Home » Archive for September, 2009
Certificate of Deposit Rates to Drop Even Lower
Certificate of Deposit interest rates are likely to continue to drop because of a new rate cap that will be going into effect. Starting in January of 2010, the federal government will begin to index the interest rates that major national... More of this article »
Student Loan Borrowing Outpacing Tuition Increases
According to a new college study, tuition increases at private schools during the 2008-2009 school year increased by just 4.5%, the smallest increase since 1972. At the same time, student loan borrowing has increased by 25% year-over-year... More of this article »
World Bank President Says US Dollar’s Status as Reserve Currency Coming to an End
Robert Zoellick, president of the World Bnak, said that the U.S. dollar’s role as the world’s reserve crisis may be declining significantly as a result of the global financial crisis. Zoellick says that the dollar will remain a... More of this article »
The Hartford Financial Services Group (NYSE: HIG) Names McGee As New CEO
The Hartford Financial Services Group (NYSE: HIG) announced Tuesday it has named Liam E. McGee as it new Chairman and Chief Executive Officer. McGee, 55, is a former President of the Consumer and Small Business Bank at Bank of America... More of this article »
BB&T Corp (NYSE: BBT) Follows Wells Fargo and Bank of America and Restructures Overdraft Fees
BB&T Corp (NYSE: BBT) will eliminate overdraft fees for debit cards and ATM transactions when clients overdraft their checking accounts by less than $5.00 as of January 1st. The North Carolina based bank says it also will not charge... More of this article »
Citibank (NYSE: C) Sells Diners Club Processing Business to U.S. Bancorp (NYSE: USB) subsidiary.
Citibank (NYSE: C) has sold part of its Diners Club credit card processing business to a subsidiary of US Bancorp (NYSE: USB) as part of an attempt to slim down and generate new capital. Elavon, which is part of U.S. Bancorp, acquired... More of this article »
Destroyed Phone Coversations Prompt New Calls for Further Investigation into Countrywide’s VIP Loan Scandal
Although Democrat Senators Chris Dodd and Kent Conrad were cleared of violating any gift rule for accepting loan discounts in Countrywide’s VIP loan program, they were admonished at the time for being lax in how they handled the... More of this article »
FDIC Exploring Pre-Pay Fee Option In Order To Replenish Deposit Fund
In another possible move to replenish a severely depleted deposit insurance fund; The Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation is considering asking member banks to pre-pay $36 billion in fees in order to boost the funds reserves, according... More of this article »
Bank of America (NYSE: BAC) Withdraws Support for ACORN
The U.S. Congress and several corporate partners are distancing themselves from the community-organizing group Acorn and now Bank of America (NYSE: BAC) has withdrawn their support for the embattled organization. In a recent statement... More of this article »
JPMorgan Chase (NYSE:JPM) Tops in Debt and Equity Underwriting Fees
Although mergers and acquisitions have plunged in the third quarter, which has resulted in the decline in banking fees, one bright spot for JPMorgan Chase (NYSE:JPM) & Co has been the success in raising capital for debt and equity,... More of this article »
Freddie Mac (NYSE:FRE) Offers New CFO Huge Pay Package
Now that Freddie Mac (NYSE:FRE) has offered a huge pay package to incoming CFO Ross Kari, where he could end up making about $3.5 million while also getting a signing bonus close to $2 million, lawmakers can drop the faux outrage over... More of this article »
Citibank (NYSE: C) CEO Expects No Major Changes for Retail Banking
Rumors are flying that Citibank (NYSE: C) will be pulling out of all but a few major metropolitan areas, but contrary to recent indications in the Wall Street Journal, it seems that its branches nation-wide will be largely unaffected. The... More of this article »
SmartyPig brings Bob Weinschenk on as New CEO
SmartyPig, a firm that offers online goal-based savings accounts, has announced that it will be appointing Bob Weinschenk as its new Chief Executive Officer. Before joining SmartyPig, Weinschenk was co-founded and CEO of Barfly Interactive... More of this article »
Citigroup (NYSE: C) Sues Morgan Stanley (NYSE: MS) for $245 million over Credit-Default Swap Agreement
Citigroup (NYSE: C) filed a suit against Morgan Stanley Inc. (NYSE: MS) on Friday for allegedly breaching an agreement related to credit-default swaps. The suit contends that Morgan Stanley owes more than $245 million to Citi. The... More of this article »
How to Consolidate Your Debt with a Peer-To-Peer Loan from Lending Club
Banks and credit card companies have been raising interest rates that they are charging customers for no other reason than because banks have made poor financial decisions and want consumers to pay for it. Now you the consumer have... More of this article »
Lending Club Investor Rates of Returns Increase in September 2009
Investors in the popular peer-to-peer lending website, Lending Club, saw an increase in the average rate of return earned by investors from 9.61% in August to 9.65% during the month of September. On the front page of Lending Club’s... More of this article »
Unhappy Consumer Sues Bank of America (NYSE: BAC) for $1.8 Sextillion Dollars
Most consumers have relatively low opinion of the customer service that they receive from banks, but nobody is as unhappy about the service they receive as Dalton Chiscolm. Chiscolm, a New York resident, decided Bank of America and... More of this article »
Atlanta-Based “Georgian Bank” Marks 95th Bank Failure of 2009
Georgian Bank, located in Atlanta, was shut-down by federal regulators on Friday, marking the 95th bank failure in 2009. Georgian Bank was founded in 2001 and was considered to be one of the fastest growing banks in the state. Before... More of this article »
Testimony from Federal Reserve Lawyer Scott Alvarez: Another Reason to Rein in the Federal Reserve
In what I consider an astounding and clear admission from the General Counsel of the Federal Reserve, Scott Alvarez, he admitted if the ongoing push to audit the Federal Reserve becomes a reality, “Foreign central banks and governments... More of this article »
Federal Reserve Spending Another $556 billion in Mortgage Market
Although the acquisition of mortgage-backed securities was scheduled to end in December 2009, the Federal Reserve has decided to continue acquiring the securities, with plans to pump another $556 billion into them by April 2010. Since... More of this article »
Is Goldman Sachs’ (NYSE:GS) Lloyd Blankfein Heeding His Own Words on Compensation?
Maybe Goldman Sachs (NYSE:GS) CEO Lloyd Blankfein needs to check in with his CFO once in a while to see what’s happening at the compensation level of the company, as he’s going to have some explaining to do after taking... More of this article »
What Types of Lending Club Loans Perform the Best?
If you plan on lending money to people through Lending Club or Prosper any time soon, you’re going to need to know some of the basic strategies that lenders are using to maximize their rates of return. We recently covered that a... More of this article »
Editorial: Overdraft Fees – Will We All Have to Pay for the Irresponsible Few?
The practice of a minority of people who continually trigger overdraft fees could result in bank customers across America having to pay for currently free services like checking accounts. While some in the media have been making a... More of this article »