The FDIC has been in the news a lot in recent years, but during quieter times the agency and what it does are invisible to most Americans.
The closest we get to it is the sign in the bank window that says, “Member FDIC”.
The FDIC is sort of like a giant insurance company for the entire US banking industry (in fact it stands for the Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation). The fact that we usually don’t know what it does is an indication that it’s doing the job it was meant to do.
When used in the right way, a credit card can be a powerful tool.
The best credit cards provide you with free stuff, and even cash back.
While we often we think of credit cards as debt traps, the truth is that, used responsibly, credit cards actually provide a number of benefits. Savvy credit card use can lead to the earning of valuable rewards, as well as cash back. You can actually make money simply by making purchases that you would normally.
The goal, of course, is to get the best credit card possible.
This includes a credit card with generous rewards, as well as easy redemption. Many of the best credit cards also come with a signing bonus. When you sign up, and then spend a certain amount of money within a set period of time, you receive bonuses worth $100, or even $200.
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Interest rates on mortgages are at all time lows; does that mean you should refinance as soon as possible?
Maybe–and maybe not.
Interest rates may be lower than they’ve ever been, but never has the issue of refinancing been more complicated. For one thing, it’s harder than ever to qualify for a loan at the best rates, and for another, today we have to consider falling property values which is something that hasn’t existed since the Great Depression.
Are you a Costco member looking for a credit that will be accepted at their locations AND has great benefits as well (or maybe looking to join Costco)?
The TrueEarnings® credit card from Costco and American Express offers the personal attention and customer service you’d expect from an American Express credit card along with additional Costco membership benefits.
TrueEarnings is a rewards credit card that offers varying levels of cash back depending on what you buy with your card, both in and out of Costco, while also giving you access to an exclusive membership warehouse shopping experience with low prices on brand name merchandise.
If you’re a faithful news follower, you’ve likely heard about the recent LIBOR scandal but like many, you might not know anything about LIBOR or the why the scandal is big enough to make international news.
LIBOR is an acronym for the London InterBank Offered Rate.
Here’s how it works: Banks, just like other businesses, sometimes need extra money. Let’s say that Bank A wants to make a large commercial loan but to lend the money would put them below certain capital requirements but only until other payments and deposits come in.
Bank B happens to have an excess of cash on their books and as any good banker knows, cash sitting around doesn’t make any money so they’re eager to lend some of their cash. Bank A and Bank B come together and work out the terms of a short term loan, but how do they agree on an interest rate?
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There are many different savings vehicles to choose from, but two of the most common are money market accounts and savings accounts.
There are similarities between the two—both pay interest, have fixed balances, and are pretty easy to deposit money into or withdraw it out. Either account type could accomplish your savings goals.
But there are significant differences between them, and those differences could help you decide when one is more appropriate as a savings vehicle than the other.
You know I love ING Direct products.
I have both the Orange savings account for online savings and their Electric Orange checking account. What I also have is a brokerage account with ShareBuilder (owned by ING Direct). This is where I buy stocks outside of my IRA accounts.
ShareBuilder is offering a promotion where new customers get a $50 bonus code for opening a new ShareBuilder account.
The offer is in effect until 9/30/12. In order to receive the bonus you need to fund your account with $2,000. And most important – make sure to enter the code 50LSQ3 when you sign up to make sure your account gets credited with the $50 bonus!
There are some myths that never die no matter how many times they’re disproved and no matter how many people get burned chasing them down.
Get rich quick is one of those myths.
In our minds, we know get rich quick isn’t legitimate, and we’ve been told as much again and again by parents, teachers, friends and coworkers.
Then why does it seem that there’s some part of us that might believe that get rich quick is possible?
If you’re tired of your bank hitting you with fees for nearly everything you do, then paying you a microscopic amount of interest to keep your money on deposit with them, you may have a viable alternative.
EverBank is an alternative to traditional banks if you’re looking to avoid excessive fees while also earning above average interest rates.
EverBank is an “online bank”, which is to say that you can conduct all of your banking online without ever having the need to go into the bank itself.
It’s based in Jacksonville, Florida, has well over $13 billion in assets, and has been around since 1961 though obviously not in its online form.
The bank offers 24/7 customer service (by phone), and since it is a bank, your depository assets are covered under FDIC for up to $250,000.
As part of its online model, you can deposit checks from your home computer—all you need to do is add the deposit information into your account online, endorse and scan both sides of the check, and your funds will be available the next business day.
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Until June 29th, a big problem was brewing for college students but less than two days before the deadline, Congress agreed on a bill that would avert larger student loan payments for some students.
The cost of college rises at roughly twice the rate of inflation each year. This equates to nearly 6% annually and that has made college tuition out of reach of the majority of families that didn’t save for education costs. Because of that, most students now rely on grants and loans to pay the costs. Grants quickly run out for most leaving student loans as their only option.
The federal government helps by offering two types of loans, called Stafford loans.
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