As the results from America’s leading banks trickled in this week, one thing that became clear from both the winners and losers is that the U.S. consumer is still feeling the pain from the last year’s credit crunch.

In the latest sign of consumer woes, Bank of America, the nation’s largest lender, reported a $1 billion third-quarter loss Friday, down from a $1.8 billion profit in the same quarter last year.

“We believe we may have peaked in total credit losses this quarter, although the levels going forward will continue to be elevated and certain businesses will still experience higher losses,” Bank of America chief executive Ken Lewis said in a conference call with analysts. “Consumer charge-offs may be close to peaking in dollar terms year-end, although they will stay elevated.” Lewis is stepping down amid controversy about the bank's acquisition of Merrill Lynch, which was in worse shape than investors may have known, and his big acquisitions in the troubled consumer sector, including subprime-mortgage lender Countrywide and credit card giant MBNA.

Bank of America said it increased reserves for future losses by $2.1 billion, down from the $4.7 billion in the earlier quarter. In all, the bank considers $9.6 billion of loans uncollectible.

The poor results at Bank of America came as a warning to some observers that the problems for big money center banks that began last summer are not yet over. “The idea that the financial crisis is over is a fantasy, and it looks like the numbers bear that out,” Harvard professor Niall Ferguson told Bloomberg television. “It’s clearly not over for Bank of America.”

BofA’s loss came after both JPMorgan and Citigroup reported profits in the third quarter, though both indicated that their consumer businesses were still weak.

“While we are seeing some initial signs of consumer credit stability, we are not yet certain that this trend will continue,” said JPMorgan chief executive Jamie Dimon.

Vikram Pandit, Citigroup’s CEO, told investors that credit costs “remain elevated and clearly U.S. consumer credit remains the number one issue affecting our near-term results.” While there are signs of improvement in international markets, Pandit said. “challenges remain in the U.S.”