Archive for August, 2009
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. Others who bought during the housing boom are finding that they owe more on their home than [...]
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 what about account holders at credit unions—is their money FDIC insured as well? It [...]
How to Maximize the Interest on Your FDIC Insured Savings Account
If you have money sitting in a savings account, you know that it’s not earning very much money right now. Interest rates are depressed because of the shrinking economy and the Federal Reserve will continue to encourage lower interest rates through their monetary policies until the economy sees a real recovery. According to BankRate.com, the [...]
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 mostly related to loans made to homebuilders Regency Homes as well as [...]
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 read me know I oppose the use of taxpayer funds to bailout any private business, and to do [...]
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 Budget Office (CBO) and the Whitehouse reported that they expect the United States to have a $1.6 trillion dollar deficit [...]
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 bank fraud. According to the Washington Post, the group of cyber-criminals is using security vulnerabilities in Microsoft’s Windows operating system to install logging software [...]
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 Martha’s Vineyard. According to the report, the information was obtained from an administration official who remained [...]
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 here’s our Lending Club Review: Investors have made money for years by buying bonds and bond [...]
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 it is audited all the time. The facts and existing laws directly contradict that and [...]
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 in his 19 years of service. Now that Benjamin Bernanke’s first four year term as Chairman [...]
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 from sudden rate hikes, hidden fees and other questionable practices. The first of the reforms [...]
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 to get loans for major purchases and to refinance debt. As a result, peer-to-peer lending [...]
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 Rochdale Securities, told Reuters in a report that the FDIC’s Insurance Fund may need to collect [...]
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 from throwing the unprecedented amount of taxpayers’ money and bailing out industry after industry. Before we [...]
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