joining us in a cnbc exclusive, we welcome citi mortgage ceo and president sandeep jas.ce to lend. how do you characterize it right now? i mean, we do hear anecdotal evidence around the country of people just finding it almost impossible to get a loan for a home these days. >> well, that's not quite true, bill. last year, we lent as an industry, we lent about $1.9 trillion in mortgages. the year before that, $1.5 trillion. so there's a lot of mortgages out there. >> how does that compare to before the financial crisis? >> i'd say, you know, it was about $1.5 trillion. although in the heady years, it went up to $2 trillion. so it's right up there in terms of the amount of credit that's available. i will tell you, though, that responsible lending is the theme of the day. and so we look at, you know, there has got to be the ability to pay, proven by the right amount of documentation and good underwriting. so there's a lot of prudence out there and i think that that's what's probably excluding a few people. >> there seems to be a focus on one specific metric, which is a pote