I see two parallel movements, and I like both: We’re trimming the fat from both our diets and our finances.
First, finances. There has been a great emphasis on establishing good financial health for individuals, and in February, the Credit CARD Act of 2009 went into effect.
Among many other things, the regulations require credit card issuers to give their cardholders a 45-day notice of any major changes to the terms of agreement. Over-the-limit fees were restricted. Monthly credit card bills must indicate how long it will take to pay off the balance if only the minimum payment is made. Those under 21 years old can’t open a credit card without having evidence of enough income or a co-signer.
Bankruptcy filings rise 11 percent through September
There have been 1,222,589 bankruptcies filed across the country between January 1 and September 30, an 11 percent increase over the number of cases observed in the same period last year, according to a report from the National Bankruptcy Research Center.
Consumer cases accounted for the vast majority of these filings, with 1,179,573 individuals seeking bankruptcy protection so far this year, the report said. The remainder – 43,016 – were made by businesses.
“As the economy looks to climb out of the recent recession, businesses and consumers continue to file for bankruptcy to regain their financial footing,” said Samuel Gerdano, executive director of the American Bankruptcy Institute. Read full article…
The world sometimes talks about CPAs (Certified Public Accountants) like we’re a bunch of math freaks who love taxes and spend Saturday nights playing calculator bingo. Obviously, they have no idea what they’re talking about. So let’s take this opportunity to dispel the myths of the CPA stereotype once and for all.
PREPOSTEROUS MYTH #1: CPAs are math nerds.
Ok, so most of us are pretty good with numbers. Besides, these days, computers do the math for us. But by no means are most of us mathematical geniuses who crack impossible equations in our spare time. Some of us didn’t take calculus and all of us have interests outside of numbers, including but not limited to race car driving, filmmaking and Fashion Week. We also
Many Americans don’t pay much attention to midterm elections. This year was a little different. Though it’s been less than two years since he took office, many Americans have voiced frustration that President Obama hasn’t done enough to fix the economy. His approval ratings have slipped. On the other hand, conservatives think too much has changed — that there has been overspending, and that the government has become far too big with things such as the health care reform bill and Wall Street reform bill.
For the past few months, partisan politics has been in full force, especially with the advent of the Libertarian-leaning Tea Party movement. Citizens were angry and ready to vote. On Nov.
JP Morgan Chase will re-start its foreclosure proceedings
Many of the nation’s largest lenders and financial institutions are continuing to sift through foreclosure documents for errors, but the halt of foreclosure proceedings may be coming to an end. JP Morgan Chase, one of the banks that discovered significant processing errors, announced it will re-start foreclosure proceedings on more than 127,000 accounts over the next few weeks.
The financial institution was initially forced to halt more than 115,000 foreclosures after determining thousands of documents were signed off by banking representatives without verifying the accuracy of the information. Read full article…
