Search results for banking
-
Posted
Sep 15 2009, 05:44 PM
by
Teresa Mears
Rating:
Money Blog: Smart Spending Blog - MSN Money
Ann Minch is mad as hell and she's not going to take it anymore.
Like many, she has seen the interest rate on her credit card jacked up (in her case, to 30%), even though she made all the payments on time, wasn't over her limit and didn't in any way violate Bank of America's rules. She had been making the minimum payment on her account for years, about $130 a month.
After trying, and failing, to get the interest rate reduced, she has, in her words "fired the first shot in the debtors' revolution" by refusing to pay another cent of her $5,943.34 debt unless Bank of America returns the interest rate to its previous level, 12.99%. She has staked out her position in this YouTube video, which has circulated widely on the Internet and has been viewed more than 150,000 times.
Read More...
-
Posted
Oct 31 2008, 04:30 AM
by
Andrew Horowitz
Rating:
Money Blog: Top Stocks Blog - MSN Money
 As if the economic bailout by U.S. taxpayers isn't enough to make you sick to your stomach, new information has come to light that several banks are planning to pay billions of dollars in year-end bonuses from the bailout funds they received. Investigations are beginning into the nine banks that took in the first $125 billion -- the same $125 billion that was supposed to be used to unclog the credit system which was preventing banks from providing much needed funds for individuals and businesses.
There are many feathers in a ruffle over this and New York Attorney General Andrew Cuomo and several congressmen are furious that over $20 billion has already been earmarked as bonus funds for management and employees. Unbelievably, that is just the estimates from Goldman Sachs, Morgan Stanley and Merrill Lynch. There are six more banks that are also working on similar heists.
Here is their rationale for using that money:
Read More...
-
Posted
Dec 03 2008, 05:03 PM
by
Karen Datko
Rating:
Money Blog: Smart Spending Blog - MSN Money
"Brainy Smurf" was pretty well gloating when MoneyMateKate announced that Citibank is upping her credit card interest rate. "I kinda selfishly thought to myself, 'Wow, sucks to be her,'" he wrote at Pants in a Can. Then he got his own letter from Citi. As of today, his APR is jumping from 9.96% to at least 16.99% (and 29.99% if a payment is late). What's up? He pays in full every month and he's never late. And didn't Citigroup just get a huge government bailout?
Read More...
-
Posted
Dec 24 2007, 04:57 PM
by
Karen Datko
Rating:
Money Blog: Smart Spending Blog - MSN Money
We can hear the gears grinding in the minds of personal-finance bloggers everywhere as they process the following information: Paul Brant, 70, of Frankfort, Ind., used about $25,000 in spare quarters and dollar coins he had accumulated over 13 years to help pay for a $26,670 2008 Dodge Ram half-ton pickup last week. Sheriff's deputies provided security as Brant drove the rolls of coins to the dealership. Brant, who works for Chrysler, decided to give his collection of spare pennies, nickels and dimes to his wife, Judy.
Read More...
-
Posted
Mar 17 2008, 09:21 AM
by
Karen Datko
Rating:
Money Blog: Smart Spending Blog - MSN Money
This post comes from partner blog Blueprint for Financial Prosperity. Check out the latest super-anti-counterfeit bill to hit the streets: It's none other than the fiver, and it debuted last week with much fanfare over its added security features and that humongous purple "5" on the back.  Many of the added security features -- more watermarks and a security strip -- were already on higher-denomination bills, and I was surprised that they would revamp the $5 bill with them, but what do I know.
Read More...
-
Posted
Sep 25 2008, 03:14 PM
by
Charley Blaine
Rating:
Money Blog: Top Stocks Blog - MSN Money
Let me start by stating that CNBC's Jim Cramer can be loud, obnoxious, annoying and even -- as he would admit -- occasionally boorish.
His rant a year ago on how he thought the Federal Reserve was making a horrible mistake when it raised rates in the face of a global credit crunch is the stuff of legend. (Which is why CNBC plays it over and over and over again.)
But Cramer is a very smart guy, and he's offering the best explanation I've seen on why Congress and the White House should pass a financial rescue plan.
Read More...
-
Posted
Aug 12 2009, 11:49 AM
by
Karen Datko
Rating:
Money Blog: Smart Spending Blog - MSN Money
A Wall Street Journal story discloses what may be a surprising fact: Credit card companies can cancel your card without giving you advance notice.
The story relates how a lawyer tried to use her American Express card to pay for a spa treatment and was surprised to learn that her card was no good. The same thing happened to a man who wanted to pay for a sushi meal with his HSBC Cash or Fly Platinum MasterCard. (Both said they have very good credit.)
Many people have encountered similar denials as credit card companies -- facing rising delinquencies and new federal regulations -- "reassess risk" and cancel accounts, the story said.
Bing: Best credit cards
We have to wonder: Has this happened to you? Is it embarrassing, or do you calmly reach in your purse or wallet for a backup? Shouldn't the card companies be required to give you warning?
Read More...
-
Posted
Sep 21 2009, 04:33 PM
by
Teresa Mears
Rating:
Money Blog: Smart Spending Blog - MSN Money
Ann Minch, the California woman who took her fight over a credit card rate increase to YouTube, apparently has extracted the concession she sought from Bank of America.
In a new video posted Saturday, she said Bank of America had agreed to return the interest rate on her $5,943.34 balance, which had been hiked to 30%, to 12.99%. The bank's first offer was 16.99%, which she said she rejected.
She said she was contacted by Jeff Crawford, senior vice president of existing credit card accounts, who was polite. He didn't mention either her video or her "taxpayers' revolt" -- which she says is not over.
Read More...
-
Posted
Sep 18 2009, 03:55 AM
by
Douglas McIntyre
Rating:
Money Blog: Top Stocks Blog - MSN Money
Citigroup (C) chief executive Vikram Pandit has admitted what most people already believe. Paying an individual banker $100 million in the current climate is not responsible or right.
According to Reuters, when asked if $100 million was too much money for a Citigroup employee to earn given the government support the bank has received, Pandit said, “Yes.”
But is it too much, or is it simply a fair wage for a job well-done?
Andrew Hall, who runs Citi’s energy trading operation Phibro,
Read More...
-
Posted
Sep 25 2008, 11:47 AM
by
Karen Datko
Rating:
Money Blog: Smart Spending Blog - MSN Money
The Internet is afire with a grand proposal. Instead of bailing out AIG to the tune of $85 billion, why not divide the money among all 200 million or so U.S. adults? That gives $425,000 to every woman and man, the widely circulated e-mail says, or $297,500 after taxes. Wow. This idea has gotten a lot of traction online, particularly as Congress is now considering a $700 billion bailout or rescue or whatever for America's financial institutions. "Sounds like a plan," exclaimed Cathy at Cathy's Blog -- For Me For Once, one of many bloggers who've passed the $85 billion "We Deserve It Dividend" proposal on. There's only one small problem with this plan.
Read More...
More Posts Next page »
|
