Help The Middle ClassNews and Information For The Heart Of America
Feds Shut Down 3 More Banks. 25 Closed So Far This Year (USA Today)
Regulators on Friday shuttered banks in Florida, Illinois and Maryland, boosting to 25 the number of bank failures in the U.S. so far this year following the 140 brought down in 2009 by mounting loan defaults and the recession.
The Federal Deposit Insurance Corp. took over Sun American Bank, based in Boca Raton, Fla., with $535.7 [...]
MORTGAGE WOES: 67% Of California Home Sellers Could Not Pay Their Mortgages (The Orange County Register)
Most California homesellers — a whopping 67% – who sold their homes last year couldn’t pay their mortgages, a survey by the California Association of Realtors shows.
“For the most part, the bottom line was, ‘I’m being squeezed out of my home because I couldn’t make my mortgage payments,’ ” said Leslie Appleton-Young, the association’s chief economist.
In response to another question on specific [...]
Largest US Banks Not Lending To Small Business (Business Week)
Small business customers at the nation’s 18 largest banks reported less success getting credit than customers of other commercial banks, according to a report released today by researchers at the National Federation of Independent Business conducted by Gallup.
One likely explanation for the difference: Big banks rely on automated credit scoring to make loan decisions, while [...]
MUST READ: Watch Out For The New Credit Card Traps (CNN.com)
If you haven’t heard, big changes are here for the credit card industry. On Monday the CARD act goes into effect and consumers finally get some relief from such practices as “double-cycle billing” and arbitrary rate increases.
The new act, which was signed into law last May, promises consumers more transparency about their credit card bill. [...]
New Wave Of Foreclosures By The End of 2010 is Predicted (Los Angeles Times)
About 4 million U.S. homeowners are 90 days or more delinquent on their loans or in foreclosure proceedings, Moody’s Economy.com says. A federal loan modification program is helping a relative few.
Reporting from Washington – [...]
Smaller Banks Now Offering More Private Student Loans (Bankrate.com)
Highlights
High-risk students may have better success at small banks, credit unions.
Community bank loans don’t offer the same benefits as student loans.
Shop around and ask big and small lenders for the full cost of a loan.
PARENTS & COLLEGE STUDENTS READ THIS: The $555,000 Student-Loan Burden (Wall Street Journal)
When Michelle Bisutti, a 41-year-old family practitioner in Columbus, Ohio, finished medical school in 2003, her student-loan debt amounted to roughly $250,000. Since then, it has ballooned to $555,000.
It is the result of her deferring loan payments while she completed her residency, default charges and relentlessly compounding interest rates. Among the charges: a single $53,870 [...]
5 Reasons You Should Consider a Roth IRA (US News and World Report)
When it comes to opening an individual retirement account, should you go with a traditional IRA or a Roth? Traditional IRAs and Roth IRAs have their own unique benefits, but new rules in 2010 allow some investors who had been locked out of Roth IRAs the option to take advantage of Roth’s tax-free withdrawals. Whether [...]
IMPORTANT TAX INFO: 7 Ways to Save Money on Taxes (Shine)
1. Go green and save some green. You can get tax credits under the Energy Policy Act for reducing your home’s energy use. To find out what qualifies, go to energystar.gov.
2. As long as you itemize, nearly all of your medical expenses can be deducted, from prescription drugs and doctor visits to surgery. See the [...]
New White House Budget Means New Taxes & Increases (Yahoo! News)
WASHINGTON – While President Barack Obama is proposing to cut some taxes for companies that hire workers, his budget would raise a host of other taxes on businesses and wealthy individuals.
Obama’s budget would extend his signature Making Work Pay tax credit — $400 for individuals, $800 for a couple filing jointly — through 2011. The [...]
