Clarification Appended: June 30, 2011 Here’s some good news for consumers who feel themselves trampled by soulless banking and credit giants: on July 21, a new consumer-protection agency will open its doors in Washington, with the mission of making everything from mortgage documents to credit statements fairer and easier to understand and generally giving the little guy more power against the financial corporate juggernauts. Here’s the bad news: it’s not clear that President Obama will be able to appoint anyone to run it
Tag Archives: credit
Hack Attack
So who would you like to hack today? A bank, a website, a corporation or perhaps a government agency that’s rubbing you the wrong way
Price-to-Rent Ratio: Where Houses Are the Best Buy
The Homebuyer Tax Credit was a sweet little perk for the housing market, but now it’s over. That leaves home prices to rise — or fall — on the merits
Is Australia’s Economy Dangerously Dependent on China?
If you’re ever in the australian outpost of Port Hedland, make sure you’ve got a high limit on your credit card. The dusty downtown of this isolated hamlet of 20,000 may be a few deserted streets lined with bank branches, the local cultural scene confined to drinking halls and pool tables
Microloans vs. Microinsurance
There are higher-yielding varieties of groundnut than those that farmers in Malawi tend to plant, but getting them to switch is tough. Better seed is pricey, increasing their risk
You Are What You Owe
Americans are forever grumbling about government gridlock.
Credit Default Swaps: The Next Crisis?
As Bear Stearns careened toward its eventual fire sale to JPMorgan Chase last weekend, the cost of protecting its debt, through an instrument called a credit default swap, began to rise rapidly as investors feared that Bear would not be good for the money it promised on its bonds. Not familiar with credit default swaps
Exposing the Credit-Card Fine Print
To credit-card companies, it’s not sufficient that customers pay their bills on time every month; they must also avoid a daunting array of borrowing habits that lenders deem risky.
Suze Orman on ‘Money Class,’ Death of the American Dream
Personal-finance guru Suze Orman is famous for her no-holds-barred advice. And in her latest book, The Money Class , she urges recession-battered Americans to be just as honest with themselves.
After Citi Sells Phibro, What’s Next?
The bank that never sleeps is holding an all-night sale. Citigroup, in an effort to improve its bottom line and repay the government, has put a “for sale” sign on numerous pieces of its business, downsizing what once was the nation’s largest bank