Business and Finance Guide

Posted on Saturday, 2nd October 2010 by Charlotte W

Thousands of homeowners and investors who purchased foreclosed properties during the current downturn could find their ownership in question owing to growing concerns over improprieties in how those foreclosures were handled. 

Bank of America today became the third major mortgage servicer to announce this week that it is suspending foreclosures in 23 states to investigate reports that faulty documentation was routinely used in repossessing properties. Ally Financial, parent company of GMAC Mortgage, and JP Morgan Chase made similar announcements. 

Impacts could be widespread

  With distressed properties currently making up from one-quarter to one-third of existing home sales, depending on which survey is used, the potential for problems with tainted titles is huge. Ev Read more…

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Posted on Saturday, 2nd October 2010 by Jana Sanders

IT COST a fortune, created long-standing grievances on both sides and annoyed the British and French. But most Germans wouldn’t have had it any other way. The 20th anniversary of the unification of Germany, on October 3rd, was an opportunity for the country to look at how East and West have fared since. Some inequalities have proved frustratingly persistent: western states remain far wealthier than their eastern counterparts (although they have been helped by the westward migration of cheap Ossi labour), and unemployment in the East is around twice the rate in the West. No eastern state has seen its population grow in the last two decades; hardly any western states have suffered a decline. Y

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Tags: Stand
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Posted on Thursday, 30th September 2010 by Mark Chambers

The Small Business Jobs Act of 2010, signed into law by President Obama on Sept. 27, contains several provisions that take affect this year, intended to immediately benefit entrepreneurs and small businesses. If you’re thinking of expanding or starting a business, now is the time to do it.

Below are some of the major provisions of the bill and what they could mean for small business owners.

• Community banks will receive $30 billion to encourage small business lending.

Since large banks haven’t significantly loosened up on lending (they say the demand for loans simply isn’t there), this provision could stimulate lending to small businesses turned down by big banks and other lenders.   

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Tags: Affect, Small Business
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Posted on Thursday, 30th September 2010 by Charlotte W

Annual gains in home prices have slowed in recent months, raising concerns over possible weakening of the housing market. 

Average U.S. home prices in July were up 3.2 percent over those from 12 months earlier, according to the newest Standard & Poor’s/Case Shiller Home Price Index of 20 major U.S. housing markets. Although a modest gain, it was less than the 4.2 percent annual increase reported in June – which itself was down from 4.6 percent in May.   Those declines were the first after 16 consecutive months of improving annual rates of return in the S&P/Case Shiller survey. Although prices continue to show modest increases month-to-month, the change in annual rates of return is considered a more reliable indicator of long-term trends.   Ove Read more…

Tags: Housing Market, Market
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Posted on Monday, 27th September 2010 by Jana Sanders

Reuters
 President Barack Obama signed a $30 billion small business lending bill into law on Monday, claiming a victory on economic policy for his fellow Democrats ahead of November congressional elections.

The law sets up a lending fund for small businesses and includes an additional $12 billion in tax breaks for small companies.

“It was critical that we cut taxes and make more loans available to entrepreneurs,” Obama said in remarks at the White House. “So today after a long and tough fight, I am signing a small business jobs bill that does exactly that.”

Obama is trying to show voters, who are unhappy about 9.6 percent unemployment, that he and his party are doing everything they can to boost the tepid U.S. Read more…

Tags: Law, Small Business
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