Don’t look now, but the next crisis is coming. Comptroller of the Currency John Dugan, in a speech to Florida bankers, warned that his office is now focusing increased attention on high concentrations in commercial real estate (CRE) — especially at community banks.

There is growing dissatisfaction with the mortgage-relief programs that are now in operation. In the first place, all of these programs — HOPE NOW, Project Lifeline, FHASecure — admittedly limit their support to narrow categories of homeowners, leaving out in the cold many others who appear to be equally deserving.

Twenty-one Democratic members of Congress, led by Rep. Paul Kanjorski ( Pa.), have written the Secretaries of Education and the Treasury warning that the current credit market upheavals could threaten the availability of loans under the Federal Family Education Loan Program (FFELP).

Encouraged by the Bush administration, the nation’s largest mortgage lenders and servicers continue to ratchet up their efforts to cool the subprime meltdown plaguing the industry. On February 12, at a press conference with Treasury Secretary Henry Paulson and HUD Secretary F Alphonso Jackson, six HOPE NOW alliance members — Bank of America, Chase, Citigroup, Countrywide, Washington Mutual and Wells Fargo — introduced a new outreach effort.