Smart Borrower Blog

Archive for October, 2011

White House Set To Review Energy Department Loans

The White House is being criticized over an Energy Department loan made for over a half million dollars to Solyndra, Inc, a company that has now filed for bankruptcy. According to a Washington Post article the White House will be conducting an independent review of other loans made to companies similar to Solyndra in hopes to determine if other such loans may be in jeopardy. The White House had the following to say: “Today we are directing that an independent analysis be conducted of the current state of the Department of Energy loan portfolio, focusing on future loan monitoring and... more »

Reverse Mortgages Draw Younger Crowds

A rising population of baby boomer retirees are changing the landscape for reverse mortgages. These loans that have historically appealed to older, single homeowners are now garnering more attention from the youngest qualifiers. The average reverse mortgage applicant today is around the age of 62 or 63, according to Peter Bell, president of the National Reverse Mortgage Lenders Association (NRMLA) as quoted in a Reuters article. And whereas older widowed women were the major borrowers about 15 years ago, now mortgage companies are most likely to see boomer couple applying for the loans. A reverse mortgage is a loan against... more »

Student Loan Debt Reaches Record Levels

Total student loan debt in the U.S. has surpassed national credit card debt, according to new figures from the Federal Reserve Bank of New York. New student loan funds borrowed last year grew to $100 billion dollars, a record high, and now total outstanding student loan debt has reached $1 trillion for the first time in history. Full-time undergraduate students borrowed an average of $4,983 last year, according to the College Board. That figure is more than double the average from 10 years ago, after adjusting for inflation. In the wake of the current economy, default rates on student loans... more »

Credit Card Lenders Look To Subprime Borrowers Again

After a few years of dramatically tightened lending standards, some banks and credit card companies are starting to reach out again to borrowers with less-than-perfect credit scores. According to data from credit bureau Equifax, new credit card accounts to subprime borrowers, those with a credit score below 660, rose 64 percent in the past year to 5.4 million during the first half of 2011. That growth dwarfed the 27 percent growth rate of total credit cards issued through June. Banks “want to grow and you can’t grow if you’re only lending to super-prime and prime customers all the time,” said... more »

Obama’s Relief Plan For Student Loan Holders

According to a Washington Post article, President Obama unleashed his new student loan relief plan initiative during an appearance at a Denver campus. Student loan relief is a current hot topic as student loan defaults are on the rise as graduates continue their efforts to find gainful employment in a struggling economy. The President announced during his speech that he would no longer wait for Congress to act and instead plans to impose his initiative through executive authority. During his speech he shared with the students he and his wife Michelle’s own struggles with paying off their student loans He... more »

Equifax Anticipates Return to Pre-Recession Auto Loan Levels

Auto loan originations continued to grow on a yearly basis during the first six months of 2011, according to a new report from credit reporting agency Equifax, and figures could be back into pre-recession territory by the end of the year. During the period from January to June 2011, new car loan originations increased 15 percent to 9.6 million, up over the first six months of 2010, when total loans were at 8.3 million. Moreover, when factoring in total originations from the first half of 2009, which were only 7.5 million, this is quite a significant trend. However, the new... more »

Small Business Loans Are Hard To Come By

If you own a small business and are looking for funding you probably will find getting a loan is not an easy task. Forbes reports that since small business bank loans peaked in 2007 reaching nearly 2.5 million, they have dropped drastically by about 39%. As of June of 2011 bank loans made to small businesses had dropped to levels not seen since 1999 and at that time there were almost six million less small businesses throughout the country, compared to today. Why such a decline? The economic downfall is partly to blame, but the Forbes article also points out... more »