If the American dream is doing better than your parents, only about half of recent college graduates think they will achieve it. They are even more pessimistic about the prospects for their peers, according to a new survey of recent graduates from the Heldrich Center for Workforce Development at Rutgers University.

Heres a chart showing how graduates of the college classes of 2006-11 feel their generation will fare compared to the generation before them, and how the respondents personally will fare compared to their own parents:

Source: Chasing the American Dream: Recent College Graduates and the Great Recession, Heldrich Center for Workforce Development. Read full article…

It took a while, but Bank of America announced today that it intends to mail out principal reduction offers to some 200,000 homeowners.

The first letters should be arriving in mailboxes this week, with most mailed by the third quarter of this year.

The principal reduction program is part of the national foreclosure settlement, which was finalized back in February. It called for at least $10 billion to go toward reducing mortgage balances.

The other big banks will need to get on board as well, since that settlement also involved Ally/GMAC, Chase, Citi, and Wells Fargo.

[See the latest mortgage rates from dozens of lenders, updated daily.]

This program isn’t for those with a Fannie Mae, Freddie Mac, FHA, or VA loan. S

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The United States is aging, and a new report from Wider Opportunities for Women sheds some light on what that may mean and underscores the importance of saving for retirement.

Sixty percent of women in the United States who are 65 or older do not have enough income to cover basic expenses without help, even if they are married, according to the report.

That is compared to 41 percent of men in that age group.

The report compares income, not including food stamps or help with utility bills, to very basic monthly expenses for housing, food, transportation and health care. For a single person, this Elder Economic Security Standard Index, developed by Wider Opportunities for Women, estimates an annual income of $19,000 to $28,000, depending on whether they own their homes outright, rent or pay a mortgage.

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Every once in a while, I’ll take a look at a specific mortgage lender or product to determine the good, the bad, and the ugly.

Today we’ll take a look at a mortgage lender named “CapWest Mortgage,” which is one of the bigger online players.

If you do a search for mortgage rates online, there’s a decent chance they may show up on your radar.

They’re actually a division of Farmers Bank & Trust, which is a 104-year-old family-owned bank out of Kansas.

[See the latest mortgage rates from dozens of lenders, updated daily.]

The age of the bank is actually one of the “benefits” CapWest highlights, with age presumably being on your side when it comes to quality and service.

Of course, we all know that some of the oldest institutions can still give you a raw deal, so one shouldn’t bank on age alone.

Still, being backed by a large bank allows CapWest to originate all types of loans, including conventional mortgages, FHA loans, VA loans, and even Homepath mortgages, in all 50 states.

While that’s fine and dandy, it’s not all that different from any other major lender out there.

Well, for one, they’ve got a “Customer for Life Program,” which includes VIP service , $997 off future loan transactions, and guaranteed mortgage rates below the national average.

There’s also less paperwork and a streamlined process for those who previously received their mortgage from CapWest, which many other lenders offer as well.

For the record, CapWest’s standard lender fees are $997, so they’re essentially waived on subsequent loan transactions.

Of course, you still have to pay normal third party fees and all prepaid items, so it’s not a no cost loan.

Additionally, if you refer a friend, they’ll receive 50% off the standard lender fees. That’s roughly $500 off.

Cap

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Coutts, best known as banker to the Queen, was fined 8.75 million pounds for “significant and widespread” failings in its money laundering controls, its second penalty for financial trangressions in four months.

The Financial Services Authority said Coutts had dealt inadequately with a type of clientele known as “politically exposed persons” – people whose prominent position in public life might have made them vulnerable to corruption.

“Coutts’ failings were significant, widespread and unacceptable,” Tracey McDermott, acting director of enforcement and financial crime at the Financial Services Authority (FSA), said in a statement on Monday.

“Its conduct fell well below the standards we expect and the size of the financial penalty demonstrates how seriously we view its failures.”

The FSA had previously fined Coutts, owned by Royal Bank of Scotland (RBS.L), 6.3 million pounds in November for failings related to the sale of a fund product during the run-up to the 2008 financial crisis.

The latest fine comes after the FSA visited Coutts in October 2010 as part of a review into banks’ management of high-risk money-laundering situations.

The FSA found Coutts did not apply robust controls when starting relationships with high-risk customers and did not consistently apply an appropriate level of monitoring.

It gave no further details and did not indicate if any particular customers were a cause for concern.

CLIENT LIST

Coutts, which was founded by Thomas Coutts in the 18th century, is one of Britain’s best-known private banks and boasts a client list which has included sports people and pop stars as well as the British monarch.

The FSA said Coutts had started improving its anti money-laundering systems and had agreed to settle at an early stage with the regulator over the fine.

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