Archive for December, 2009
Federal Reserve Considers Term-Deposits To Help Reign In Excess Bank Reserves
The Federal Reserve announced Monday that it is considering the use of a term-deposit program that would motivate financial institutions to park excess reserves at the central bank. The move is being considered as the Fed ponders how to reign in hundreds of billions in excess reserves that have been pumped into the system over [...]
Prosper.com Horror Stories and Experiences: How Prosper’s History is Unfolding
Prosper Marketplace was the first peer-to-peer lending institution to gain any serious traction in the United States. During its first couple of years before the SEC cracked down on the company for selling unregistered securities, it was a financial experiment of sort. Nothing like it had really been tried online before and no one was [...]
LendingClub Lending Match: Should You Use Lending Match To Pick Your Loans?
Lending Club is a peer-to-peer lending firm that allows individuals to partially fund unsecured loans to borrowers and earn an interest rate as profit. Many investors choose to individually pick the loans that they want to fund, but Lending Club also offers a way to automatically select loans based on criteria that you provide to [...]
Prosper.com Complaints: How Prosper Marketplace Could Improve Their Service
Prosper Marketplace (Prosper.com) is a peer-to-peer lending service that allows individuals to make loans to one another using their website. Lenders can opt to partially fund loans at specific interest rates and borrowers can get unsecured personal loans at rates better than they would normally be able to from a traditional bank. Although the service [...]
SmartyPig Christmas: Using SmartyPig to save for Christmas.
If you’re suffering from a Christmas debt hangover, consider taking a different route for your Christmas shopping next year. Instead of paying for your Christmas presents with credit cards, develop a savings plan so that you can save up for your Christmas Gifts and then have all the money that you need in November to [...]
SmartyPig Gift Cards: Getting the Most Out Of Your SmartyPig Savings Account
SmartyPig is a goal-based FDIC-insured online savings account that allows consumers to save for specific goals and helps consumers develop automatic savings plans to meet their goals. Once consumers have met their savings goal, they have the option to redeem their goals for cash or redeem them in the form of gift cards at major [...]
Peer-to-Peer Loans: Is Lending Club, Wells Fargo (WFC), or Citigroup (C) the Best Option for Online Personal Loans?
If you are looking to get a peer-to-peer loan to pay for a major purchase or to consolidate debt, you have a number of options available to you including peer-to-peer loans, unsecured loans from banks, and other online personal loans. When shopping for a peer-to-peer loan, you want to make sure that you pay the [...]
New report shows Citigroup (NYSE: C) and SunTrust (NYSE: STI) face more belt-tightening in 2010
Flurries of new regulations are adding expenses. Failing loans are cutting into revenue. It’s a recipe for continuing budget cuts for many banks. A report by research firm SNL Financial confirms that cost-cutting is the new normal in banking these days. In 2010, according to estimates by research firm SNL Financial: Southeastern powerhouse SunTrust (STI) [...]
Banning ‘Phantom Votes’ Gives Shareholders More Say in Who Will Be Bank Board Members
Voting for bank boards should definitely be a more interesting as new rules regarding “phantom votes” by the New York Stock Exchange will give shareholders more say in who ends up seated on the board. This will of course extend to all companies listed on the exchange. Starting in 2010, votes can no longer be [...]
Goldman Sachs (NYSE:GS) Files with U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission for New Exchange Traded Funds
Exchange traded funds are an increasingly popular investment sector, and to take advantage of the growing market, Goldman Sachs (NYSE:GS) has filed for regulatory approval with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission to launch market-tracking indexes for several emerging markets. The first ETF from Goldman Sachs will focus on the top 85 percent of companies [...]
Citibank (NYSE:C) Ending Credit Card Financing for Struggling Zale Corp. (NYSE:ZLC)
With sales continuing to plunge for specialty jewelry retailer Zale Corp. (NYSE:ZLC), Citibank (NYSE:C) will no longer provide financing for the credit cards of the company as of March 2011. according to a regulatory filing at the end of trading on Thursday. Zale hasn’t been able to stop the continuing loss in market share it [...]
Former Bank of America (NYSE: BAC) Executives Looking to Buy Banks
Former Back of America (NYSE: BAC) CEO Hugh McColl and former CFO Mark Oken, is one of a group of investors looking to raise as much as $600 million to purchase banking assets in Florida. Falfurrias Capital Partners, a Charlotte-based investment firm cofounded by Oken and McColl, have agreed to invest an undisclosed amount in [...]
Citigroup (NYSE: C) and Bank of America (NYSE: BAC) to Avoid Feinberg Pay Rulings in 2010
Citigroup (NYSE: C) received notice from the federal government that they will not be subject to rulings from the Treasury Department’s paymaster Kenneth Feinberg in 2010. Bank of America (NYSE: BAC) had previously received confirmation when the firm repaid its debt related to the Troubled Asset Relief Program. Citigroup paid back $20 billion of the [...]
FBI Probing Electronic Theft of Tens of Millions of Dollars from Citigroup (NYSE: C)
The Federal Bureau of Investigation is investigating a hack on Citigroup’s (NYSE: C) network that led to the theft of tens of millions of dollars, according to a new report from the Wall Street Journal. In a defensive move, Citigroup vehemently denied the report. Citing anonymous federal officials, the WSJ reported that a Russian cyber [...]
Will U.S. Economy Really Rebound 4 to 5 Percent In 2010 As Many Analysts Expect?
Coming out of the past recession many analysts have become somewhat bold with rebound predictions for 2010, forecasting 4-5 percent GDP growth in the U.S. economy for 2010. Historically, the year following the end of a recession has marked strong growth. However, this past recession was the worst since the Great Depression and has many [...]
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