Bank of America says that it will reduce overdraft fees and improve checking account options.

Banks earn billions of dollars per year from overdraft fees

From overdraft fees banks earn billions of dollars per year and as financial system reform remains in national focus, consumers and lawmakers both have have asked banks to revamp their penalties.      

Starting Oct. 19, it has been said by Bank of America says that it will allow customers to choose the ability to outspend their accounts, and no fees will be charge by them for more than four items per day or on overdrawn balances of less than $10.

Limitation on number of overdraws

In June, the bank will put a limitation on the number of times in a year consumers can overdraw their accounts using debit cards in stores, and new customers will be allowed to opt out of overdrafts when they open their accounts.

Read the full story

Debt consolidation means to use one major loan in order to pay off all the other loan. It is implemented by simply using a collateral object such as a house to turn into secured loan and pay off the other loans, or sometimes it is the other way round.

There are many organizations that specialize in debt consolidations, and amongst them Bank of America, is the organization that has introduced a program called the Clean Sweep credit line, which offers loans for debtors to use as pay offs.

Depending on the credit limit of the user the program offers a variable interest rate of around 25.44% with a 3% transaction fee every time an advance is needed. This fee may start from a minimal amount of $5 with no maximal limit. The reason this scheme is popular is that it offers payment restart terms every time a request for advance is stated and this leniency is validated for 72 months.

Read the full story

In response to the U.S. Treasury’s call to speed the process and help prevent foreclosures, Citigroup Inc has significantly boosted its mortgage modification offers this month.

In a report released on Tuesday, CitiMortgage said that it has already helped 108,000 homeowners in the last quarter to avoid potential foreclosure, a rise of nearly 30 percent over the previous period.

It has participated fully in the President Barack Obama’s Home Affordable Modification Program, known as HAMP, to ease loan terms for up to 4 million borrowers.

Read the full story

According to a lending tally released this month, the Small Business Administration has been able to grant more than 1,000 emergency loans to struggling companies since it launched the much-anticipated America’s Recovery Capital program in mid-June.

Although the banks are still cautious about participating, the list confirms that the program is likely to hit its goal of making 10,000 loans by the time it ends in late 2010.

Out of 8,200 FDIC-backed banks in the U.S. around 400 lenders are currently making ARC loans. This small number could increase if it included top-tier SBA lenders with national reach. But out of SBA’s 10 most active lenders this year, only three have issued ARC loans. These three are Wells Fargo, PNC Financial and Zions Bank.

Read the full story

Just a tiny fraction of struggling homeowners have gained benefit from the government’s $50 billion program to ease the mortgage crisis. A list has also been that shows the lenders which are acting lay.

Only 9 percent of eligible borrowers have benefited by the program and had their mortgage payments reduced with modified loans during the last month. Furthermore, a report showed that 10 lenders had not changed a single mortgage.

Read the full story

According to a Treasury Department report, the largest U.S. banks have found it more difficult to meet demand for loan modifications than their smaller rivals. As stated by a U.S. Treasury official, the pace and effectiveness of the government’s anti-foreclosure programs has been limited by the inability of some mortgage servicers to keep up with demand.

David Sisko, the head of default management services for Deloitte & Touche LLP said that the Bank of America Corp., Citigroup Inc., JPMorgan Chase & Co. and Wells Fargo & Co. are likely to show the poorest levels of homeowner assistance among the 31 companies participating in President Barack Obama’s $75 billion loan modification program. The government said it wants to clearly show the companies that are doing the most to help.

Read the full story

Credit card companies are going to all lengths to get students to sign up for cards nowadays. Students might be motivated to get them seeing the free t-shirt or free pizza offer, but the high price that they’ll have to pay later is nothing compared to these small gifts. Not knowing about the consequences, the students will not only get into debt, they will also spoil their credit rating and hence put their future at steak.

Knowing all this, some student groups have gone so far as to classify these marketing tactics as predatory. But then, why are banks still allowed to market credit cards to students? It is possible that they just might have a contract with the host college.

Read the full story

The World is changing itself very quickly. Everybody need more ease in his life. Now-a-days Credit Card is very IN stuff. Persons find it reliable and simple. But when there come the time of payment of credit card bills, Companies try to snatch as much interest rate from customer as they can. By giving reason, A change took place in Interest rate.

But a new legislation ,effective from February `09, approved by US government about change of fixed interest rate to variable rate that will bound the Companies to notify the customer about upcoming change in interest rate at least 45 days before.

Read the full story

In order to release these guiding principles, a small review of the 20 platinum and rewards cards that are issued by 10 credit card companies have been conducted by the the Bankrate.com. The names of those ten companies are – American Express Co., Bank of America Corp., Capital One Financial Corp., JP Morgan Chase & Co., Citibank N. A., Discover Bank, First National Bank of Omaha, USAA Federal Savings Bank, U. S. Bank and Wells Fargo.

The most basic terms and conditions of the issuers have been evaluated by the Bankrate.com. It has been founded by Bankrate.com that average late fee charged by the most of credit cards ranges from $20.70 to $38.50; an average fee of $32 is charged for exceeding limit; and an average balance transfer fee of 3 percent is being charged.

Read the full story

Mostly the Credit card companies always love to issue premium “gold,” “platinum” or “black” cards, as the elite cardholders rack up big bills on their credit cards.

Here are the samples of some of the most exclusive credit cards which are hardest-to-get and offering the biggest benefits to their cardholder.

1. American Express Centurion

Card’s Annual Fee: The annual fees of this card are $2,500. In addition to this an initiation fee of $5,000.

Requirements of the card: Cardholder has to spend $250,000 minimum.

Frequently it is regarded as the most important one in its category, there are many benefits offered by the “black card“. With it you can enjoy 24-hour concierge service, at hotels room upgrades is offered by it and it also gives you a membership to the company’s “By Invitation Only” program, this membership provides you an access to sporting, culinary and cultural events, including New York Fashion Week.

2. Bank of America Accolades

Card’s Annual Fee: Its annual fee is $295.

Requirements of the card: A cardholder must have at least $200,000 in assets with Bank of America.

Read the full story