New York SBDC Research Network

Obtained From:   CNN The crisis unofficially began a decade ago today, with JPMorgan's shocking deal to rescue Bear Stearns for $2 a share after the investment bank suffered deep losses tied to its mortgage investments. Bear was the first major investment bank to fail, but it would not be the last.  Now, with a buoyant economy finally starting to lift some of the United States' most depressed pockets, CNNMoney is taking a look back at the 10 years following the financial meltdown that stretched around the globe — and signs that something similar might again be on the horizon, as Congress and regulators begin to loosen some of the rules they put in place to fix and prevent the problems.  "We're sitting here, 10 years later, with a short-term memory that doesn't seem to recall how we got into that mess," Taylor says. "We got into that mess because of the lack of regulation, and now we're talking about making banks less accountable. It makes no se

You might have heard about MasterCard and Visa agreeing to pay more than $6 billion to settle accusations that they engaged in anticompetitive practices in payment processing . The tricky side effect, though, is that, assuming a judge approves the settlement, merchants can now "charge higher prices to consumers who decide to pay for their purchases with credit cards...Until now, the card companies banned merchants from adding such a surcharge, although gas stations and other retailers sometimes offered a discount for customers who paid in cash." Frank Keating, the president of the American Bankers Association said: "Let’s be clear — retailers, not consumers, benefit from today’s resolution." And it apparently didn't hurt MasterCard and Visa . On the stock exchange Friday, "Visa rose 2.3 percent to $126.91 in extended trading in New York. MasterCard advanced 2.9 percent to $442." "Defendants in the case include Bank of America Corp., Citigroup

The Federal Reserve Bank of New York released its Quarterly Report on Household Debt and Credit for the third quarter of 2010, which shows that consumer debt continues its downward trend of the previous seven quarters, though the pace of decline has slowed recently. Since its peak in the third quarter of 2008, nearly $1 trillion has been shaved from outstanding consumer debts. Additionally, this quarter’s supplemental report addresses for the first time the question of how this decline has been achieved and notes a sharp reversal in household cash flow from debt, indicating a decrease in available funds for consumption. More HERE . Quoting the American Consumers Newsletter: At the household level, the Consumer Expenditure Survey shows the same pattern. Household spending peaked in 2006 at $51,688. In 2008, the average household spent $50,486, or $1,200 less after adjusting for inflation. On many categories of products and services, the average household reversed the direction of its

Federal Reserve statistical releases and historical data have been divided into two pages: Statistics and Historical Data and Surveys and Reports. Principal Economic Indicators •Consumer Credit - G.19 •Factors Affecting Reserve Balances - H.4.1 •Industrial Production and Capacity Utilization - G.17 •Money Stock Measures - H.6 Bank Assets and Liabilities •Aggregate Reserves of Depository Institutions and the Monetary Base - H.3 •Agricultural Finance Databook - E.15 •Assets and Liabilities of Commercial Banks in the U.S. - H.8 •Assets and Liabilities of U.S. Branches and Agencies in Foreign Banks•Charge-Off and Delinquency Rates on Loans and Leases at Commercial Banks •Insured Commercial Bank Assets and Liabilities, Domestic and Foreign Offices •Survey of Terms of Business Lending - E.2 Business Finance •Commercial Paper •Finance Companies - G.20 •New Security Issues, State and Local Governments •New Security Issues, U.S. Corporations •Stock Market, Selected Statistics Exchange Rates an

The last two years have seen a decrease in business loans from lending institutions, despite the best efforts of the government and other organizations that assist businesses with securing financing. Below are some articles that can help you secure a loan for your small business. Come Prepared - Small businesses can improve the chances of getting a bank loan by laying the groundwork (The Albany Business Review) Trust Me - For entrepreneurs looking to gain credibility, it's often the little things that count (The Wall Street Journal) How to secure financing for your small business (SmallBusiness.com)

Until recently, I had never heard of the Federal Financial Institutions Examination Council . "The Council is a formal interagency body empowered to prescribe uniform principles, standards, and report forms for the federal examination of financial institutions by the Board of Governors of the Federal Reserve System (FRB), the Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation (FDIC), the National Credit Union Administration (NCUA), the Office of the Comptroller of the Currency (OCC), and the Office of Thrift Supervision (OTS), and to make recommendations to promote uniformity in the supervision of financial institutions." I used the Census data to get, for a state, metro area, county down to census tract, Income Level, Distressed or Underserved Tract, Median Family Income, % 2007 HUD Est., Est. Tract Median Family Income, Minority Population and Owner vs. Rental Occupied Units.