Review of 2008 Economic Predictions

Here we go… My overall assessment is that: a) All major directions were right in this prediction b) Where I was wrong, I was either too early and (amazingly) too optimistic. It has hard to realize how long ago in financial terms Jan 2008 was. As you read these predictions, they look almost mild, yet in January 2008, [more...]

Date: 2009-01-14 13:48:45

Blog posts (152) | Videos (93)
 

ECONOMIC SNAPSHOT: JANUARY 2009

According to the Center For American Progress, the U.S. economy is experiencing its worst recession in decades. Jobs and wealth are falling at a rapid pace, driving families more quickly into default, foreclosure, and bankruptcy. This crisis is precipitated by a sharp drop in consumer spending, as well [more...]

Date: 2009-01-14 03:19:00

MC Discounts Charges "Interchange is Way Too High"

In an attempt to dispel myths regarding Interchange, MasterCard has put together a brochure (PDF) designed to show how priceless Interchange is ... institutions. Today, some 25,000 financial institutions provide the cards and services that allow hundreds ... -- In light of the ongoing discussion and debate about the role of credit in today's economic [more...]

Date: 2009-01-15 22:26:00

Investors May Be Too Optimistic About Consumer Recovery

The most accurate banking analyst, Meredith Whitney, has warned that banks are likely to continue to restrict consumer credit, ... , are implemented. Credit card issuers shifted their model away from one where they earned ... , the somewhat in debt and the chronically indebted. Indeed, in the stone ages of the 1980s, banks were really [more...]

Date: 2008-12-14 06:10:36

Obama's Plan May Bring Ruin

Experts are now wondering what the consequences of a one-year, two trillion dollar federal deficit (with trillion dollar deficits every year beyond) ... has extended its full faith and credit to an ever-growing swath of the private sector: first homeowners, then banks, now car companies. Soon, President-elect Barack Obama will put the government credit [more...]

Date: 2009-01-11 10:29:44

Re-coupled Vengence: From Downturn to Implosion Risks ?

We've spent a bunch of time on the US economic outlook and the news, as you'd expect, continues to move from bad to worse ... the shallowness of the analysts involved grasp. But that's no longer the problem. Accelerating worldwide ... for the European schadenfreude that this was "just" a US problem. Developing Countries They also issued [more...]

Date: 2009-01-15 21:20:15

Banks Supposedly Will Cut Consumer Credit Card Lines by $931 Billion if Reforms Mandated

There is a rather amusing story at the Financial Times tonight, "Credit card reforms ‘to cost banks billions’". Let's look at the particulars ... from customers. But how much more are the credit card issuers making due to the tremendous drop in funding ... . The story is based on a study by law firm Morrison & Forester which concluded that banks [more...]

Date: 2008-12-15 01:59:42

All About "Free" Money Making Seminars

Here's an excerpt from the book The Frugal Millionaires: 70 millionaires anonymously share their ideas about money to help each other and you ... and food, and, possibly, airfare, lodging, rental car, credit counseling fees and a psychotherapist bill. These types of marketing vehicles aren’t 100% bad if you can separate out the bits of good info [more...]

Date: 2009-01-15 16:54:20

Recession Proof Your Credit Rating

With the unstable state of the economy, many customers are concerned about the rising interest rates and the roll-backs that are taking place on ... from credit card use and repay secured debt. For many customers, a savings account provides a viable ... . These customers are more likely to repay the debt, rather than default and are seen as a lesser risk [more...]

Date: 2009-01-14 19:00:30

Debt Collection Agency

It’s hard to eke a living these days. Cost of living has gone up so much since June and many of my relatives and friends are finding it hard to make ... a chicken rice seller. He did say that he might want to engage a Debt Collection to help him with the debt collection part. This is the last resort for him. I heard that there might be a high cost [more...]

Date: 2009-01-15 17:14:22

New York Times starts catching up to iSteve

From the Sunday, 12/21/08 New York Times:White House Philosophy Stoked Mortgage Bonfire By JO BECKER, SHERYL GAY STOLBERG and STEPHEN LABATON “We can put light where there’s darkness, and hope where there’s despondency in this country. And part of it is working together as a nation to encourage folks to own their own home.” — President Bush, Oct [more...]

Date: 2008-12-21 04:53:00

Mortgage and Credit Card Companies Under the Spotlight on Consumer Charging

For the first time since May 1996 reports have indicated that wage increases have risen faster than house price inflation ... that consumers are struggling with debt. Ed Stansfield of Capital Economics, said, “Today’s figures show that for a small but growing minority of borrowers levels of debt have become a problem, despite [more...]

Date: 2009-01-14 23:35:31

Student Loan Default: How to Deal with It

by William Blake The Department of Education has many different avenues with which it works hard to get money back from individuals whose student loan payments have turned into student loan default. Defaulting on a federal student loan can become such a costly event that it often becomes more expensive than an individual’s original student loans [more...]

Date: 2009-01-15 12:05:44

How To Contact Creditors To Help With Credit Repair

Good credit has become nearly a necessity these days. Credit has become almost essential to buying a car or a home ( ... a problem because you’d be surprised at what kind of credit repair you can accomplish by being ... out of embarrassment or even fear. Unfortunately, it’s best to deal with the problem immediately [more...]

Date: 2009-01-15 23:57:12

Chase Behaving Badly: Unintended Consequences of the Fed's New Credit Card Rules

In late December, banking regulators agreed to new rules to limit actions by credit card issuers that consumer advocates deemed to be abusive ... your account agreement, which is the contract governing your credit card account. It provides ... rule changes would lead banks to restrict credit, particularly to riskier borrowers. What they may [more...]

Date: 2009-01-11 02:26:47

The Gasoline Tax And The Renaissance Of The Bicycle

With the rise of the US automobile industry, the bicycle almost disappeared as a means of transportation in America ... -guzzling ways." It's better to use the money for mortgage payments, credit card debt, or a rainy day ... American public roads in good repair. They determined that the deficit between revenue and expense [more...]

Date: 2009-01-02 00:31:42

Texas Faith: The gift of recession this season

The economic downturn brings with it a host of negatives, no doubt - and not just material, but psychological as well. As columnist David Brooks of the New York Times wrote recently, recessions reorder the social order and breed a certain pessimism. But in this holiday season, it is possible to ask another question: [more...]

Date: 2008-12-23 13:20:32

Wrangling with email contact lists and Christmas card mass mailing options

I have spent at least four hours today (and yes, it IS/WAS Christmas, so this was ostensibly fun/vacation time) ... License photo credit: notoriousxl I have been dealing with two related but different challenges: “ ... sync experiences I’ve had with Plaxo.) Sending out our family Christmas card as a PDF attachment [more...]

Date: 2008-12-26 07:20:00

Keeping Your Mortgage Interest to a Minimum

When it comes to buying a home and taking out a mortgage, the fact is that the interest you pay will likely be your biggest expense ... things you may not have thought of. Before applying for a loan, many people close credit card ... their lowest interest rates for those with the very best credit scores and credit histories [more...]

Date: 2009-01-15 02:50:33

Why Didn't Regulation Save Us?

The story being pushed by many is that somehow, George Bush reduced regulation too much, and that was the cause of many of our current fiscal woes. Of course, when people try to sell this particular tale, they are amazingly devoid of facts, such as specifically which regulations were repealed which caused our doom [more...]

Date: 2009-01-13 17:28:10

Financial Forecast for 2009, Considering Resource Limitations

In this post, I consider some major issues contributing to our current financial problems, before making a financial forecast for 2009. These are 1 ... from the bottom: Layer 1. Household Debt (Mortgages, auto loans, credit card debt, student loans ... debt-based financial system operating. 3. Where we are now, and the role reduced resources [more...]

Date: 2009-01-06 15:10:32

Crafty Creditors Are Making Changes

This is a guest post from Tisha Tolar is a freelance writer providing content for CreditCardAssist ... . By today’s standards, a good customer can simply be late paying a debt other than the credit card ... and charges to accumulate, leaving you in even greater debt. Credit card companies rely on the fact [more...]

Date: 2009-01-14 13:10:23

Select a Cosigner for Getting Personal Loan

Getting personal loan with a cosigner doesn’t mean only to have the cosigner’s signatures on the form. It is basically getting the cosigner in confidence who takes the responsibility of repaying the loan if you create a default in it. A cosigner is one who helps you out in receiving a personal loan from the bank or financial institution keeping him in front of the bank or financial institution from where loan is taken. [more...]

Date: 2009-09-26 17:00:35

Introduction to Windows 7

It’s two months since I got the first introduction to Windows 7 (code named Vienna) at Microsoft Tech-Ed 2008 in Barcelona, and this week Microsoft released a public beta of their next client operating system. I have installed it on my MacBook Pro, and plan to install it on an office machine in AD and on my home machine [more...]

Date: 2009-01-14 20:32:13

by Dr. Ellen Hodgson Brown featured writerDandelion SaladEllen’s post Jan 3, 2009webofdebt.com Cartoon in the New Yorker: A gun-toting man with large dark glasses, large hat pulled down, stands in front of a bank teller, who is reading a demand note. It says, “Give me all the money in my account [more...]

Date: 2009-01-03 17:24:55

Thursday morning links

#fullpost{display:inline;}TOP STORIESRegulators adopt new credit card rules - APTrade-Protection Threat in China, Russia, U.S ... - MarketWatch“The Biggest Bubble Of All . . . U.S. Government Debt” - George Washington BlogMARKETS ... -Funded Downpayment Assistance" Loans - ML-ImplodeRealtors: State home prices have a brutal 2008 - SF [more...]

Date: 2008-12-18 14:13:00

The Fed proposes new credit card rules

The Federal Reserve is proposing new rules (large pdf), on credit cards. This is a second stage of rules, to go into effect on February 22, 2010. One of the best things is banning the credit card industry from applying payments to your lower interest rate first. Ya know, you have a balance and you get an offer which says "2.99% on new purchases for 6 months", which you accept. [more...]

Date: 2009-09-29 17:58:54

New Regulation on Credit Card Unfair Practices Approved

This week, the Federal Reserve, the Office of Thrift Supervision, and the National Credit Union Administration, ... or Practices, by financial institutions in connection with consumer credit card accounts and overdraft ... until a payment is over 30 days late. I always understood credit card rates to be variable, meaning [more...]

Date: 2008-12-20 18:34:48

Ohio Debt Consolidation

Debt consolidation may seem all but impossible now that Ohio lenders frequently require some of the best credit scores before they will extend ... credit. It has gotten difficult to gain access to credit. Debt consolidation loans are almost unheard ... credit. This can be nearly impossible if you are in debt, since 30% of the credit scoring formula [more...]

Date: 2009-01-14 17:31:15

Five Dollar Group Break: Cubs, Nationals/Expos, Twins

Team: CubsBuyer: gritz76Number of cards: 35Best card: 2005 Donruss Timber & Threads #TT-27 Mark Prior Game-Used BatComments: ... , this is Boso's only card (and RC by default) despite the fact that the back of the card lists his NFL experience ... of foreshadowing, the same pack also contained an AUTO card. I think a couple of guys should keep [more...]

Date: 2009-01-11 20:01:00

Microsoft patches up Internet Explorer

Microsoft has released an emergency update designed to fix a security flaw in Internet Explorer, the world’s most widely used browser ... were using the flaw in the browser to take control of PCs and hunt for credit card numbers and other ... browser, although it remains the default browser on nearly three quarters of the world’s computers. [more...]

Date: 2008-12-18 11:20:55

Are California’s Muni Bonds Golden?

Here is an opportunistic view of California’s fiscal difficulties ... state. The “general obligation” (or full faith and credit) bonds now yield about three times as much ... Bill Lockyer, I had to ask: Is California public debt completely safe? Absolutely, he replied. “ [more...]

Date: 2009-01-14 00:11:54

The Economic Downturn and Student Loans: Some Practical Advice for Borrowers

Today's post is from Alan Michael Collinge, author of The Student Loan Scam: The Most Oppressive Debt in U.S ... of bankruptcy protection has given the green light to lenders to attach penalties and fees onto debt without ... to discharge in bankruptcy for the past decade. The federal guarantee on these loans was used as the reason [more...]

Date: 2009-01-11 01:14:50

2009 The Big Picture – Part 6

We are now entering a period of extreme risk aversion. Investors have pulled back and have a wait and see attitude. Spending by the consumer is tightening and credit card companies are slashing the amount of credit their customers were previously allowed. In the first half of 2009 the US economy will most likely [more...]

Date: 2009-01-14 15:00:53

Morning Buzz: Monday 12.15.08

There's been enough rain from this storm that the Sepulveda Basin in the Valley was closed as a precaution. DN Metro will unveil today the new TAP rechargeable transit card. Wires Dean Singleton says there will be no bankruptcy for MediaNews though its credit rating has dropped far below investment grade [more...]

Date: 2008-12-15 16:48:15

Economic Potpourri December 14, 2008

The barrage of noteworthy economic news continues unabated. Here are a few headline news reports of interest from the past couple days ... of U.S. government debt outstanding rose to $10.7 trillion in November from $9.15 trillion a year earlier ... people continue to flock to the U.S. government debt market because it’s the biggest and deepest [more...]

Date: 2008-12-15 02:30:00

Barriers and Problems Refinancing a Home Mortgage in 2009

My quest to refinance my home mortgage continues. Rates are around 5.00% with no points for a 30 year fixed, last I checked ... with a maximum amount, similar a credit card. You don’t receive a lump sum, but rather withdraw ... for private mortgage insurance (PMI) or take out a home equity line of credit (HELOC). Private Mortgage [more...]

Date: 2009-01-14 11:00:51

How to Lose (Reward) Points

Getty Images Reward programs: toasted or offering toasters? The Journal’s Jane J. Kim on vanishing credit-card rewards programs: Under pressure to cut costs and bolster profits ... -earned points: Rule No. 1. Miss a payment. Credit-card issuers are increasingly worried about rising [more...]

Date: 2009-01-14 15:11:05

Christmas Potpourri and Holiday Shopping Update

Happy Holidays and Happy New Year to you and your loved ones. Here are a few headline news reports of interest from the past couple days.U.S. Store Traffic Fell 24% on Pre-Christmas WeekendU.S. retail store traffic fell 24 percent last weekend from a year earlier as deepened discounts failed to entice consumers to spend during what may be the [more...]

Date: 2008-12-26 03:52:00

Economic Potpourri December 27, 2008

The barrage of noteworthy economic news continues through the holiday season ... or more weeks ago, had been counting on post-Christmas sales to help rescue what will probably ... - and credit-constrained than ever before. After a 25-year spending tsunami, they’ve shifted from spending [more...]

Date: 2008-12-27 22:24:00

Upcoming Vote on Credit Card Reforms

Every Tuesday, Smithee presents an article about his own experiences credit cards with and observations about the credit card industry. The U.S ... . Issuers also must eliminate the use of the term “grace period” on credit card applications ... . Federal Reserve is set to vote on Thursday (Dec. 18) on a set of rules which could change credit [more...]

Date: 2008-12-16 13:03:40

How to Use PayPal | Basics and Beyond

Introduction: How to Use PayPal: Basics and Beyond PayPal is an online financial middleman that facilitates the transfer of money between people ... number of credit card payments; limited customer support (no toll-free number and long wait times ... of money. Premier accounts: Pros: Toll-free customer service number; can accept unlimited credit card [more...]

Date: 2009-01-13 05:20:00

10 Tips to Keep Identity Theft from Ruining Holiday Travel Plans

From Brian Lapidus, Chief Operating Officer for Kroll Fraud Solutions Attention Holiday Travelers: ... the house key. Don’t leave out tax returns, credit card statements, utility bills and the like. It’ ... with identifiable bank or credit card information. Not even your online personal bill-paying [more...]

Date: 2008-12-16 06:24:11

Find Out Why Making A Low Interest Credit Card Application Is Beneficial For You

There are many advantages a high credit score can give and these will definitely prove useful when the time comes for you to apply for credit card ... however, when the credit card issuers require you to pay higher interest rates. This tens to happen ... about making a low interest credit card application. The plain truth is that a low interest credit car [more...]

Date: 2009-01-15 07:47:37

Tackling Student Loan Debt

If you have recently finished school and is currently in your period of six months than you on your first student loan payment, ... card debt. The highest rate on student loans compares favorably with the exorbitant prices of credit ... of existing debt accumulates car payments and credit card accounts. So if you feel overwhelmed [more...]

Date: 2009-01-14 00:34:19

Dems: New Credit Card Regs Are No Substitute for Legislation

After months of proposals, arguments, hearings and public comments, ... sooner to protect American consumers by giving credit card protections the permanence and force of law ... card practices that mire families in debt. Legislation is needed to stop abuses such as charging [more...]

Date: 2008-12-18 21:12:36

Security Advantages of a Web Based POS

Small Business and the Challenge of Computer Security Security is a big issue for small businesses ... your customer’s credit card numbers? If your business was flooded and your computer destroyed could you recover ... -drive but the next week you get a call from a major credit card company. One of your customer’ [more...]

Date: 2009-01-13 18:08:21

The Crisis and the Policy Response - Benanke

SpeechChairman Ben S. BernankeAt the Stamp Lecture, London School of Economics, London, EnglandJanuary 13, ... on many financial institutions and shook investor confidence in credit markets. However, although ... one aspect of a much larger and more encompassing credit boom whose impact transcended the mortgage [more...]

Date: 2009-01-14 14:16:00

Your Credit History: What Gets Reported And What Does Not

A credit report is a document that outlines your financial status, specifically your credit history ... or application for a credit card or insurance beyond $150,000 and unpaid tax liens. Information from public ... years. Certain records do not appear. Debt records more than seven years old and bankruptcy records [more...]

Date: 2009-01-15 07:27:56

How Do I Go About Getting Money for Plastic Surgery?

How Do I Go About Getting Money for Plastic Surgery? by Leonard DawsonFinancing plastic surgery is not like financing a car or a home. A loan to pay for plastic surgery is an unsecured debt, meaning there’s not collateral for the bank to repossess in the event of a default. Banks, as you may have guessed, are very careful about who they loan plastic surgery money to. [more...]

Date: 2009-09-25 13:17:26

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