Early filings with the Federal Deposit Insurance Corp. hint that Massachusetts’ community banks had a difficult time staying in the black in 2008.

Of the four state savings banks that had already filed mandatory quarterly financial reports with the FDIC, two reported losses. The state’s remaining 200-odd community banks are scheduled to file year-end reports within the next few weeks. Merrimac Savings Bank, a $59 million-in-assets thrift based in Merrimac, Mass., posted a $394,000 loss for the year. The tiny bank was hit by nearly $1 million in losses linked to its securities portfolio, FDIC records show.As of year end, the bank’s assets were up by around $4 million since Sept. 30.Patriot Community Bank in Woburn posted $233,000 loss for the year due to a tough lending environment that saw it pay out more in interest ($1.36 million) than it was able to earn on its loan portfolio ($1.18 million). American Indian Bank Filings.

Patriot had $58.9 million in assets as of Dec. 31, up $3 million from Sept. 30’s total. Two other filers — the Institution for Savings in Newburyport and Its Vicinity and Boston-based Mercantile Bank and Trust Co. — both booked net income for the year. The Institution for Savings in Newburyport and Its Vicinity, with $983 million in assets, reported $7.1 million in net income, up slightly from the $6.6 million booked in 2007. Its assets were up 13 percent year-over-year.

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Mercantile Bank reported $616,000 in net income for 2008, up 68 percent from the $366,000 netted in 2007. It ended the year with $152 million in assets, up 12.5 percent from the $135 million on its books a year earlier.