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New Lending Boom: 'Fertility Finance'

Matt Cantor — Fri, 24 Feb 2012 10:25:05 CST

Poor economy or not, families want children—and with bank credit tight, a specialized industry is reaping the benefits. "Fertility finance" firms provide loans for in vitro fertilizations, which regularly cost more than $20,000. The business looks set to soar this year, insiders tell the Wall Street Journal . It's...

One Trend Among GOP Freshmen: Debt

Evann Gastaldo — Thu, 16 Jun 2011 08:46:26 CDT

Republican freshmen in Congress say they're serious about tackling the US debt—but when it comes to their own personal debt, many have what the Washington Post amusingly calls “a more nuanced view.” At least 30 out of 87 had debts of $50,000 or more last year, according to...

FDIC's Failed Bank Tab: $9B

Matt Cantor — Thu, 17 Mar 2011 10:08:50 CDT

The 165 banks that toppled like dominoes in the financial crisis have stuck the FDIC with a hefty tab to the tune of $9 billion, the Wall Street Journal reports. Regulators have helped shoulder the burden of bad assets and loans at the failed banks; the loss-sharing agreements encouraged healthier...

1 in 4 Americans a Credit Risk

Jane Yager — Mon, 12 Jul 2010 04:23:00 CDT

Thanks to the Great Recession, the credit scores of millions more Americans have sunk to new lows. New figures show that an astounding 1 in 4 households are now in the lowest credit category, boosting the number of those considered poor lending risks to 43 million. Even more consumers are...

Lending Falls at Fastest Rate Since 1942

Kevin Spak — Wed, 24 Feb 2010 09:03:16 CST

Banks tightened credit last year at what the Wall Street Journal calls an “epic pace,” recording their biggest full-year decline in loans outstanding in 67 years. The figure comes from a new FDIC report that paints the picture of a banking industry that, apart from a few top-tier players, is...

US Bank Lending Falls at Fastest Rate in History

Mary Papenfuss — Thu, 18 Feb 2010 02:36:08 CST

The US bank lending rate has fallen its fastest in history, sparking renewed fears that the government hasn't done enough to prop up the economy and that America's troubles are far from over. Lending has plummeted $100 billion just since January, which amounts to a 16% annualized drop. Some $740...

China Lenders Step Up as Western Banks Struggle

Caroline Miller — Sat, 02 Jan 2010 09:09:52 CST

China's state-owned banks tripled their lending this year, even as Western banks were scaling back, becoming the principal engine of global recovery and life-savers for many international corporations. Beneficiaries range from Southwest Airlines to Dubai's Civil Aviation Authority to Foster's brewery in Australia, the Washington Post notes, in what seems...

Crazy Loans Are Back, With a Vengeance

Harry Kimball — Wed, 02 Dec 2009 10:16:05 CST

The government's efforts to boost lending, to beat the recession, are inadvertently stimulating a return to wildly risky loans that look sound only if you're wearing rose-colored-glasses. Companies are returning to credit-bubble practices, worrying analysts, including those at the Fed. In one instrument, a "covenant lite" loan, credit is given...

Bank of America Loses $2.2B as Loans Sour

Fri, 16 Oct 2009 08:02:33 CDT

Bank of America Corp. lost more $2.24 billion in the third quarter, the company announced today, as loan losses kept rising. Those losses amounted to nearly $10 billion, providing further evidence that consumers are still struggling to pay their bills. The bank also added $2.1 billion to its...