Consumerist: Treasury Department,

Here's Where Your Overdraft Fees Are Going: Banks Are Paying Government Back For Bailouts

Phil Villarreal — Tue, 09 Jun 2009 12:05:57 EDT

Several banks are doing just what they're always bugging customers to do — paying back money that was lent to them.

The Wall Street journal says American Express Co., Bank of New York Mellon Corp., Capital One Financial Corp., Goldman Sachs Group Inc. and J.P. Morgan Chase & Co. are all paying back the Treasury Department for money it floated them via Troubled Asset Relief Program bailout funds.

Many banks needed the government's help last October, when the financial system was teetering on the edge of collapse. As market conditions have begun to stabilize, banks have been able to raise tens of billions of dollars from private sources and have begun looking to escape from under the government's thumb.

While some big banks will be allowed to repay, the Treasury doesn't believe things have improved enough that the money won't be needed elsewhere. Treasury Secretary Timothy Geithner has said he plans to reuse returned TARP funds to assist other firms, including smaller banks, including those that have already received an initial TARP infusion.

To be allowed to pay back the money, banks had to prove they could raise private sector funds without Federal Deposit Insurance Corp. backing, as well as continue to lend without TARP funds.

Bottom line: Some TARP bailouts were calculated government gambles that are now paying off, having helped banks regain their financial health.

Nine Banks to Repay TARP Money [Wall Street Journal]

(Photo: afagen)

Former Treasury Secretary Says He "Forgot" That People Had To "Afford Their House"

Meg Marco — Mon, 22 Dec 2008 12:39:22 EST

Former Treasury Secretary John W. Snow has told the New York Times that he, along with the entire Bush Administration, simply "forgot" that people had to be able to "afford their house."

One of the main goals of the Bush Administration has always been to increase homeownership among Americans — a fantastic goal — but there was apparently one small flaw in the plan...

From the New York Times:

“The Bush administration took a lot of pride that homeownership had reached historic highs,” Mr. Snow said in an interview. “But what we forgot in the process was that it has to be done in the context of people being able to afford their house. We now realize there was a high cost.”

This seems like an odd thing to forget... especially for someone as accomplished as Mr. Snow. From 2003 - 2006, he served as the 73rd United States Secretary of the Treasury. Previous to that appointment he worked in the Reagan Administration and earned a Ph.D. in Economics from the University of Virginia. He's currently serving as chairman of Cerberus Capital Management, which among other things, owns 80% of Chrysler.

White House Philosophy Stoked Mortgage Bonfire [NYT]
(Photo:Rich Addicks/Atlanta Journal-Constitution)

Four New Penny Designs Unveiled!

Ben Popken — Tue, 23 Sep 2008 21:19:52 EDT

The Treasury Department showed off four sexy new designs for the back of the penny, a facelift to commemorate the 2009 bicentennial of Abraham Lincoln's birth. One image shows Lincoln's log cabin, one of him taking a break from splitting rails to read a book, one of them with the Capitol mid-construction, and the last of him gesturing towards the state capitol building in Springfield, Illinois! Yeah. Pennies. In the middle of the financial implosion, we're worrying about what the pennies look like.

Design changes unveiled for Lincoln penny [AP]