Banks hike mortgage payments despite interest rate cuts
Daily Mail (UK) Aug 23, 08 7:19 PM CDT
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Britain's big banks are being accused of hoisting nearly £3 billion in interest payments on customers to make up for bad bank investments, the Daily Mail reports. Seeking to recoup huge losses from assets linked to subprime US mortgages, the banks have hiked mortgage rates and fees despite interest rate cuts that make it easier for banks to borrow.
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Real-estate
fallout dries up
credit stream
New York Times Jul 28, 08 5:09 CDT
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Reeling from real-estate losses, banks are turning off the credit spigot to loan-seeking businesses, the New York Times reports. The loan reduction means more bad news down the line as money-starved companies begin to cut workers. Banks cut credit nearly 3% over the past year, the most since 2001, according to the Federal Reserve. The shrinking availability has hit companies especially hard as customers facing their own financial struggles horde their pennies.
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Western banks sold to Mutual of Omaha
Reuters Jul 26, 08 6:07 CDT
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The housing bust and credit crunch have toppled two more banks, Reuters reports. Federal regulators have taken over First National Bank of Nevada and California's First Heritage Bank and sold them to Mutual Bank of Omaha. The undercapitalized institutions were the sixth and seventh to go under in the US this year, and banking regulators warn more are likely to follow.
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OPINION
Your community banker cares, and may even have good deals
New York Times Jul 19, 08 10:35 CDT
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Community banks may seem like quaint relics to those who prefer banking online, but IndyMac's meltdown should have us thinking differently, Ron Lieber writes in the New York Times . Lieber visited a bank in small-town Maryland, and found a friendly, gray-haired manager who gives banking a personal touch. “If you miss a beat, I’ll call your mother,” he jokes—sort of.
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analysis
Depositors with more than $100K in the bank could be in trouble
TheStreet Jul 12, 08 9:29 PM CDT
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IndyMac Bank's failure yesterday was a "wake-up call" to anyone with deposits above the $100,000 FDIC insurance limit, Terry Savage writes in Street.com. Americans have more than $2.6 trillion in uninsured accounts, and 10,000 depositors have more than $1 billion at risk at IndyMac alone. But before trying to rescue your money, learn how insurance applies to different kinds of accounts:
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Non-bank teller machines make easy targets, police say
MSNBC Jul 3, 08 7:25 PM CDT
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ATM theft is a labor-intensive crime: You have to steal a pickup, slam it through a gas station storefront, and haul the ATM out. But that’s exactly what an increasing number of criminals are doing, MSNBC reports. From 2000 to 2006, thieves nabbed about 120 ATMs a year across the country. This year, authorities already have reported 140 thefts—in north Texas alone. While that's an extreme example, thefts are up by smaller amounts all over.
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ANALYSIS
'Vicious circle' threatens broader economy
New York Times Jul 1, 08 7:09 CDT
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Despite assurances from some experts that the credit crisis would be short-lived, the forecast remains bleak after more than a year of frustrations, the New York Times reports. In a “vicious circle,” falling home prices lead to more bad loans, which makes credit harder to get so that fewer people can buy homes, Vikas Bajaj writes. Yesterday, the stock market finished its roughest 12 months since 2003.
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ANALYSIS
US charged against home value now gone
USA Today Jun 18, 08 3:55 PM CDT
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As home values boomed, banks raised credit limits and extended offers for new cards, urging consumers to pay off the debt by drawing on their equity, USA Today reports. Many of those borrowers now face high interest rates on homes tapped of equity and hemorrhaging value—and the boom in foreclosures has been accompanied by a 6-year high in credit-card delinquencies.
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Earnings
Business bad all around, with declines in sales, trading, and investment banking
Bloomberg Jun 18, 08 8:00 CDT
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Morgan Stanley profits were sliced in half this quarter, the company announced today, as stock slingers failed to offset real estate writedowns. The 57% drop, which brought earnings to $1.03 billion or $0.95 per share, was in line with analyst expectations. CEO John Mack said that thanks to “careful management of our capital, risk and liquidity” the US' second-largest investment bank isn't in danger.
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UBS gave Iran money
it knew would support terrorism, suit says
Reuters May 13, 08 8:47 CDT
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American victims of attacks in Israel are suing Switzerland's biggest bank for helping fund militants by providing money to Iran, Reuters reports. The lawsuit says UBS AG gave loans to Iran even though it supports Hezbollah, Hamas, and Islamic Jihad. The plaintiffs seek $500 million in damages for some 50 US citizens who were hurt or whose relatives were killed in attacks between 1997 and 2006.
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21-year-old says girlfriend's mother gave him the money
Fort Worth Star-Telegram May 1, 08 2:39 PM CDT
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A 21-year-old Texas man has been busted for attempting to deposit a $360 billion check, the Fort Worth Star-Telegram reports, stolen from his girlfriend's mother for, he claimed, the purpose of starting his own record label. Suspicious of the sum, the bank called the check’s owner. Arriving police found pot and an unlicensed weapon on the man, rounding out the fraud charge. Bail, fortunately, was more modest: $3,750.
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Bank plans to change infrastructure as result of action brought by 2,500 women
Reuters Apr 4, 08 4:44 PM CDT
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Citigroup will pay $33 million to some 2,500 female brokers to settle a gender-discrimination lawsuit brought by women at its Smith Barney unit, Reuters reports. The bank will also make operational changes in response to the class-action move, adding diversity-watchdog positions, working to retain and promote female workers and adjusting its distribution of accounts and bonuses.
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Overwhelmed banks taking much longer to foreclose on homes
Bloomberg Apr 4, 08 4:24 PM CDT
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With foreclosures skyrocketing, overwhelmed mortgage lenders are turning a blind eye to homeowners who haven’t paid up, letting them live in their houses despite delinquency, Bloomberg reports. The 3.6% of borrowers at least 90 days behind is almost twice the percentage foreclosed upon. Lenders’ delays are skewing foreclosure records and means even more homes could soon clog a flooded market.
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