| Banks hope cut eventually lifts demand for loans
The bad: Short-term pressures will remain. Banks have already been socked hard by the mortgage crisis and quarter after quarter of asset write-downs as investors try to figure out what banks' loan portfolios are really worth. And the cost of getting deposits — what banks pay in interest on savings, checking and certificate of deposit accounts — will remain higher than what they can charge on loans in the immediate future. For some banks, the rate cut means that they will lower their prime rates in tandem — SunTrust Banks did so Tuesday — but they won't be able to cut deposit rates as quickly because of competition for those deposits. The ugly: Consumer confidence is a wild card for the economy and for banks. If the Fed cuts don't ease consumer concerns, economic growth would be stifled, and there would little new demand for loans.
Six steps to hold off the recession
Cut your spending. Make this a priority. Weigh up whether you really need that new flat-screen TV, and maybe going on a plush overseas holiday can wait one more year. Making sacrifices this year and living on a tighter budget will leave you much better off in the long run. Reduce your debts. Pay a lump sum on your credit card, and reduce any loan repayments. Make sure that you are paying the lowest rate possible on any borrowing you have. .
Motley Fool Personal Finance: Beware The Two-Tier Mortgage
If you dislike horror stories then please look away now, especially if you borrow money. That's because a two-tier mortgage market is just around the corner. According to the Bank of England, lenders scaled back lending to households in the last three months of 2007 as strains in the money market took its toll. The Bank's quarterly credit survey shows that households found it increasingly difficult to borrow money towards the end of last year. Unsecured lending, which includes credit cards, personal loans and car financing, fell. Worryingly, secured lending, which are loans secured against properties, also fell as a result of banks reducing their appetite for risk. The upshot is that some homeowners who are coming off fixed-rate mortgage deals may find it difficult to get new loans.
Lenders to begin tacking on new fees for mortgages
Still others apply to anyone buying an investment property or getting a 40-year mortgage. The riskier the loan, the pricier the fees. "We've been talking about risk-based pricing for years. It's here," says Bob Walters, chief economist for Quicken Loans. The charges will be assessed on loans that are securitized after the end of February. Because securitization takes time, some lenders started levying the fees in November. Soon, all lenders will pass along the new fees, either as closing costs or by charging higher interest rates. For consumers, the new charges come at an awkward time. Credit scores often take a dive during and after the holiday shopping season because people run up their credit card balances. Maxing out a store charge card could cause someone's credit score to dip below 680, subjecting the oblivious shopper to mortgage fees in the new year.
Gandhi grandson quits peace group
Arun Gandhi, the fifth grandson of the revered pacifist, said Friday the board of the M.K. Gandhi Institute for Nonviolence based at the University of Rochester had accepted his offer Thursday to step down as president. Gandhi was on a panel of scholars, writers and clergy who discuss a new topic weekly on the Washington Post's ''On Faith'' page and his comments, posted Jan. 7, drew a torrent of criticism. He wrote that Jewish identity ''has been locked into the holocaust experience -- a German burden that the Jews have not been able to shed. It is a very good example of [how] a community can overplay a historic experience to the point that it begins to repulse friends." Describing Israel as ''a nation that believes its survival can only be ensured by weapons and bombs,'' Gandhi asked whether it would ''not be better to befriend those who hate you?'' ''Apparently, in the modern world so determined to live by the bomb, this is an alien concept,'' he wrote.
Mark the dates for 2008
This year's fun is just getting started.
See you out on the roads and trails!
ooo
Steve Bond is a competitive runner who lives in Nevada City and regularly writes columns and feature stories about running for The Union. He may be reached via e-mail at stillrunning55@sbcglobal.net.
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Arlington real estate appraiser sentenced to 5 years for fraud
An Arlington real estate appraiser has been sentenced to five years in prison after participating in what U.S. Attorney Richard Roper called a widespread North Texas home scam that cost Countrywide Home Loans millions of dollars. In August, Gandhi Ben Morka, 52, was found guilty on a charge of conspiracy to commit wire fraud, four counts of wire fraud and two counts of mail fraud after a weeklong trial. In addition to the five-year sentence handed down Tuesday, he must repay $2.3 million. Mr. Morka was accused of working with seven others who were indicted in May 2005 on mortgage fraud charges – Sean Cung-Kim Nguyen, Dai Quoc Nguyen, Xuyen Thi-Kim Nguyen, Tam Nguyen, Myna Tran, Hong Thanh Duong and Cuc Kim Tran. Mr. Roper's office said that most of those seven have been convicted and sentenced to prison.
Conclusions 1991-2000
Since the project was launched, we have written about 20 of the most important industries of the Russian economy. These are the chemical industry, ferrous metallurgy, the food industry, the auto industry, nonferrous metallurgy, the oil industry, air transport, light industry, the power industry, water transport, the gas industry, the military-industrial complex, banking, mass media and advertising, telecommunications, railway transport, the forest industry, the coal industry, show business, and the engineering industry. The report on each industry includes its history, the situation in the industry today, and its prospects. We have also defined the term "oligarch."
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