Smart Borrower Blog

Archive for January, 2011

Small Business Funds Poised for Release

The $30 billion small business stimulus fund promised by President Obama in early 2010 is finally about to be unleashed for use by the nation’s smaller banks. According to a BusinessWeek.com article, banks have made an impressive showing in terms of applications for the new program. Small Business Lending Fund program director Jason Tepperman said he was “pleasantly surprised” at how many lenders have applied since last month when applications first became available. The program funds are available to the 7,000 banks across the country with assets of less than $10 billion, although those on the Treasury “troubled” list may... more »

Car Loan Rates Are The Lowest In Decades

The recovering auto industry is getting some relief in the way of low interest rates for car loans. Interest rates for car loans are currently near record lows which just may boost car sales and help to stimulate the much needed auto industry. According to bankrate.com, the latest weekly survey sent out to major banks showed that car loan rates are averaging right around 6.1%. This rate is the lowest seen in over two decades of tracking automobile loan interest rates. A few select lenders are even offering rates as low as 2.99%. According to Edmunds.com data, interest rates hit... more »

Americans Are Getting Fiscally Fit, and It Shows

It may have taken the Great Recession to break Americans out of their ‘pay as you go’ mentality, but they are starting to act more financially responsibly now. At least so say the latest reports from the Big Banks, according to a recent BusinessWeek article. Specifically, more American consumers are paying their bills on time, and defaulting less on credit cards and mortgages. Says BusinessWeek, “the reports are a sign that Americans are feeling more comfortable about their finances. Personal spending powers about 70 percent of the U.S. economy, and most economists say a fiscally fit consumer is critical to... more »

Federal Small Business Funding Starts Being Used In Michigan and North Carolina

The states of North Carolina and Michigan are the first to start getting money to lend to small businesses. The funds are coming from a new federal program that is part of the Small Business Jobs Act. The Act was signed into law by President Obama last September. The federal program plans to dish out 1.5 billion to help small businesses across the country who are deemed credit worthy, receive loans. Loans have been difficult to come by for these businesses during a time when banks have been tightening underwriting loan standards. While the federal government is putting in just... more »

2010 Foreclosures Reach 1 Million Mark

Last year was a record-breaking year for home repossessions, with roughly 1.05 million mortgage borrowers losing their homes, according to real estate data firm RealtyTrac. That is up over 2009′s 918,000 foreclosures and it is the first time that figure has passed the million mark. By contrast, in 2005 there were only about 100,000 properties seized by banks for default. Foreclosure filings, which includes default notices and auctions, as well as actual repossessions, were up to 2.9 million in 2010. “Total properties receiving foreclosure filings would have easily exceeded 3 million in 2010 had it not been for the fourth-quarter... more »

Consumer Borrowing Up in November

According to a report by the Federal Reserve released last week, during the month of November consumer credit rose for the second month in a row, up 0.7% from October. Leading the way was a jump in non-revolving credit, which rose by $5.6 billion to $1.61 trillion, mainly in the form of student loans. Another area that jumped was auto financing. Revolving credit was actually down 6.3% during the month of November, which includes mainly credit card debt. In October revolving credit debt totaled $800.7 billion and fell to $796.5 billion in November. Revolving credit has actually been dropping since... more »

Glimmers of Hope All Over Small Business Market

It may not be time to celebrate yet, but there are some exciting signs of life coming out of the small business lending world this week. And as small businesses are the largest creator of U.S. jobs, this can only be good news for the economy as a whole. Small businesses borrowed more money in November, according to the Thomson Reuters/PayNet Small Business Lending Index, an indication that the earlier lending freeze is thawing out. The index rose to 88.3 in November, up from 79.8 in October, and up a dramatic 17 percent over the previous year’s figures when the... more »

Sallie Mae Acquires $27 Billion in Federal Student Loan Assets

Sallie Mae announced today that they completed a deal last week with the Student Loan Corporation, owned by Citibank, to acquire $27 billion in guaranteed federal student loans as well as other related assets. Negotiations for the deal began back in September between the two companies and were finalized on December 31, 2010. With the addition of these loans, Sallie Mae adds to its student loan customer base an additional 1.3 million loan holders. The company now oversees over $200 billion in federally-funded student loans and in addition, the company personally backs $36 billion of privately-funded student loans. They are... more »