Starbucks expanding effort to help businesses create jobs

Starbucks is expanding an unusual effort to create jobs through small business loans, which the company launched last fall after chief executive Howard Schultz lambasted politicians for not doing more to fix the economy.

So far the Create Jobs for USA program has raised about $11.5 million, including about $2.8 million from customers who bought brightly colored wristbands along with their lattes or donated to the program online.

Starbucks says its analysis shows the money raised so far could create or retain about 4,000 jobs.

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Consumer protections considered for prepaid debit cards

Prepaid debit cards may soon be subject to federal regulations requiring more transparent fee disclosures and increased financial protection.

The Consumer Financial Protection Bureau said Wednesday it is considering new consumer protections for the cards. Director Richard Cordray said he plans to bring more "safety and transparency" to the industry. The agency will seek comment from experts and the public on how fees are disclosed and on protection from unauthorized transactions.

Prepaid cards often come with fees associated with everything from calling customer service to using an ATM — users reported paying an average of about $2 every time they wanted to reload money on their cards, according to a study by Javelin Strategy and Research. That is significant for a product that is most popular among Millennials and consumers who make less than $15,000 a year, says Javelin President Jim Van Dyke.

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Fannie Mae posts profit, abstains from new U.S. aid

(Reuters) - Fannie Mae (FNMA.OB), the largest backer of loans in the U.S. housing market, posted a profit on Wednesday and said it would not need more taxpayer aid for the first time since the height of the financial crisis in late 2008, when it was rescued by the government.

In a new sign that the U.S. housing market is on the mend, the mortgage giant posted a first-quarter profit of $2.7 billion. That was its best performance since being pushed to the verge of collapse by the U.S. housing crash and the surge in bad debts on its books.

Fannie Mae said it paid the Treasury $2.8 billion in dividends to the government, which owns nearly 80 percent of the firm.

The company has drawn a total of $117.1 billion in federal aid, fueling criticism from Republicans who want to end the taxpayer bailout and scale back the government's footprint in the mortgage market. So far, Fannie Mae has paid back $22.6 billion in the form of dividend payments to the Treasury.

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Freddie Mac posts profit, but needs $19 million in aid

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - Freddie Mac , the No. 2 provider of U.S. mortgage money, said on Thursday it will seek another $19 million in taxpayer aid after its quarterly profit failed to make up for a dividend payment to the government for its controlling stake.

The company has now drawn $72.3 billion from the U.S. Treasury since being seized by the government in 2008, and has returned $18.3 billion as the price for the taxpayer support.

It warned it was unlikely to generate enough profit to cover the dividend payments any time soon. The company's latest aid request compared to $146 million needed to stay afloat in the prior quarter.

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Citigroup Said to Raise $355 Million CLO for Aegon USA

Citigroup Inc. (C) (C) raised a $355.4 million collateralized loan obligation for Aegon USA Investment Management LLC, according to two people with knowledge of the deal.

The CLO, Cedar Funding Ltd., includes a $227.5 million slice rated AAA that pays a rate of 135 basis points more than the London interbank offered rate, said the people, who declined to be identified because the terms are private. The fund was increased in size from a target of $300 million, the people said.

There have been $9.9 billion of CLOs backed by widely syndicated loans raised this year, according to data compiled by Bloomberg. For the same time period last year, $1.6 billion of such funds were raised, according to the data.

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U.S. housing regulator fires back in mortgage flap

(Reuters) - The regulator for Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac fired back on Tuesday against claims from Democrats in Congress that he is standing in the way of letting the two U.S. housing finance giants forgive mortgage principal because of ideology.

In a sharply worded response to Elijah Cummings, the top Democrat on the House of Representatives Oversight Committee, Federal Housing Finance Agency Director Edward DeMarco defended his agency's position on loan write downs.

DeMarco has long maintained that allowing the two government-controlled mortgage firms to write down loan principal would needlessly drive up the costs of their taxpayer bailout, which has already reached more than $150 billion.

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Senior citizens owe billions in student loans

When you think of student loans, you think of students and recent graduates -- younger people in their 20s and 30s working to pay off the thousands of dollars in debt from undergraduate and graduate schools.

It's a good bet you don't think of people in their 60s, 70s and even 80s struggling to [pay off student debt. But new research shows that Americans 60 and older owe $36 billion in educational debt and account for 5 percent of delinquent student loans.

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Openbucks Named Best-In-Category Winner in Sixth Annual Paybefore Awards

LAS VEGAS, March 20, 2012 -- /PRNewswire/ -- Today Openbucks (www.openbucks.com), the "Gift Card Payment Network", announces that it was selected as the Best Prepaid Gaming Card Program by a panel of prepaid industry experts at the 2012 Paybefore Awards. The Paybefore Awards, which capped off day one of the Prepaid Expo USA, is the most prestigious recognition of excellence in the worldwide prepaid and stored value industry. The awards are presented annually by Paybefore, whose publications are the leading source of industry information for the global prepaid community.

"Teens along with 25 percent of U.S. households have very limited access to credit cards and therefore cannot pay for goods online," said Marc Rochman, CEO of Openbucks. "To solve this issue, we have partnered with retailers such as Subway, CVS Pharmacy and Circle-K to provide consumers who don't have credit cards or prefer not to use them, with a way to buy and pay for games and other digital services online. We are proud to be recognized as the best-in-category for Prepaid Gaming Card Programs, especially as our fellow nominees, Ultimate Game Card from Playspan/Visa, Playstation Network Prepaid Card from Sony and Incomm, are such great products."

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Orders to U.S. Factories Fell in January for First Time in Three Months

Orders to U.S. factories decreased in January for the first time in three months, a sign manufacturing is cooling at the beginning of the year.

Bookings (TMNOCHNG) fell 1 percent after a revised 1.4 percent gain in December that was larger than previously estimated, figures from the Commerce Department showed today in Washington. The median of 61 economists’ projections in a Bloomberg News survey called for a 1.5 percent decline.

Rising oil prices and the expiration of a tax credit at the end of 2011 that supported business investment represent a risk to American manufacturers. At the same time, the need to rebuild inventories and replace outdated equipment may help keep factories at the forefront of the economic expansion.

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TransUnion: National Credit Card Delinquencies End 2011 Nearly 5% Lower Than Last Year

CHICAGO, IL, Feb 22, 2012 (MARKETWIRE via COMTEX) -- The national credit card delinquency rate (the ratio of borrowers 90 or more days past due) reached 0.78% in the fourth quarter of 2011, a drop of almost 5% from the same period one year ago and continuing well below historical norms. Average credit card debt per borrower increased $239 from the same period last year to $5,204, though it too remains near record-low levels. For the quarter, credit card delinquencies and debt both experienced seasonal increases. This information is reported by TransUnion and is part of its ongoing series of quarterly analyses of credit-active U.S. consumers, evaluating how they are managing credit related to mortgages, credit cards and auto loans.

"2011 closed out with the lowest year-end card delinquency rate nationwide since 1995," said Ezra Becker, vice president of research and consulting in TransUnion's financial services business unit. "This is the net result of riskier loans having worked their way through the system, cautious risk management strategies on the part of lenders and consumers working to maintain the health and good status of their card relationships."

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PRESIDENT OBAMA TAKES ACTIONS TO PROMOTE AMERICAN MANUFACTURING AND INCREASE US EXPORTS AT BOEING

WASHINGTON, Feb. 17 -- The White House Council of Economic Advisers issued the following news release:

Today, the President will visit the Boeing assembly facility in Everett, Washington, to announce new steps aimed at promoting American manufacturing and increasing U.S. exports. Manufacturing represents nearly 60% of total U.S. exports, and Boeing is one of the country's leading exporters of manufactured goods with more than $34 billion in total exports in 2011, up over 45% since 2006. Today's announcement will follow through on the President's commitment to provide sufficient export financing to put American manufacturers on an even footing with our foreign competitors, provide expanded support for small business exporters and take the next step in the President's proposal to reorganize the trade and competitiveness agencies by expanding the responsibilities of the Export Promotion Cabinet.This is the most recent of a series of executive actions the President has announced to put Americans back to work and strengthen the U.S. economy.

"Two years ago, I set a goal of doubling U.S. exports over five years." said President Obama. "Today, we're on track to meet that goal - ahead of schedule. But we need to do more, which is why I'm pleased to announce several steps that will help more American businesses sell their products around the world, create jobs right here at home, and help us build an economy that lasts."

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Helm Bank USA grows loans $29M in Q4

Helm Bank USA ramped up the pace of its lending in the fourth quarter by growing its loan portfolio by $28.9 million.

That’s up from the $22 million in total loan growth that the Miami-based bank had in the third quarter. Helm Bank ended 2011 with $364.8 million in loans, an increase of $82.3 million, or 29 percent, from its loan total 12 months earlier.

Helm Bank earned $2.1 million in the fourth quarter, up from earnings of $1.7 million in the third quarter.

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The other student loan problem: too little debt

LONG BEACH, Calif. (AP) — Jesse Yeh uses the University of California-Berkeley library instead of buying textbooks. He scrounges for free food at campus events and occasionally skips meals. He's stopped exercising and sleeps five to six hours per night so he can take 21 credits — a course load so heavy he had to get special permission from a dean.

The only thing he won't do: take out a student loan.

"I see a lot of my friends who took out student loans, then they graduated and because of the economy right now they still couldn't find a job," said the third-year student, whose parents both lost their jobs in 2009 and who grew up in the boom-and-bust town of Victorville, Calif., on a block with several houses in foreclosure. "The debt burden is really heavy on them."

Even as college prices and average student loan debt rise, educators in some sectors of higher education report they're also seeing plenty of students like Yeh. After watching debt cause widespread damage in their families and communities, they're determined to avoid loans no matter what.

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U.S. House votes to raise FHA loan limits

WASHINGTON, Nov 17 (Reuters) - The U.S. House of Representatives on Thursday approved a bill to raise the maximum size of mortgages the Federal Housing Administration can insure, sending it to the Senate for final approval.

The measure would push the so-called FHA conforming loan limit in the highest-priced real estate markets back up to $729,750 through 2013, from $625,500, a sign of lawmaker concern over the still-depressed state of the housing sector.

The limits, which vary from market to market, were temporarily raised for FHA and Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac during the financial crisis when banks became reluctant to lend. They automatically dropped back on Oct. 1.

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What Is Online Cash Advance Financing?

Online cash advance financing is increasingly becoming popular these days.  Many people in need of immediate cash have been able to get the financial assistance they need by applying online.  Are you familiar with this type of loan?  If not, let us talk about the basic facts you should know about this form of lending.

What is Online Cash Advance?


Online cash advance is simply a payday loan offered through the internet.  But what is a payday loan?  As the name suggests, a payday loan is a short term loan payable by the borrower’s next pay check. Traditional payday loan lenders offer their services from a specific location. 

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Failed energy projects cross U.S. party lines

WASHINGTON – When green energy company Raser Technologies broke ground on its geothermal power plant more than three years ago, Sen. Orrin Hatch was there to herald the day as a "turning point" in the country's clean-energy future.

At the ceremony in southern Utah, Raser's chief executive officer thanked Hatch for his steadfast support. Utah's Republican senior senator had previously championed an earlier Raser clean-energy project — the development of an AC induction motor that could be used to power a Hummer that could get 100 miles per gallon. The company's executives would later name the Beaver County facility "the Hatch Plant."

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How to Choose the Right Payday Loan Lender

Each year, thousands of borrowers turn to payday loan lenders for help to get through an emergency or financial crisis.  Have you tried acquiring a payday loan or are you thinking about getting one?  What important facts should you know about payday loans and how can you choose the right lender?

Payday loans are short term loans that are usually payable within 30 days or by the next pay check.  However, failing to pay back the loan on time can become a problem as you incur steep rates and fees.  The extra charges can quickly lead to debt build up until repayment becomes difficult.
Consider the following tips on choosing the right payday loan lender:

• Compare online.
• Check the lender’s requirements.
• Check the BBB.
• Read the fine print.

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Airlines should get gov't loans, committee says

WASHINGTON (AP) — The government should help airlines install billions of dollars' worth of equipment in their planes necessary to use a new air traffic control system through loans or loan guarantees, an industry-government advisory committee recommended Thursday.

Repayment of the loans, which could involve public-private partnerships, would be triggered by the Federal Aviation Administration achieving promised benefits from the new system, the committee said.

The financing recommendation was one of a half dozen related to FAA's Next Generation Air Transportation System — also called NextGen — that were approved at a meeting of the committee.

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Payday Lending Advice for Consumers

Customers are clearly advice to just take all the essential precautions when borrowing money advance loans or payday loans. This form of financing is common inside the industry due to the fact it delivers a speedy and handy way to acquire cash. Even so, just before signing up that software, you ought to realize the ins and outs as well since the feasible effects connected with payday lending.

What's a Pay day loan?

A payday loan can range anywhere from $500 to $1,000. In some States, loan providers offer up to $1,500 in money advance. The restrict on the greatest financial loan value varies depending on the State lending laws governing the lending company.

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Bad Credit Personal Loans with No Credit Check

As the name implies, a bad credit personal loan is especially offered for people with bad credit.  If you need financing but cannot qualify for a regular loan because of bad credit history or a low credit score, you may consider a bad credit loan as an option.

Bad credit personal loans with no credit checks are available in the market.  Since approval is not based on the borrower credit history or score, lenders must find a way to ensure the repayment of the loan.  Some lenders do require the submission of collateral while others offer unsecured bad credit loans. 

What does it take to get approved for a bad credit loan?  Having a stable employment is important since it’s only way lenders can have assurance that the borrower is capable of repayment.  For this reason, the amount of loan you can get will depend on your monthly income.  Needless to say, if you have a higher salary, you can qualify for a bigger loan.

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