Smarting, Credit Card Companies Cut Rewards

(NEWSER) - After joining other major banks in snubbing cash-strapped California last month, JPMorgan Chase has changed tack and is lending the state $1.5 billion to end its IOU program a month early. The short-term loan will enable California to start redeeming on Sept. 4 the IOUs it has been using since July to pay vendors and creditors, the LA Times reports. More»

Trend suggests economy has a long way to go

(NEWSER) - Lending is still on the downswing, the Wall Street Journal finds, as an analysis of 15 banks' total loans on offer in the second quarter shows another 2.8% decline. What's worse, more than half of April and May’s loan volume was tied to refinanced mortgages and renewed credit rather than new loans. Banks are reining in lending to protect against loan losses, the Journal reports, and demand for loans is falling as businesses put off expansion and consumers spend less. More»

Investors find causes for optimism in capitalization news

(NEWSER) - Leaked results of the stress tests on America's biggest banks separate sufficiently capitalized banks—including JPMorgan Chase, MetLife, AmEx, and Goldman Sachs—from underfunded ones such as BofA, Wells Fargo, and Citi. Bank shares rose sharply yesterday and today, and some investors said the results were better than they feared. The Wall Street Journal writes that weak banks might have trouble enticing the private investors they'll need, while the New York Times is more optimistic, saying "the big bailouts for the banks may be over." More»

Administration ready to say bailout worked

(NEWSER) - The top US banks may not be as deep in the mud as analysts fear, government "stress tests" out Thursday are expected to show. Officials seem ready to argue that the nation's financial system is recovering and won't require more bailout funds from Congress. "None of these banks are insolvent," one tells the New York Times. "These are manageable losses." More»

A surge in debit-card usage reflects a shift from the days of easy credit

(NEWSER) - The recession has boosted the popularity of debit cards, the Wall Street Journal reports. In the last quarter of 2008, debit-card transactions processed by Visa were 50.4% of the company’s volume, surpassing credit cards for the first time. Rival MasterCard’s debit volume surged 13% last year as credit-card volume declined 2.2%. Consumers seem to prefer the pay-as-you go model to the rising cost of maintaining credit. More»