It wasn’t either of the bruising punishments on Capital Hill that caused Wells Fargo’s embattled CEO and Chairman, John Stumpf, to tender his resignation, effective immediately, on Wednesday evening. Last month, when we first reported on millions of fraudulent accounts opened at…
Partner With Your Bank, CU to Lower Fees
We have been reporting extensively on the financial disadvantage some people find themselves in when they opt-in to overdraft protection on debit card and ATM transactions. Now we’d like to discuss how to avoid those pitfalls. As we said last…
What to Expect From Janet Yellen
Janet Yellen was confirmed on Monday by a vote of 56 to 26 to be the next chairman of the Federal Reserve. Her term as the first women to head the 100 year old institution will begin on February 1st.…
2013: The Year in Retrospect
January brought with it the expiration of the Transaction Account Guaranty Program (TAG). TAG added unlimited insurance coverage to “noninterest-bearing transaction accounts” (like checking accounts) regardless of the balance of the account. As of January 1, 2013, deposits are subject to…
The Taper Heard Round the World
The stock market hit a new high and the dollar climbed against a number of foreign currencies, all because Federal Reserve Chief Ben Bernanke signaled a change to its massive bond buying practice. Beginning in January, the FOMC will only…
Cost of Thanksgiving Dinner
Your wallet may indicate otherwise, but according to the American Farm Bureau Federation, for the first time since 2009 and only the second time in the past decade, the cost of feeding a family of ten a “traditional” Thanksgiving dinner…
Too Big to Fail a Global Problem
While the cry to end “Too Big to Fail” (TBTF) gets increasingly louder here at home in the USA, it’s easy to overlook the fact that it’s a global problem. Instead of trying to end TBTF, however, the International Financial…
The Federal Reserve, Unemployment & Politics (Fed-Up)
CNNMoney coined the phrase “QE-Indefinitely”. Sad but true. The Federal Reserve will continue buying bonds at a rate of $85 billion per month as it has been doing since September 2012. There is still no end in sight. In fact,…
Community Banks, Local Credit Unions Team Up
Zero-Star Second Federal S&L, Chicago, IL failed on July 20, 2012. The failure was no surprise. The thrift had a rather unique business model; it specialized in making home loans to undocumented immigrants (with taxpayer-identification) in Hispanic markets in and…
U.S. Deposit Insurance Not a Free-for-All
Who said it? “We had a bad banking situation. Some of our bankers had shown themselves either incompetent or dishonest in their handling of the people’s funds. They had used the money entrusted to them in speculations and unwise loans.…