Archive for November, 2009
Prosper Vs Lending Club – Who Has The Best Peer-to-Peer Loan Interest Rates?
Both Prosper.com and Lending Club offer fixed-rate unsecured loans that amortize over a period of 3 years. Although the loan products that borrowers are getting are essentially the same from both companies, the interest rates that borrowers will pay can vary dramatically between the companies. Over the last couple of years, the interest rates that [...]
Prosper.com Lending Volume Increases by 65% in October
Peer-to-Peer lending firm, Prosper.com, has announced that its new loan volume had increased by 65% during the month of October. During the month of September, the company originated $1,222,378 in new loans. That number increased to $2,011,723 in the month of October. The company’s increase in loan growth can be attributed in part to a [...]
Capital Injections to Bank of America (NYSE: BAC) and Citigroup (NYSE: C) Under Scrutiny as TARP Losses Increase
Huge capital injections to giant banks such as Bank of America Corp. (BAC) and Citigroup Inc. (C) are coming under even closer scrutiny as taxpayers are at risk of losing $5.1 billion invested in the Troubled Asset Relief Program (TARP). In 2009, 123 banks have folded. Among those announced last week was Pacific Coast National [...]
Prosper Marketplace Announces $2.2 Million 3rd Quarter Loss, Running Low on Capital
Prosper Marketplace, the company behind the peer-to-peer lending site, Prosper.com, has announced a net loss of $2,238,138 for the third quarter of 2009. This news bodes particularly poorly for the company as their cash reserve is running low. As of September 30th, the company only had $2,079,624 in cash reserves remaining from the $40 million [...]
Warren Buffett Increases Stake in Wells Fargo (NYSE:WFC) Via Berkshire Hathaway (BRK:A) – Is it Ethical?
In its most recent regulatory filing, Berkshire Hathaway (BRK:A) increased its stake in Wells Fargo (NYSE:WFC) by over 10 million shares in the third quarter. To me, this does raise ethical questions on the part of the actions and comments of Warren Buffett, who has been backing up the bailout of banking and other institutions [...]
Federal Reserve Report Asserts Inflation Less Than Expected
In an excuse to keep interest rates low and allow the U.S. dollar to fall in value, the Federal Reserve issued its latest report saying, among other things, that wholesale prices rose far less than expected, supposedly reinforcing their interest rate policy. Federal Reserve Chairman Ben Bernanke also stated in a speech on Monday that [...]
How Many Rules Does it Take to Regulate Overdraft Fees?
When the Federal Reserve introduced new rules last week which would ban banks and credit unions from charging overdraft fees to consumers at ATMs or debit cards unless they’re giving option of accepting or declining the service, it seemed it was taken care of and next July 1, when the new rules will take effect. [...]
Citigroup (NYSE:C) Bumps Base Salary Of Key Execs, Pays Stock Bonus
Citigroup Inc. (NYSE: C) reported Tuesday that it increased the base salary of its Chief Financial Officer and head of trading, according to regulatory filings. Those executives, along with the bank’s vice chairman also received stock based bonuses well in excess of $2 million. The payouts are part of 20 plus pay packages that were [...]
Lazar Ltd. (NYSE: LAZ) Appoints New CEO, Stays In-house
The transition from a known CEO to a new CEO can always be a harrowing experience for a firm. When that transition happens unexpectedly, it is even more challenging. When Bruce Wasserstein passed away unexpectedly in October of 2009, he left a gaping hole at the CEO and Chairman role of Lazar Ltd. (NYSE: LAZ). [...]
P2P Lending Coming Soon to Local Banks Thanks to New Fiserv (NYSE: FISV) Product
Peer-to-Peer lending has grown in popularity significantly over the last two years because of the pioneering work done by Prosper.com, Lending Club, and a few other entrants into the market place. One company, Fiserv (NYSE: FISV), hopes to bring the concept of person-to-person away from specialized marketplaces and back to your local bank using a [...]
Prosper.com Begins Offering Hardship Arrangements to Delinquent Borrowers
Prosper.com has been able to get passed its legal trouble with the SEC, but there’s still one looming problem that the peer-to-peer lending industry has yet to find an answer for—extremely high rates of delinquency amongst its borrowers. Depending on whose statistics you believe, Prosper.com’s default rate is anywhere from 10-40%, much higher than that [...]
Maybe Goldman Sachs (NYSE:GS) and CEO Lloyd Blankfein Should Become More Boring
Like it or not, the current economic crisis and outrageous bailouts offered by the U.S. government on behalf of taxpayers have put Americans in a sour mood, and for better or worse, those bankers and businesses putting themselves out there in a way that looks egoistic, isn’t going to work until things turn around and [...]
Federal Reserve or Super Regulatory Agency? … Neither
For those who understand what has happened in reference to regulators before and during the current economic crisis, the idea of taking authority and responsibility away from the Federal Reserve and placing it within a new super regulatory agency, as is being proposed, is ignorant, to be kind. Ron Paul has it right when he [...]
Obama’s ‘Worker, Homeownership and Business Assistance Act of 2009′ Provides Tax Breaks Worth Billions to Big Business
Nowhere has the bailout funds been seen as useless than the billions thrown around by the Obama administration in the name of creating more jobs. Now that it has been exposed as either a hoax, or at minimum – incompetence, the ‘Worker, Homeownership and Business Assistance Act of 2009,’ which was recently signed into law [...]
On Deck: Bank of America (NYSE: BAC) House Oversight Committee Hearings
Timothy Mayopoulos was fired as general counsel by Bank of America (NYSE: BAC) in December 2008, but his insight did not end there. Mayopoulos is scheduled to testify before Congress for the first time on Tuesday as a House oversight panel examines the $45 billion federal bailout of the second-largest U.S. bank and its shotgun [...]
worst video player ever- after over2:00 there's still no video appearing 