Atlanta-based The Home Depot Inc. (NYSE: HD) also has applied to run its own bank…The bank would allow Home Depot to enable contractors to offer home improvement loans to their own remodeling customers.
lending
Now Home Depot Wants To Be A Bank
By 3.19.07
Walmart Abandons Plan To Become A Bank
By 3.16.07
“Since the approval process is now likely to take years rather than months, we decided to withdraw our application to better focus on other ways to serve customers,” said Wal-Mart Financial Services President Jane Thompson in a statement.
Credit Card Documentary "Maxed Out" Opens Today
By 3.9.07
Maxed Out, a documentary about the credit card industry, is opening today in select cities (New York, Los Angeles, San Francisco, Dallas, Washington DC, Seattle, and Austin) and next week in a few more (Chicago, Boston, and Minneapolis).
New York Takes Deeper Look Into Student Lending
By 3.1.07
Concerned that guidance offered to students is tainted by conflicts of interests, Cuomo’s office asks schools to disclose if there are financial relationships with lenders and if any favors were offered to individual financial aid officers.
The Most Common Forms Of Troubling Debt
By 2.26.07
In general, there are two types of individuals who seek out my services: the extremely poor who are in a relatively large amount of debt and the middle class who have leveraged themselves into a whole world of debt.
The poor can’t make ends meet (they fall behind and it snowballs), but the middle class buy their way into debt with luxury cars, private schooling, and huge balances on their credit cards.
To help these people that are swimming in debt, I also offer one-on-one counseling where we discuss which assets can be refinanced, such as a car or a home. Another possible solution for many individuals is to look into a tax-deductible HELOC (Home Equity Line of Credit) with a much lower interest payment than their credit cards. Although many of these problems can be solved by paying off high interest debts and using a little creative refinancing, education is essential to making sure that this issue does not arise again.
This advice seems so elementary, and yet there are so many people like the ones CreditPro describes. Why do people buy things they can’t afford? It is a great mystery of life. —MEGHANN MARCO
Payday Lenders Are on the Defensive
By 2.22.07
• Introduce an extended payment plan that may be used once a year for those who can’t pay their bills on time.
For those of you not familiar with payday loans, they are essentially short-term loans. Let’s say things are tight and you need $100 to pay the electric bill. You go to a payday loan company and write them a check for $115 (they usually charge $15 per $100 loan). You walk out with $100. They won’t cash your check for a certain period of time (usually two weeks). If at the end of the two weeks, you don’t have enough money to cover the check, the lender will be more than happy to roll you over into a new loan (with another $15 or more fee). This is how most people get into trouble. According to the WSJ article, the typical client of a payday lender takes out seven loans per year.
Help Sallie Mae is Ruining My Life!
By 2.15.07
I was hoping that I could get my interest rate down and also my monthly payments down considerably. Not a chance. They even get belligerent if you dare trying to make payment arrangements. I even tried to send $600 one month hoping they would take it in good faith and they just sent it back. It’s either payment in full, or nothing so they can charge you late fees.
Does anyone out there have some advice for this guy? .—MEGHANN MARCO
Avoiding Payday Loans
By 2.13.07
CreditPro is a new blog written by a non-profit credit counselor, and he has some harsh words about Payday loans and why they are never a good idea:Another common problem that I encounter on a daily basis has to do with payday loans.
Borrowed Time for Student Loans?
By 2.6.07
Ever since the Democrats took control of Congress last fall, investors have worried that the government might start trimming the largesse it gives educational lenders such as Sallie Mae. On Jan. 17, the House of Representatives passed legislation that would trim rates on need-based subsidized federal student loans by 50% over five years. The Senate has yet to move on the measure, but President Bush weighed in Feb. 5 with a proposed 2008 budget that aims to bolster grant funds, partly with a huge cut for federal loan subsidies. Stunned Wall Street players quickly unloaded shares of lenders such as Sallie Mae.
BusinessWeek suggests the cuts might be so deep that private lenders would stop issuing student loans altogether. An analyst at Morningstar says:
Senate Credit Card Hearing: "Take a Long, Hard Look at How You Treat Your Customers."
By 1.26.07
CNN has the highlights of the Senate Credit Card Hearing and Senator Dodd issued the smackdown WWF (WWE?) style: “If you currently engage in any business practice that you would be ashamed to discuss before this Committee, I would strongly encourage you to cease and desist that practice.
Watch Sexy Credit Card Senate Hearing Cam!
By 1.26.07
- Guests include Elizabeth Warren, Leo Gottleib Professor of Law and author of The Two Income Trap: Why Middle Class Mothers and Fathers are Going Broke, Harvard Law School; Dr. Robert Manning, Professor of Finance and Author of Credit Card Nation, Rochester Institute of Technology; John Finneran , President of Corporate Reputation and Governance, CapitalOne Financial; Richard Vague, Chief Executive Officer, Barclaycard US; Carter Franke, Executive Vice President of Marketing, JP Morgan Chase & Co.; Tamara Draut, Director, Economic Opportunity Programs, Demos; and Travis Plunkett, Legislative Director, Consumer Federation of America.
Ohh, CapitalOne. If they show up late we hope the senate charges them a fee.—MEGHANN MARCO
Tax Tip: Do Not Put A Refund Anticipation Loan On A Prepaid Credit Card
By 1.23.07
As we’ve mentioned before, refund anticipation loans are a bad idea. They’re made doubly bad when they are deposited to a prepaid credit card, but that’s just what HR Block suggests that you do. Why is this a bad idea?
Avoid Tax Refund Anticipation Loans
By 1.19.07
- Some of America’s most cash-strapped taxpayers – those from low- and moderate-income families – spent nearly $1 billion in the latest year recorded for what is almost always an unnecessary product: the so-called “refund anticipation loan” at income tax time. With another tax season gearing up, consumer advocates at the National Consumer Law Center (NCLC) and Consumer Federation of America (CFA) are warning taxpayers to steer clear of refund anticipation loans (RALs), one of the most avoidable tax-time expenses. New figures reveal that RALs drained about $960 million in loan fees, plus over $100 million in other fees, from the wallets of nearly 9.6 million American taxpayers in 2005. “Taxpayers can save themselves over a billion dollars by just saying ‘no’ to quick tax refund loans,” says NCLC staff attorney Chi Chi Wu. “These loans take a chunk out of your hard earned tax refund, and they expose you to the risk of unmanageable debt if your refund doesn’t arrive as expected.”
TRA’s are bad! Just say no.—MEGHANN MARCO
Payday Lenders Come Under Fire
By 12.1.06
“States should do more to restrict payday lenders, who pocketed $4.2 billion in fees from borrowers last year, according to a report released Thursday by the Center for Responsible Lending.”
The News; High Interest Charged For Lending Of Ears
By 7.14.06
• Home field advantage. Shortness of breath ensues amongst the 16,000 coat-tail hopefuls, causing them to reach for their pills. [LAT] “Verdict Bolsters Merck’s Vioxx”
Minorities Get The Worst Loans
By 6.5.06
Were you cursed with skin a shade darker than a gleaming opalescent white? Are your nethers nutmeg or, worse yet, ebony? Well, the honkies here at the Consumerist love you… but unfortunately, loan companies don’t. Also, you can’t have any of our money.
Would the World End if All Credits Cards Got Paid Off?
By 3.2.06
What if we sent in the full remaining balance on all our credit cards? Every single person in America, paid… off… alllllllll their credit card debt. Our Amex’s, Discovers, Visas, Mastercards. All of them.
