Smart Borrower Blog

Archive for November, 2010

Mortgage Rates Rise Slightly and Housing Market Sees No Improvement

Just two weeks ago, mortgage rates were at their lowest since the housing crisis began. For a 30-year fixed mortgage, rates bottomed out at 4.17%. Rates are creeping up ever so slightly and Freddie Mac is reporting current 30-year fixed rates to be at 4.4%. 15-year rates are also up slightly, coming in this week […]

For-Profit Colleges Blasted in Latest Report

Students at for-profit colleges may not be eligible for government grants and student loans in the future if the Obama Administration has its way. A new study from the Education Trust, a nonprofit research and advocate group, called “Subprime Opportunity: The Unfulfilled Promise of For-Profit Colleges and Universities,” claims that for-profit colleges are essentially like […]

SBA Loans Are Available

SBA loans are loans that are made through a traditional lender but are partially guaranteed by the SBA (Small Business Administration). While some people might think that the SBA makes its own loans, this is simply not true. The SBA guarantees these loans, up to 90% of the loan value so that the lender does […]

Credit Card Delinquencies and Charge-Offs Continue to Show Improvement

Although the changes are still incremental, they are in the right direction. Delinquent credit card accounts decreased in October as did credit card company charge-offs for the most part. Charge-offs are the loans that card issuers basically give up on because the borrowers are highly unlikely to repay them. This means the card issuers take […]

Chase Top SBA Loan Lender

Chase just announced that they have more than doubled their SBA or Small Business Lending and will take over as the top SBA lender for the fiscal year. They topped the next lender by helping an additional 250 businesses receive an SBA loan in 2010. SBA loans are loans that are available for small businesses […]

Mortgage Lenders Beg for Exemptions

The Mortgage Bankers Association sent out a letter Tuesday to 8 different government departments urging/pleading with them to go easy on the new mortgage lending restrictions that will be put in place no later than spring of next year. The Dodd-Frank Wall Street Reform and Consumer Protection Act (DFA) will require mortgage lenders to retain […]

Small Banks Are Closing Their Doors

Small banks across the country are being forced to shut their doors. This year alone over 140 small banks so far have closed up for good. While small banks at one time were the mainstream of America, today they are vanishing and someday may be a thing of the past. Just like many other small […]

October Auto Sales Show Surprise Upswing

Having been hampered for many months by a down economy and limited lending credit for buyers, the auto industry has seen some hard times in 2010. Yet October’s U.S. car and truck sales figures boasted a 13.4 percent increase over last year, with 950,000 vehicles sold, the best showing in more than two years. At […]

Small Business Lending Increasing

According to a new data from ThompsonReuters/PayNet, small business lending is on the rise. During the month of September lending was up 16% from last year at the same time. Additionally, these new figures put lending at the highest level seen in the last two years.