State regulators shuttered a small Ohio bank which became the eighth banking failure of the year. The Ohio Division of Financial Institutions closed Columbia Savings Bank, Cincinnati, Ohio, and appointed the FDIC as receiver. To protect depositors the FDIC sold the failed bank to United Fidelity Bank, fsb, Evansville, Indiana, which assumed all deposits. Although […]
Columbia Savings Bank, Ohio, Eighth Bank Failure of 2014 – Hundreds of Zombie Banks Remain Open for Business
May 24, 2014 By Leave a Comment
Mortgage Default Rates Soar for Senior Citizens as Feds Loosen Mortgage Rules for Seniors
May 20, 2014 By 1 Comment
The Consumer Financial Protection Bureau (CFPB) is concerned about the rapidly increasing default rate on mortgages held by senior citizens. A study done by the CFPB shows that the number of senior citizens with mortgage debt has increased, the amount of debt owed has increased, and default rates have risen. According to the CFPB since […]
Housing Recovery Stalls as Old Rules for Recover No Longer Apply
May 19, 2014 By Leave a Comment
The old rules for a strong housing market appear to have changed in a fundamental manner frustrating traditional analysts who have been predicting a housing recovery. In the latest Economic and Housing Market Outlook report, Freddie Mac examines three fundamental areas in the housing market that have not behaved as expected which has contributed to […]
AztecAmerica Bank, Berwyn, Illinois, Seventh Bank Failure of 2014
May 16, 2014 By Leave a Comment
AztecAmerica Bank, Berwyn, Illinois was closed today by state regulators and the FDIC was named as receiver. Founded in September 2005 at the height of the real estate boom, AztecAmerica remained a small bank with assets of only $66 million at the time of its failure. The Bank was founded with the intent of appealing […]
Oops! My Calculator was Broken – Red Faces for both Bank of America and the Fed
April 29, 2014 By Leave a Comment
One “tiny little error” resulted in red faces at both Bank of America (BAC) and the Federal Reserve when bank officials disclosed they had incorrectly calculated capital levels required for the annual stress tests. The Fed apparently did not notice the error until Bank of America notified them. This would all be very funny except […]
Will Banks Get Burned on Huge Holdings of U.S. Treasuries?
April 28, 2014 By Leave a Comment
With loan demand still tepid after over five years of unprecedented monetary stimulus by the Federal Reserve, banks need to invest trillions of dollars of deposits that they can’t lend out. Just as individual savers have been forced to take on more risk and go further out on the yield curve, banks have been forced […]
Counterfeit Cashier’s Checks Are Becoming a Major Problem
April 26, 2014 By Leave a Comment
You just sold your car to what appeared to be a regular guy. After some back and forth negotiations the buyer agreed to accept what you considered a fair price. You sign over the title to the buyer, give him the keys, and the buyer gives you an official cashier’s check for the purchase price […]
FDIC Issues 40 Enforcement Actions
April 26, 2014 By 2 Comments
The FDIC issued a list of 40 enforcement actions taken against banks and individuals during March 2014. The enforcement actions include the following: 4 consent orders 1 prompt corrective action directive 9 section 19 orders 14 orders terminating consent orders and cease and desist orders 1 order terminating a prompt corrective action 2 civil money […]
Allendale County Bank, Fairfax, SC, Closed by Regulators, Sixth Bank Failure of 2014
April 25, 2014 By Leave a Comment
South Carolina state regulators closed Allendale County Bank, Fairfax, SC, and appointed the FDIC as receiver. In order to protect depositors the FDIC sold the failed bank to Palmetto State Bank, Hampton, South Carolina, which will assume all deposits of failed Allendale County Bank. According to the FDIC, selling a failed bank to another bank […]
Most Americans Still Don’t Trust Banks and Here’s Why
April 5, 2014 By 1 Comment
Six years after the near melt down of the United States banking industry in 2008, more than half of all Americans still lack confidence in both the banking system and the government. Interestingly the United States with some of the biggest banking institutions in the world and the implicit backing of the United States Treasury […]