"[A Central Square branch] didn't really make sense because there are so many other banks in that area," Beal says.

Although the Federal Mortgage Disclosure Act requires all lending institutions to provide a copy of their annual mortgage statement within 90 days of the year's end, East Cambridge Savings Bank was able to provide only its 1991 figures.

Lynne Feeney, a mortgage executive for East Cambridge Savings Bank, says the bank was unable to release its 1992 data because it contains applicants' personal information. All the other banks contacted were able to release the 1992 data.

East Cambridge Savings Bank received 36 Cambridge mortgage applications in 1991.

The bank received no applications from Area 2 census tract 3531, the city's lowest income area in 1989. Area 7, the Riverside neighborhood which had the second-lowest per capita income in 1989, also submitted no applications.

To be sure, the Highland and Strawberry Hill neighborhoods also did not submit applications. These areas had middle range incomes in 1989 of about $19,000.

Feeney says the bank has employed two commissioned representatives for about the last eight months. Prior to this period, Feeney says, most mortgages occurred on a walk-in or referral basis.

Cambridgeport Bank was the city's largest mortgage lender in 1991 and one second largest in 1992.

William M. Mullins '71, the president of the bank's mortgage division, said in an interview that his firm is committed to providing capital for its home base of Cambridge.

"Since we're headquartered in Cambridge, it's very important that we be the biggest lender in Cambridge that we can be," Mullins says.

Mullins says Cambridgeport Bank decided to focus on mortgaging about five years ago as a means of increasing profitability.

Although the bank faces stiff competition, especially form larger lenders such as Baybank and Shawmut, Mullins says his mortgage executives are committed to soliciting loans throughout the city.

"The critical thing for a bank like us is to make sure that we're lending in all these [economically] different areas," Mullins says.

In 1992, Cambridgeport received 247 Cambridge mortgage applications. The only census tract from which the bank did not receive an application was 3524--a Central Square neighborhood with the third lowest income in 1989. Mullins says his 20 mortgage executives operate on 100 percent commission and are therefore driven to seek the maximum number of mortgages possible.

Residents of the city's poorest neighborhoods say funds for investment encourage stabilization.