Loan balances at TARP banks fell in Dec -Treasury

WASHINGTON Feb 16 (Reuters) - Loan balances at the top 11 banks that received government capital injections under the Troubled Asset Relief Program fell in December, the U.S. Treasury said on Tuesday.

Average loan balances declined by $19.8 billion, or 1 percent, to $2.766 trillion, the Treasury said in a monthly TARP lending survey.

The size of the drop was bigger than a revised $11.9 billion decline in November to $2.785 trillion, Treasury said.

The survey for December did not include the 10 banks that had repaid their loans in June 2009. In future surveys, institutions that repay will file data for the month of the repayment and then stop reporting, Treasury said.

CIT Group Inc (CIT.N) did not submit December figures as a result of its ongoing bankruptcy proceedings, Treasury said.

Loan originations at the 11 banks rose $20.3 billion in December to $178 billion, Treasury said. (Reporting by Nancy Waitz; Editing by Leslie Adler)