Home » Archive for August, 2009
Federal Judge Orders Federal Reserve to Turn Over Agency Records to Bloomberg News
In an extraordinary ruling, U.S. District Court Judge Loretta Preska ordered the Federal Reserve to turn over records of the details concerning the lending of taxpayers’ money to financial institutions and banks. The lawsuit... More of this article »
Judge Seeks Explanation In SEC’s Bank Of America Probe
A District Judge has ordered the Securities and Exchange Commission to explain its investigation, or lack thereof, on Bank of America and whether the bank misled shareholders and omitted information in regard to Merrill Lynch bonuses. Bank... More of this article »
Citibank Helped 108,000 Troubled Mortgage Holders in Q2 2009
1 out of every 8 mortgages in the United States right now is currently in default. With rising unemployment rates rising and home values sliding, many sub-prime borrowers are finding that they simply cannot afford their mortgage payment.... More of this article »
The National Credit Union Share Insurance Fund – FDIC Insurance for Credit Unions
Most people know that if they have money in a savings account, a certificate of deposit, or a checking account at a bank they are protected in the event that their bank fails by the Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation (FDIC), but... More of this article »
Vantus Bank Will Be First Bank Failure in Iowa Since 2000
Vantas Bank in Iowa could become the first banking casualty in the state as a result of this recession, and the first since 2000. The bank was founded in 1923. Bad loans are the primary culprit with Vantas Bank, and those loans are... More of this article »
Federal Regulators and Private-equity Investment in Banks
The push back and forth between the Federal Deposit Insurance Corp. and private-equity businesses reveals a lot about the underlying problems associated with the use of taxpayer funds to bailout banks in the first place. Those who... More of this article »
White House Predicts $1.6 Trillion Dollar Deficit for 2009
After a record number of cash-infusions to the banking industry, a $700 billion dollar stimulus packages, and an unprecedented $3 trillion dollar Federal Budget, the consequences are finally coming home to roost. Today, the Congressional... More of this article »
Online Banking Fraud Rampant, but Businesses are Reluctant to Report
The Financial Services Information Sharing and Analysis Center (FS-ISAC) recently alerted its members that Russian and Eastern European cyber-criminals are stealing millions of dollars from small to mid-sized businesses through online... More of this article »
Report: Obama To Nominate Bernanke For Second Term
President Barack Obama plans to nominate Federal Reserve Chairman Ben Bernanke for a second term, according to a report by Associated Press. The announcement is likely to come on Tuesday while Obama is on break from a vacation on... More of this article »
Lending Club Review: A Review of Lending Club’s Peer-to-Peer Lending Services
Peer-to-peer lending companies, including Lending Club and Prosper, have gotten a lot of press during the recession as banks cut back in lending. We thought it would only make sense to provide an in-depth review of Lending Club, so... More of this article »
What Would Be Involved in an Audit of the Federal Reserve? – Part Four
Why changing the laws to allow full auditing the Federal Reserve is so vital to the interests of all Americans. As I mentioned in the last article, don’t be fooled when supporters of not having the Federal Reserve audited assert... More of this article »
Will Benjamin Bernanke Get a Second Term as the Chairman of the Federal Reserve?
When Alan Greenspan retired and handed over the reins of the Federal Reserve to Benjamin Bernanke, many wondered if Bernanke could step up to the plate and successfully manage the Federal Reserve in the way that Alan Greenspan had... More of this article »
Credit CARD Act of 2009: New Credit Card Regulations Go Into Effect
On May 22nd of 2009, President Obama signed the Credit Card Accountability Responsibility and Disclosure Act of 2009 in hopes to end practices that many have labeled as abusive by the credit card industry. The act aims to protect consumers... More of this article »
P2P Lending Gains Popularity During Recession
In the last 12 months, the amount of credit that banks have available to them to loan to customers has drop significantly, as a result 65% of banks nation-wide have tightened up their lending standards making it hard for consumers... More of this article »
FDIC’s Deposit Fund May Need 25% of U.S. Banking Profit in 2010
With the 80th bank failure occurring in just the first eight months of 2009, the U.S. banking industry’s fee burden from the FDIC is continuing to be pressured as the Deposit Insurance Fund shrinks. Richard Bove, an analyst with... More of this article »
Warren Buffett: Monetary Medicine Leaving Disastrous Side Effects
While it’s sad to see Warren Buffett in his old age become a shill for the Obama administration, basically abandoning his past practice of focusing on the free markets. He does at least admit to the extraordinary problems emerging... More of this article »
What Would Be Involved in an Audit of the Federal Reserve? – Part Three
What would an audit of the Federal Reserve look like then? Ron Paul helps us here, as recently he cited the response of the General Accounting Office when there was some interest in auditing the Fed in the 1970s: “We do not see... More of this article »Lending Club Investment Tips for Lenders
In the last couple of years, many technologically savvy investors have begun to diversify their investment portfolio by becoming lenders to other individuals seeking personal loans through peer-to-peer lending companies such as Prosper.com... More of this article »
FDIC Seeks to Attract Additional Buyers of Failed Banks
After 8 months into the year, the Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation has seen over 80 bank failures and has had engineer purchases for each of the failed banks. After last Friday’s failure of Colonial BankGroup, the largest bank... More of this article »
CapitalSouth Bank Marks 80th Bank Failure of 2009
State regulators shut down the CapitalSouth Bank and handed over its reigns to the FDIC on Friday, August 21st, marking the 80th bank failure in 2009. Iberiabank Corp of Lafayette Lousiana will take over 10 branches of CapitalSouth... More of this article »Prosper, Lending Club and Other Loan Clubs: An Introduction to Peer to Peer Lending
If there’s any new financial product that has been the darling of personal finance blogs across the web in the last couple of years, it’s peer to peer lending services. They have received a lot of interest from people who are extremely... More of this article »
Obama Administration Raises Deficit Forecast to $9 Trillion
The budget deficit for the federal budget has just been revised by the White House by close to $2 trillion over the next 10 years, now estimated to come in at around $9 trillion rather than the $7.1 trillion originally projected. (I... More of this article »
What Would Be Involved in an Audit of the Federal Reserve? – Part Two
Last post we talked about Congress being granted the power by the Constitution to “coin money, regulate the value thereof, and of foreign coin, and fix the standard of weights and measures.” So Congress obviously has the... More of this article »