Posted by admin on November 13, 2008 · Leave a Comment
Candidate Obama promised to make changes to the financial structure of the country, and mostly as a pro-consumer advocate and financial analysts are saying that he may in fact institute a credit card bill of rights. What this basically means is that the industry has been ripping off people for years and they haven’t made us aware of any of the loopholes that they keep catching consumers in.
Obama, the candidate, put forth a pro-consumer platform that includes:
- Creating a credit card rating system similar to the five-star rating system used for other consumer products to assess card features. Issuers would be required to display the rating on all credit card applications and solicitation materials.
- Establishing a credit card bill of rights to ban universal default, prohibit unilateral changes to contracts and prohibit charging interest on fees.
- Reforming bankruptcy laws to allow families with huge medical bills to have their medical debts forgiven and allow homeowners filing for bankruptcy to adjust the terms of their mortgage so they can keep their homes.
- Capping interest rates on payday loans at 36 percent and requiring clear disclosure of loan terms.
Financial analysts, however, warn that these changes need to be made swiftly and in the beginning, as that is the platform that he ran on and that is what American’s are looking for. If he waits too long, the excitement for change may be gone, and then it will be too late. Many people believe that since this is what the people want Congress will probably try to get a consumer friendly bill signed by Bush before he leaves office, however there are others that think this is doubtful at best.
Honestly, we need something to help out the people in this country and although many people oppose Obama’s thoughts, especially those on finance, I think that overall we must do something to help the unemployed and the people who are losing their homes to foreclosure. Something must be done to stop the madness, and the truth is doing something is better than doing nothing, so I guess we will see how this all pans out. Things can’t get any worse than they are…or can they?
Filed under Financial Changes · Tagged with advocate, bankruptcy, bankruptcy laws, bill, bush, candidate, card, changes, charging interest, consumer friendly bill, consumer products, consumers, credit card, credit card applications, credit card bill of rights, default, disclosure, fees, financial, financial analysts, financial structure, foreclosure, loan terms, loans, loopholes, losing their homes, medical bills, mortgage, Obama, payday loans, platform, pro-consumer, rating, reforming bankruptcy laws, terms
Posted by admin on November 5, 2008 · Leave a Comment
The promise of big change was the winner of the election last night, as recent polls showed that for about 75% of American’s their biggest concerns were the economy. For most of us we realize that the economic situation is serious to say the least, and the hope of change is probably the reason for Barack Obama’s success in the election.
Many American’s remain hopeful that the economic situation can be turned around by a new President, but I think that we are all acknowledging that change will not happen overnight. This was especially noted by the votes for Obama which came from states like Rhode Island and Michigan who have unemployment rates that are above 8.7% to date. These people are really feeling the need for change, and are hopeful that the change to a Democratic government will provide just that.
The bottom line is that we can’t afford to keep letting the economic situation get worse, and overall as a country I don’t think that the people were impressed by the recent government bail outs. I didn’t really know much about this, and thought like many that this seemed to be an unnecessary step. After listening to a few financial analysts on the subject I came to realize that if we hadn’t done these bail outs we would have definitely sunk the economy into the deepest depression in our country’s history. By injecting these monies into the banking industry, our government did not improve our financial standing, however, it did stop us from having people starving in the streets, and so from that understanding at least the whole thing makes sense.
No one knows what the future holds, however as an American, I am also hopeful that Mr. Obama can hold up his promises and make some much needed changes in our country.
Filed under Financial Changes · Tagged with afford, bail outs, banking industry, Barack Obama's success, change, economic situation, economy, election, financial analysts, financial standing, government, hope, hopeful, polls, President, starving, unemployment rates, votes
Posted by admin on September 24, 2008 · Leave a Comment
Many small businesses will be hard pressed to survive all the financial turmoil in this current economic situation that we find ourselves in. Many small businesses don’t provide necessary products and services but luxury ones. Things like getting your hair and nails done, eating out, and having your clothes dry cleaned are happening less frequent as more and more people are cutting back, so these small businesses need money to keep themselves running and to be able to keep their employees working. The problem is that normally they would just take out a small business loan to keep themselves a float through the tough times, but with the banking system in turmoil more and more banks are reluctant to lend money and without a source of income for just a few weeks there will be many people laid off and many businesses will be forced to close their doors for good. The main problem with this is that for the most part the whole economy is slowing and therefore there will be no other jobs for these newly unemployed people, especially in the specialty areas where they have most of their training and experience. This will create a major unemployment.
Filed under Financial Changes · Tagged with a major unemployment crisis, cutting back, economic situation, economy is slowing, financial turmoil, jobs, need money, small business loan, small businesses, unemployed, unemployed people
Posted by admin on September 20, 2008 · Leave a Comment
Financially we are all thinking, what will happen next week or next month. Things in the economy seem to be declining quickly and we find ourselves helpless to do little more than watch our lives spiral downward with no end in sight, but what about the long term.
I can’t imagine a world without banks and credit cards, but maybe that wouldn’t be so bad. I guess we could barter, and return to a world where we actually had human relationships and where people had to be decent to each other in order to get the things they need. What about all the others, the people who are completely unwilling to give up their lives of complete selfishness and greed. Will they just steal to get what they want? Will they be able to survive this way, or will their greed just eat them up and spit them out? Will we? I don’t really claim to know how all this mess is going to pan out, but I do know that we can’t just continue to bail out companies and pretend like everything is okay. They keep talking about a recession if they don’t bail out these companies, but isn’t this just a way of prolonging the inevitable and making things worse. They say that we need to do this now, but what they aren’t saying is what will come of this debt down the road. In my mind it is kind of the equivalent of floating a check or paying one credit card bill with another credit card. The debt isn’t going away, it is just being transferred and it will eventually catch up with us and most likely when it does the results will be way worse than they will be if they let this catastrophe happen right now.
Pretending like everything is fine, will not and does not make everything fine. These problems are not going away anytime soon, either way. I am not sure what comes next but I am sure that we must be prepared for some major lifestyle changes or we will not survive it, of this I am almost certain.
Filed under Financial Changes · Tagged with bail out companies, banks, barter, credit card bill, Credit cards, Debt, declining quickly, economy, financially, floating a check, greed, helpless, no end in sight, recession, selfishness, spiral downward, what will happen next