On Wednesday it has been announced by Bank of America that it will pay back the $45 billion it received from the Troubled Assets Relief Program, or TARP.
In response to the positive news from America’s largest bank both the U.S. dollar and euro has shown a rise.
The announcement has highlighted the speedy recovery of U.S. banks that received bailout funds.
On Monday Bank of America Corp. launched a program in which it is offering its credit-card customers an easy-to-understand list of terms and conditions for each account.
It has been said by the bank that in this Credit Card Clarity Commitment program they will provide each cardholder with a one-page summary of all account terms in plain language. The program is an extension of BofA’s clarity initiative that has been launched by the bank earlier this year for its mortgage business.
In a new report it has been said by the Canadian Bankers Association that Canada’s retirement savings system is not broken and rushing into a “one-size-fits-all” fix would be a mistake.
The association calls on that instead of creating a new public pension plan the government should concentrate on increasing the attractiveness of such private-sector savings options as RRSPs for helping Canadians’ fatten their retirement nest eggs.
If you are under any kind of significant debt, you must have experienced, or heard from your friends about debt collectors. You may be relaxing in your home and suddenly the phone rings, and its no one you know, it is a stranger who is trying to harass you about the debt you owe. As if you already don’t know about it!
This problem could lead you to the point where you become frustrated and nostalgic every time the phone rings. No matter how much debt anyone owes, it is not fair to irritate one to this extent. And due to the recent credit crisis, there has been a major increase in the number of debt collectors.
A good news for past, current or future loan takers with a new amendment to renegotiate your monthly student loan repayment bill to a maximum 15% of your discretionary income.
These new benefits will be affected from 1st of July. This will regulate the student loan payments for millions of Americans. These benefits were signed into law in 2007 as part of College Cost Reduction and Access Act. They include:
Pell Grant scholarships covering the average tuition at public universities. The maximum Pell Grant scholarship for the 2009/2010 school year will be $5,350 which is $600 more than last year’s award and funding will be provided by both the College Cost Reduction and Access Act and the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act. Read the full story
Moments Ago Fed Funds Rate was cut to down to 1.00% bringing it down 50 basis points. It was expected as 25 basis was too low and 75 basis points were thought as too high.
This new kind of pushed Fed into corner. It is running out of Monetary options. few fiscal tools are left. It is very unlikely that Fed will lower the rates below One Percent. but some sources says that this option is still on tables. we did an article on Zero interest rate a few days back.
We at FLR don’t think that Fed cutting rate will ease the credit market. The current problem is about stinking balance sheets. Govt Bail outs Or Easy Credit from Fed can not do any thing but to inflate them by putting either equity or credit on these balance sheets. It does not take away the stink from the balance sheet. The problem with liquidity of commercial paper will not be solved unless all those toxic assets like sub prime credit are removed from them.
DOW and S&P 500 took a dip after rate cut. and 10 year bond yields rallied upwards….. watch Bloomberg for more details.
Before the Friday’s opening bell, PNC bank has announced that it will buy National City Corp. for $5.6 billion. National City has been in trouble for quite a while now. This news was not taken well by WallStreet and shares of both banks plunged even lower. Share value of PNC dropped almost 5%, while National City Corp dropped more, shedding 30% of its opening value so far. While all stocks are going down, It is difficult to stay that this sharp decline in share value is because of the Announcement.
PNC however expects to gain a lot from this deal. If successful, this bid will make PNC-National City 5th largest bank in United States.
CNN Reports Says:
Making the announcement before Friday’s opening bell, Pittsburgh-based PNC said it would also get a capital injection from the government by selling $7.7 billion worth of preferred stock as part of a federal program aimed at propping up the nation’s banking system.
PNC Bank posted a letter from chairman and CEO Jim Rohr on its Web site, saying the bank’s underlying business remains strong: “As we have reported in our public filings, PNC continued to be well capitalized as others in the financial services industry have faltered … and our operations and credit positions have performed as expected. PNC pursues a moderate risk profile and has minimal subprime exposure.”
In other news about this bank KY Post published pictures of an armed robbery in the PNC Bank, Covington, KY.
