Harleysville National Bank is being sold to Buffalo Based First Niagra Bank for $237 million. The two banks have put in place a purchase agreement that is to close early next year. Harleysville National Bank had failed to meet the capital demands of federal regulators by their June 30th deadline. Each Harleysville stockholder will receive…
Seven banks were seized by the FDIC yesterday including Founders Bank in Worth, IL, John Warner Bank in Clinton, IL, First State Bank of Winchester in Winchester, IL, Rock River Bank in Oregon, IL, The Elizabeth State Bank in Elizabeth, IL, First National Bank of Danville in Danville IL, and Millennium State Bank of Texas…
Texas billionaire Allen Stanford has been indicted for his involvement in a massive $8 billion ponzi scheme. Stanford, chairman of Stanford Financial, surrendered to FBI agents in Virginia and appears in court today on charges of fraud. Stanford was named the 205th richest man in the US in 2008 by Forbes magazine. Stanford Financial has…
A group of scammers has been cold calling consumers posing as Hope Financial, a legitimate loan modification company that helps negotiate debt with credit card companies and banks. Apparently the scammers ask for consumers credit card information in order to charge them for “debt modification”. Hope Financial has been featured on the CBS Evening News…
Last week complaints were made by the ABA (American Bankers Association) about Ally Bank offering high yields on their CD and savings products after its parent company, GMAC, received government aide due to its financial troubles. In what seems to be a response, the FDIC set an interest rate cap on under-capitalized banks that’s set…
The FDIC released their quarterly report on troubled lenders and their problem bank list has grown by 50 banks in the first quarter making the total number of troubled banks 305. This is the highest number since 1994. If you’re looking for specific names on those lists you’re out of luck. The FDIC does not…
Bank United, FSB was closed by federal regulators today. Bank United FSB was the largest Florida bank and is the largest bank to fail so far in 2009. Private Investors won the bidding for the failed bank and service for the bank should be uninterrupted as it transitions to its new owners. No money will…
For those of you who don’t know a bill was presented to the Senate today that would stop credit card companies from arbitrarily changing interest rates on cards. The credit card bill was passed with a vote of 90-5 in a bipartisan effort to stop credit card companies from unfairly changing the agreed upon interest…
Everbank‘s FreeNet Checking Account, which offers an intro rate of 2.51% for the first 3 months followed by between 1.02 to 1.65% APY, has recently updated its fee schedule. They used to have an online billpay requirement of $1,500 but now has been bumped up to $5,000. If you have online billpay and fail to…
GMAC in a new attempt to distance itself from General Motors has gotten a name change. Ally Bank is the new GMAC. The company hopes to rebrand itself and change directions. General Motors is a partial owner of the bank, but will be scaling back its stake in the bank in the months to come….