Mortgage rates displayed very little movement this week, according to mortgage financier Freddie Mac (yes, they’re still around).
The popular 30-year fixed rate mortgage remained unchanged at 5.07 percent during the week ending April 22, but is more than a quarter-point above its year-ago average of 4.80 percent.
Mind you, interest rates on 30-year loans never went any lower than 4.71 percent, so we’re still in great shape folks.
No movement at these low levels is good news. Alt
The Federal Reserve Board this week posted a new Web page providing succinct information for consumers on what gift-card issuers can and can’t do. Those rules are based on the new Credit CARD Act of 2009, and are effective after August 22 of this year. Check it out for a simple primer on your consumer rights. As we’ve mentioned, the Fed’s new rules don’t go far enough, but are an improvement over what existed before.
As the financial reform battle heats up in Congress, expect to hear more discussion of the Fed’s role in protecting—or not protecting—consumers during the last few years’ financial fiasco. The Fed’s defenders, and those who fear the creation of an independent Consumer Financial Protection Agency, argue that the Fed is perfectly capable of meeting its mandate for consumer protection. The
A Goldman Sachs trader admitted in e-mails that the money-losing investments he sold were “like Frankenstein turning against his own inventor.”
The glib messages from Fabrice Tourre were written as mortgage-backed investments he pushed on “widows and orphans” began to tank – which was great for Goldman since that’s exactly what they bet would happen.
The e-mails were released yesterday by Goldman, which admitted they were “highly embarrassing.” The bank put out the e-mails and other documents in response to a set of internal e-mails made public by a Senate panel set to grill Goldman execs this week.
Sen. Carl Levin (D-Mich.) said the documents he posted on his Web site show Goldman “made a lot of money by betting against the mortgage market.”
“Of course we didn’t dodge the mortgage mess,” Goldman CEO Lloyd Blankfein wrote on Nov.
Credit card companies know exactly what they are doing when they make it so easy for us to get the things we want, even though we can not afford them. When money is tight it is all too simple to turn to our flexible friends for help. The problem creeps up slowly as the debt builds up, until the burden of paying them back becomes impossible. The credit card payments then exacerbate the problem still further, making us rely even more on credit and borrowing.
The ease with which we can spend money with credit cards is one reason why serious credit card debt has become such a problem for so many people today. At this point many people can see no way to get rid of the debt, so they start considering serious options such as filing bankruptcy. While this may be necessary in some cases, there are far more times when it can be avoided by using a negotiated settlement.
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A study by Deep Customer Connections on agents for property and casualty carriers paints a clear picture on the current technology trends for this industry. The report reaffirms the fact that agents can achieve a higher level of success in their profession with adequate help from technology tools.
Though the P&C industry is faring better than other insurance segments at the moment, many carriers are missing opportunities to increase profits by cutting operational costs. Many P&C carriers are still relying on homegrown or legacy systems for policy administration and their internal processes. This decreases administrative productivity and also limits the extent to which agents can improve their performance.
Brainard’s nomination was held up by Republican concerns over allegations that she failed to pay property taxes on time. (What is it with Treasury and tax problems?)
With Brainard’s appointment, all major Treasury jobs are filled. Brainard was confirmed by a 78-19 vote, with 19 Republicans voting yes.
Treasury describes Brainard’s job as: “Brainard will advance the Administration’s agenda of strengthening U.S. leadership in the global economy to foster growth, create economic opportunities for Americans and address transnational economic challenges, including development, climate change, food security and financial inclusion.”
“Lael Brainard brings with her broad and deep experience on the most important international economic challenges facing us and the world today,” Treasury Secretary Tim Geithner said in a statement.
CBS Corp. Chief Executive Leslie Moonves received a pay package valued at $43 million in 2009, more than double his compensation a year earlier.
That’s according to an Associated Press review of securities documents filed on Friday.
The 60-year-old president and CEO saw his base salary remain unchanged at $3.5 million. But his bonus jumped by $5.5 million from a year earlier, and he received $14.4 million in stock options in 2009 after getting none in 2008.
The AP’s executive pay calculation, based on a regulatory filing, aims to isolate the value the company’s board placed on the CEO’s total compensation package.
The figure includes salary, bonus, incentives, perks and the estimated value of stock options and awards.