Banks just aren’t making the same profits they used to says the Federal Deposit Insurance Commission.

“The rising trend in noncurrent loans indicates that write-offs and loss provisions will likely remain high for the near future,” FDIC Chairman Sheila C. Bair said in the FDIC’s Quarterly Banking Profile.
She added, “We’ll also need to keep a close eye as we’ve been doing for a number of months on loan portfolios other than housing, including commercial real estate, credit cards, and small business. All of these are showing signs of stress as housing market weakness continues.”

In case you were wondering, this is why your credit card interest rate suddenly jumped and you just paid $3 at an ATM.

Q4 2007 U.S. banking profits lowest in 16 years [MarketWatch]
(Photo:Library of Congress)

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