| Debt-ridden customers banned from using credit cards
They will receive letters in the next few days warning them their Egg credit cards will stop working in 35 days' time. It is the first time a credit card company has resorted to such a drastic move to curb over-spending, but others are expected to follow their lead as the global credit crunch tightens its squeeze on the beleaguered banking industry. If they do follow suit, it could lead to a retail crisis in Britain because credit card spending has fuelled the "spend, not save" shopping culture. Many adults rely on their credit cards to pay for a lifestyle they cannot afford. On Friday Egg said its dramatic move affects seven per cent of its two million credit card customers. They are being targeted because they have a "higher than acceptable risk profile", the company said.
HSBC 'to unveil $16bn writedown'
The UK's largest bank HSBC is expected to unveil about $16bn (8.1bn) of losses for 2007, but will still make an annual profit, reports suggest. The firm's annual results out on Monday will show that the bad debt charge is mostly related to the crumbling US housing market and consumer blues. But it is still thought profits will rise to $25bn, from $22bn the year before and it will raise its dividend. UK banks have so far fared better than their US rivals in the credit crisis. HSBC is the last of the "big five" British banks to report its earnings for 2007. Barclays, Royal Bank of Scotland (RBS), Lloyds TSB and HBOS, which was formed by the merger of Halifax and Bank of Scotland, have already filed their figures. Together with a number of smaller High Street lenders, they have made a collective loss of about 5bn on the declining value of investments linked to the US sub-prime mortgage crisis before factoring in potential losses at HSBC, according to The Observer.
Higher Credit Card Rates May Be Lurking in Your Mailbox
You'd think that an economic environment chock-full of interest rate cuts from the Fed would lead credit card issuers to gradually decrease the rates they charge us on our plastic. But no -- many cards have actually been raising their rates recently. Bill Hardekopf of LowCards.com, for example, has noted rates moving in directions other than down at cards from American Express (NYSE: AXP), JPMorgan Chase (NYSE: JPM), and Bank of America (NYSE: BAC). What's going on? Well, there's been a bit of a financial crisis at many banks (you may have heard about it). It's related to their having issued a few regrettable mortgages to risky borrowers. So, perhaps feeling pressured, they're seeking out additional income from the likes of you and me, via the debt that we carry. We don't have to be their suckers, though.
Community National Bank Hires Branch Manager, VP/Corporate Controller ...
GREAT NECK, N.Y. - (Business Wire) Community National Bank (CNB) (stock symbol CBNY, OTCBB), Long Island’s fastest growing commercial community bank, recently hired Branch Manager, Alba Spinelli, VP/Corporate Controller, Jay McConie, and SVP/Senior Loan Officer, Conrad Gunther, Jr., for CNB’s corporate office in Great Neck, NY. A Branch Manager, Ms. Spinelli is responsible for managing the day to day operations of the branch as well as business development and customer service. Previously, she worked as Branch Manager at the State Bank of New Jersey and as a Private Banker at the U.S. Trust. Vice President and Corporate Controller, Jay McConie is responsible for day to day management of accounting/ treasury functions, management and regulatory reporting, compilation of annual reports, managing accounting issues and relationships with internal and external auditors.
January 2004 - December 2004
Yet more thunder down under: An interview with Dr. John Ray: Bernard Chapin discusses the psychological differences between conservatives and liberals with former University of New South Wales professor Dr. John Ray
Evil's mouthpiece: Steven Martinovich finds Sean McMeekin's The Red Millionaire: A Political Biography of Willi Münzenberg, Moscow's Secret Propaganda Tsar a marvelous chronicle of one man's efforts to promote communism
A working holiday: Steve Martinovich was prepared to dislike the novel Mr. Golightly's Holiday but was pleasantly surprised when it overcame a weak beginning to ask serious questions of the reader
Bush should move ahead with personal retirement accounts: Although George W. Bush devoted two lines to the idea in his State of the Union address, Steven Martinovich thinks that personal retirement accounts should receive more attention
Leftism and missing history: When it comes to history, writes Bruce Walker, leftists can be quite selective about what they'll tell you.
Comments On This Story
If their not ignoring him, their scaring the bajesus out of their viewers with all kinds of crazy lies. I beg of you, if you read all of these comments and you heard the idots putting him down, and claiming to udnerstand his plans as "No government" "big business only" than please, jsut read his plans, read his writings, check his history. He's not a white supremecists, not a racist, does not want the entire government gone, or any of the other things that the brainwashed masses are told to believe. It is SO easy jsut to researcht he man for yourself and not take someone else word for it. I do agree with some of the psoters, however, he probably won't win. Americans just don;t care anymore. Either they can;t read, or refuse to, or jsut think the tv is correct. They call names, blame the man for plans that were never his, don;t check it out, and go on in their TV induced world.
Woolworths shares jump on huge profit result
THE nation's largest retailer Woolworths has booked a 28 per cent increase in first-half profit to almost $900 million, sending its shares back over $30. Woolworths this week confirmed that it expects net profit for fiscal 2008 to grow by 19 per cent to 23 per cent. The company also announced that it would partner investment bank HSBC to launch a branded credit card late in calendar 2008. Woolworths booked a $891.3 million net profit in the 27 weeks ended to December 30, compared to $695.6 million in the prior corresponding period. Investors were happy with the result. Woolworths shares jumped 3.62 per cent, or $1.05, to $30.06 by 11.01am AEDT. "This is clearly a strong result and one that reflects the momentum for sustained profitable growth that exists in our business," chief executive Michael Luscombe said.
Labour leads all-party attack on SNP budget
Universities Scotland had wanted £526m over three years but instead received just £263m. Higher education chiefs fear the lack of cash will result in the most talented staff heading to better-paid jobs outside the country and that the quality of Scottish university tuition and research will decline. Rhona Brankin, Labour's education spokeswoman, is leading the bid to "hijack" the SNP Budget. If Labour forges a temporary coalition with the Lib Dems and Tories, they will have 78 out of Holyrood's 128 votes, giving them a comfortable majority. Amendments will be put to Parliament which will switch up to £90m of Budget cash over three years to universities. Labour insiders believe the SNP's commitment to freezing council tax is one area from which money could be freed. Brankin told Scotland on Sunday: "We're throwing down the gauntlet to the SNP.
SABEW Best in Business Journalism Contest Adds Online Division, Plus ...
The registration deadline is February 1, 2008. The contest is for work published in calendar 2007. The Best in Business contest has three main components. The GENERAL EXCELLENCE competition honors outstanding daily newspaper business sections, weekly business newspapers, business web sites and business magazines. The NEWS competition honors outstanding stories published by the business news media. The ONLINE competition honors outstanding business journalism on the web. There also is a student competition. New this year are three categories for business magazines: outstanding magazine cover stories are judged through a new category in the news contest, while general excellence for business magazines is judged through new categories in the general excellence contest and online contests.
Issues take back seat as Obama and Clinton tangle
We had 8 years of the Clinton lying, cheating, twisting of truth, spineless response to initial attacks from Mid-east. Hillary is NOT a uniter and her husband makes it virtually impossible to be so. Do this county a favor and vote for ANYONE but the Clintons! .
Dollars for Durban II
All this takes money. But the Durban II planners, including such oil-rich regimes as Iran and Libya, are not proposing to fund it themselves. Instead, they want U.N. Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon to give them a free ride by allocating to this conference and its preparations some $7.2 million — for starters — from the U.N. regular budget. Because American taxpayers finance 22 percent of the U.N. budget, that means the U.S. would effectively be picking up almost one quarter of the tab not only for Durban II itself, but for every preparatory pajama party over the next year. Even that, however, does not begin to convey the full extent of the abuse and hypocrisy which has already gone into the early planning of Durban II. This project has its roots in the U.N.'s 192-member General Assembly, where non-democratic states enjoy a majority.
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