Student Loan Interest Rate Increase Looms Near
May 16th, 2012 @ 12:21 PM by Amber NelsonCongress has just six weeks to act before subsidized student loans become a little more expensive. The interest rates on federal student loans are set to double July 1, potentially making it tougher for some students to afford their college tuition. Subsidized Stafford loans, available only to undergraduates now, will soon carry an interest rate of 6.8 percent, twice the current, ultra-low 3.4 percent. This change will affect the more than 7 million students who take out Stafford and other federal loans each year. The increased rate will add an extra $1000 in debt to a one-year student loan, according... Read full article »
Small Business Loan Approval and Demand Falls in April
May 9th, 2012 @ 1:44 PM by Amber NelsonBoth demand for and approval of small business loans declined in the U.S. in April, according to a recent survey from Biz2Credit, a result of increased fees and poor job creation numbers. The Biz2Credit Small Business Lending Index reported that big banks (those with more than $10 billion in assets) approved just 10.6 percent of all small business loan requests in April, down from 10.9 percent in April, and down from 11.6 percent in March 2011. The big bank approval decrease is not terribly surprising as they have kept very tight lending standards in the post-financial crisis period, but a... more »
Amber Nelson is a seasoned mortgage industry writer and a regular contributor to Loan.com and Mortgage101.com.
Credit Card Act Hasn’t Changed Much for College Students
May 2nd, 2012 @ 1:06 PM by Amber NelsonA new study says that a new set of regulations aimed partly at reducing credit card debt among college students is having little effect. Jim Hawkins, an assistant professor at the University of Houston Law Center, recently authored a study which surveyed 500 students about their credit card experiences. Based on his findings, he believes that banks have found ways around the new laws. One of the rules of the Credit Card Accountability, Responsibility and Disclosure (CARD) Act of 2009 (which went into effect in February 2010) was that credit card issuers can no longer conduct marketing activities on college... more »
Amber Nelson is a seasoned mortgage industry writer and a regular contributor to Loan.com and Mortgage101.com.
- Posted in Credit Card Debt, Other Loans
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Auto, Mortgage Rates Likely to Stay Low After Fed Decision
Apr 25th, 2012 @ 8:34 PM by Amber NelsonThe Federal Reserve’s Federal Open Market Committee (FOMC) voted today to keep its key interest rate at or near zero for the next six weeks, and promised to leave it there for as long as two years. The Fed’s target interest rate influences many rates in the market place, particularly mortgage interest rates and auto loan rates. And even though the Fed sees the overall economy improving somewhat, it noted in a statement that “despite some signs of improvement, the housing sector remains depressed,” which is at least part of the reason that “economic conditions…are likely to warrant exceptionally low... more »
Amber Nelson is a seasoned mortgage industry writer and a regular contributor to Loan.com and Mortgage101.com.
- Posted in Auto Loans, Mortgage Rates, Mortgages
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Small Business Lending Slows in February
Apr 18th, 2012 @ 1:10 PM by Amber NelsonLending to small businesses in the U.S. flatlined in February, according to a new index reading, as lending figures for January and February were revised downward as well. The Thomson Reuters/PayNet Small Business Lending Index, which measures total financing volume to U.S. small businesses, was almost unchanged in February at 98.3, from 98.2 in January. And while business borrowing is up 14 percent from the previous year, it still represents the slowest yearly growth rate since September. “It’s pretty uninspired,” PayNet founder Bill Phelan said in an interview as quoted in a Reuters article. “We see this faltering as a... more »
Amber Nelson is a seasoned mortgage industry writer and a regular contributor to Loan.com and Mortgage101.com.
Subprime Borrowers Find More Access to Credit
Apr 11th, 2012 @ 12:54 PM by Amber NelsonConsumers with less than stellar credit are now having an easier time acquiring things like credit cards and auto loans, according to a new report from credit reporting agency Equifax, as lenders turn up their credit spigots in hopes of increasing market share. The report found that banks increased their credit card lending to subprime borrowers by 41 percent between 2010 and 2011, reaching 1.1 million new card issued, a four-year high. Bank-issued credit card limits also climbed 55 percent to $12.5 billion in 2011, the highest level since 2008. There was also a significant increase in retail credit card... more »
Amber Nelson is a seasoned mortgage industry writer and a regular contributor to Loan.com and Mortgage101.com.
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Student Loan Debt – the Next Big Economic Crisis?
Apr 4th, 2012 @ 8:17 PM by Amber NelsonAmericans now hold over $1 trillion in student loan debt, a growing figure which has recently surpassed total U.S. credit card and auto loan debt. As college tuition and fees continue to rise, could this overwhelming debt burden turn out to be the next big financial crisis? Average student loan debt has reached $25,000, according to the Project on Student Debt, up 25 percent in the past decade. And with roughly a quarter of recent graduates unable to find jobs, that debt burden is rapidly becoming too heavy for many to repay. Almost 30 percent of all student loans have... more »
Amber Nelson is a seasoned mortgage industry writer and a regular contributor to Loan.com and Mortgage101.com.
Car Sales Likely to Make Major Jump in March
Mar 28th, 2012 @ 8:42 PM by Amber NelsonAll the numbers are pointing toward a very strong month of car sales for the U.S. in March, according to auto data company TrueCar.com, perhaps even the biggest increase since August 2007, almost five years. TrueCar.com is predicting that sales of new cars will grow 14 percent in March from the previous year to a seasonally adjusted annual sales rate (SAAR) of 14.5 million. “Due to stronger than expected recovery, we’ve increased our sales forecast another 3.6 percent, from 14.0 million unit sales to 14.5 million unit sales in 2012,” said Jesse Toprak, vice president of market intelligence for TrueCar.com... more »
Amber Nelson is a seasoned mortgage industry writer and a regular contributor to Loan.com and Mortgage101.com.
- Posted in Auto Loans
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Existing Home Sales Lag As Underwater Homeowners, Foreclosures Drag on Market
Mar 21st, 2012 @ 9:26 PM by Amber NelsonAfter a few months of small gains, sales of existing home sales dipped in February, according to the National Association of Realtors, as the number of underwater homeowners reached a three-year peak and foreclosures continue to make up a significant market share. The NAR reported, as quoted in a Washington Post, that existing-home sales fell 0.9 percent last month, to a seasonally adjusted annual rate of 4.59 million, down from 4.63 million in January. Across the country, sales decreases in the Northeast and West off-set gains in the Midwest and South. In the Northeast sales fell 3.3 percent and 3.2... more »
Amber Nelson is a seasoned mortgage industry writer and a regular contributor to Loan.com and Mortgage101.com.
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Consumers Pick Up the Pace on Credit Card Charging
Mar 14th, 2012 @ 7:49 PM by Amber NelsonAmerican consumers are turning back to credit cards in full force, according to new data from credit card comparison website CardHub, indicating that there never truly was a downward trend in credit card spending. The website says that during 2011, consumers charged $48 billion in new credit card debt. That is 424 percent more than 2010 charges and 577 percent more than 2009 totals. That number is made up of $4 billion in total outstanding credit as well as $44.2 billion in consumer credit card defaults. “Looking back two years, with the exception of a single quarter, U.S. consumer debt... more »
Amber Nelson is a seasoned mortgage industry writer and a regular contributor to Loan.com and Mortgage101.com.
- Posted in Credit Card Debt, Other Loans
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Student Loan Debt Continues to Outpace Credit, Auto Debt
Mar 7th, 2012 @ 2:12 PM by Amber NelsonAmericans have more invested in student loans than they do in car loans or on their credit cards, according to new information from the economists at the Federal Reserve Bank of New York. While this has been a trend for many months, student loan debt in the third quarter of 2011 now totals $870 billion for Americans across the country, representing a 2.1 percent increase from the second quarter. And as the New York Fed economists wrote on their blog , “With college enrollments increasing and the costs of attendance rising, this balance is expected to continue its upward trend.”... more »
Amber Nelson is a seasoned mortgage industry writer and a regular contributor to Loan.com and Mortgage101.com.