Archive for October, 2009
How Foreclosures, Short Sales and Bankruptcies Affect Your Credit Score
Consumers have known that short sales, foreclosures and bankruptcies can have significant negative impacts on their credit reports and credit scores. A new report was recently released that details how much your credit score will be affected by a number of negative financial situations. Syndicated Writer Kenneth Harney for the Washington Post did some research [...]
JPMorgan Chase (NYSE: JPM) and Bank of America (NYSE: BAC) Modify 1.8 Million Credit Card Payment Agreements
Major credit card lenders including JPMorgan Chase (NYSE: JPM) and Bank of America (NYSE: BAC) have done modifications for over $1.8 million credit card holders that are unable to pay off their loan balances. Typically when a customer is delinquent on a credit card, banks will charge major fees and penalties to the account in [...]
Bank of America (NYSE: BAC) Refuses to Cash Armless Man’s Check
When Steve Valdez used one of his prosthetic arms to hand a teller a check at a Bank of America (NYSE: BAC) Branch in Tampa, FL, the teller told him, “Obviously you aren’t going to be able to give us a thumbprint.” Valdez recently did an interview with the St. Petersburg Times to share the [...]
Using Cash While Traveling Overseas: How to Avoid Credit Card Junk Fees
If you were traveling abroad a decade ago, you would probably take money in the form of traveler’s checks in order to pay for the good and services while you’re there. Times have changed; plastic has become the preferred means for dispensing cash when you’re outside of the United States, but if you’re not careful, [...]
Peer-to-Peer Investing: Prosper.com Review
Prosper.com is a website in the emerging peer-to-peer lending industry which facilitates the borrowing and lending of money between its users. How it Works: Prosper, Lending Club and other firms sidestep the banking industry by creating an alternative means for borrowers to get loans. On Prosper, customers wishing to get a loan make a request [...]
Comparing Prosper.com and Lending Club Investment Performance
Prosper.com and Lending Club.com are by far the two largest peer-to-peer lending websites in the United States. Many investors have used these services to diversify their investment portfolios. During the financial crisis, while stock and bond prices plummeted, many peer-to-peer lenders continued to make a positive rate of return because their returns were solely based [...]
ING Direct Offers 2.25% 12-Month “Value Added” CD
ING Direct announced a new value-added 12-month certificate of deposit offering a competitive 2.25% APY in hopes of attracting new deposits into the bank. ING’s new value-added CD offers an interest rate that is .15% or 15 basis points higher than that of their normal CD rate of 2.10%. The bank is offering the bonus [...]
Consumer Credit Drops $12 Billion In August
U.S. households cut the nation’s level of consumer credit for the seventh consecutive month. Consumer credit declined $12 billion in August, according to a Federal Reserve report released Wednesday, that’s more than the $10 billion economists expected. The decline in consumer credit has continued through most of 2009 as banks and credit card companies have [...]
Bank of America (NYSE: BAC) Begins Search for New CEO
Bank of America Corp. (NYSE: BAC) directors have formed a six-person committee to find a new chief executive officer to replace Kenneth Lewis, and will likely begin to develop a list of potential candidates next week. The formal process for succession began at a Bank of America board meeting held on Friday by phone. Directors [...]
JPMorgan Chase & Co. (NYSE:JPM) Says it’ll Take Four Years to Recover Lost Recession Jobs
Economists from JPMorgan Chase (NYSE:JPM), even with a more positive outlook for economic growth in the U.S than other economists, still say it’ll take four years for the jobs lost during the current recession to be replaced. Their optimism doesn’t impress or convince me at all, as the job market is far from bottoming out [...]
Wells Fargo (NYSE: WFC) Continues Cuts to Personal Credit Lines
Wells Fargo (NYSE: WFC) has sent out over thousands of letters to customers informing them that their home equity line of credit limits and other personal credit limits would be trimmed in order to prevent additional losses to the bank. In the “dear valued customer” letters that Wells Fargo is sending out to their customers, [...]
JPMorgan Chase & Co (NYSE: JPM) To Expand Private Banking Business
JPMorgan Chase & Co plan on expanding its U.S. private banker force by 10% in the next several months in hopes of gaining new wealthy customers that are leaving banks that were hit hard by the financial crisis, according to a statement made by JP Morgan’s top U.S private banker. Catherine Keating, chief executive of [...]
Wells Fargo (NYSE: WFC) Sues U.S. Over Income Taxes
Wells Fargo & Co. (NYSE: WFC) is suing the federal government, one of its largest shareholders, over its 2003 income taxes. The suit filed on Monday demanded the return of $162.3 million paid in income taxes that it was “erroneously and illegally assessed” by the Internal Revenue Service in 2003. Wells Fargo argues that the [...]
Inspector General Says U.S. Treasury Mislead Public
The inspector general that oversaw the government’s bailout of the U.S. banking system has is criticizing the Treasury Department for making misleading public statements last fall to the publish and suggested that the US Treasury may have unfairly distributed money to the nation’s largest banks. Special Inspector General, Neil M. Barofsky, said that a treasury [...]
Pay Czar Feinberg Expected To Cut Salaries
According to recent reports, President Obama’s Pay Czar Kenneth Feinberg is expected to cut part of the cash many top Wall Street Executives receive as part of their annual salary. The move would only impact executives and top level employees at the seven firms he is reviewing, all of which have received aid from the [...]
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