Integrated Asset Services has released its most-recent house price index:
Based on the timeliest and most granular data available in the industry, the index showed house prices falling another 3.0% in February.
U.S. house prices have now fallen 14.4% on a year-over-year basis and 17.9 % since the height of the actually being estate bubble in 2006.
It seems everyone is trying to grab headlines these days, but its one thing to promote a point of view, and quite another to outright mislead people about it. However, that is exactly what the CRL (Center for Responsible Lending) is doing. In a recent article posted by the Earthtimes (read it here), they provide minutiae and points that are very accurate and reflect the true structure of short style loans as well as provide many detailed points about why the CRL is misleading people with the press releases.
The biggest concern is over the suggested APR that many short term or payday loans have. T
CHENNAI: As access to ATMs has become free from April 1 (no extra fees for using ATMs of other banks), many banks may look at consolidation of their teller operations instead of aggressively expanding ATM network.
Most banks said they would open ATMs only in those locations for which they had already obtained RBI’s permission and they are now looking at forging bilateral and multilateral agreements with other banks so that their clients could avail of these services at a cheaper cost.
“ATMs don’t seem to excite banks anymore. Till recently, showing a large network of ATM was part of our bank’s brochure to attract customers. That is not a USP anymore. ATMs fr Full Article
One of the provisions of the government’s plan to rescue the financial system is for the nation’s major banks to undergo a “stress test.” This test is designed to look thoroughly into the operations and balance sheets of financial institutions to determine whether they have the financial strength to continue operating. As these banks are scrutinized, many of them are going to be forced to make structural changes in order to remain solvent.
Recently, a small bank in Lockport, NY called First Niagra Bank was able to acquire almost 60 branches from a large regional Pittsburgh-based bank called PNC. Along w
The price of providing, fourth largest U.S. insurer, the Hartford Financial Services Group, reasonable debt protection increased dramatically on March 24 after Moody’s Investors Service slashed the ratings on the insurer’s debt the previous day.
Now, the company’session senior debt rating has fallen to the lowest investment grade level, Baa3. It has left the Hartford in equivocal place in the market, with a negative outlook, and the potential for additional downgrades in the coming 12 to 18 months. The most notable importance of this serious downgrade is that in that place is a serious increase in the borrowing costs of the affected company.
According to figures released by Markit Intraday, the credit default material used to make secure the Hartford’s debt increase to from 16.25% to 19.25% of the total insured as a precipitate payment. This eq