightened these "considerably"

(Source: Federal Reserve)

(Compiling by Nick Zieminski; Editing by Brian Moss)