| Which Way is Your Business Headed? New Credit-Wisdom.com Offers Businesses Unique Experience
Credit-wisdom.com has launched, offering businesses the ability to grow their buying power through a variety of business credit card product offerings. Maitland, FL (PRWEB) October 30, 2007 -- Credit-wisdom.com has launched, offering businesses the ability to grow their buying power through a variety of business credit card product offerings. Headed by Richard Gilliland, CEO, it is literally a "one stop" place to apply for credit cards from American Express, Citi, Discover, Bank of America, Advanta and Chase. Also offered are a variety of secured and unsecured business credit cards. .
America's credit card debt climbs to new record
While the fallout of the subprime loan industry collapse continues to play out, momentum is gaining on another potential economic calamity: Americans now owe a record $915 billion in credit card debt, according to a new report by Moody's Investors Service. Credit card companies wrote off 4.58 percent in payments between January and May, almost a third more than in the same period in 2006, Moody's said. As a result, lenders such as Citigroup, Bank of America, and American Express, already reeling from the subprime mortgage collapse, are being further weakened, according to a new report at MoneyNews.com. The third quarter numbers for banks were the worst since 2001, MoneyNews.com reported. The stock market slid again today on news about record crude oil prices exceeding $98 per barrel and General Motors Corp.'s quarterly loss of $39 billion.
Shift in bankruptcy laws staggers mortgage holders
Washington Mutual Inc. got what it wanted in 2005: a revised bankruptcy code that no longer lets people walk away from credit card bills. The largest US savings and loan didn't count on a housing recession. The new bankruptcy laws are helping drive foreclosures to a record as homeowners default on mortgages and struggle to pay credit card debts that might have been wiped out under the old code, said Jay Westbrook, a professor of business law at the University of Texas Law School in Austin and a former adviser to the International Monetary Fund and the World Bank. "Be careful what you wish for," Westbrook said. "They wanted to make sure that people kept paying their credit cards, and what they're getting is more foreclosures." Washington Mutual, Bank of America Corp., JPMorgan Chase & Co., and Citigroup Inc.
The $915B bomb in consumers' wallets
This past summer's subprime meltdown involved about $900 billion in now-suspect securitized debt, reckless lending, and consumers who buckled under the weight of loans they couldn't afford. Now another link in the consumer debt chain - credit cards - is starting to show signs of strain. And the fear that the $915 billion in U.S. credit card debt (an uncannily similar figure) may blow up has major financial institutions like Citigroup, American Express, and Bank of America strapping on their Kevlar vests. Last month, as banks reported their worst quarterly results since 2001, concerns about rising credit card delinquencies began to make their way onto earnings announcements alongside mentions of subprime woes. .
THE RATINGS GAME: Goldman Says Sell Citigroup Amid Credit Woes
NEW YORK (Dow Jones) -- Goldman Sachs analyst William Tanona on Monday recommended that clients sell Citigroup shares, because the bank's financial problems are likely to grow, and spread beyond current write downs for subprime mortgage losses and into its consumer business like credit cards and retail banking. He said, those issues, combined with an ongoing search for a new CEO and growing concern about possibly having to trim its dividend preclude any "quick fix" for the shares. "The lack of leadership at this point in Citi's (C) storied history could not have come at a worse time. With deteriorating consumer and housing metrics, Citigroup is facing mounting pressure across many businesses," Tanona said. He estimates that the firm will end up taking a total of about $15 billion to write down the value of collateralized debt obligation (CDOs), a type of derivative debt security popularized in recent years and used to market mortgage loans to investors.
The day after: Citi's earnings take deeper hit
A day after announcing it would write down up to an additional $11 billion related to subprime securities, Citigroup Inc. revised its third-quarter earnings lower to reflect a bigger hit due to the mortgage meltdown. The company reported net income of $2.2 billion, or 44 cents a share, in a filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission on Monday. That compares to the $2.4 billion, or 47 cents a share, Citi said it earned when it first reported earnings on Oct. 15. .
Citigroup CEO Prince resigns, replaced by Robert Rubin
NEW YORK -- Citigroup Inc. Chairman and Chief Executive Charles Prince, beset by the company's billions of dollars in losses from investing in bad debt, resigned Sunday and is being replaced as chairman by former Treasury Secretary Robert Rubin.The nation's largest banking company announced Prince's widely expected departure in a statement following an emergency meeting of its board. Citi also said Sir Win Bischoff, chairman of Citi Europe and a Member of the Citi management and operating committees, would serve as interim CEO. Rubin, a former co-chairman of Goldman, Sachs & Co., has served as the chair of Citi's executive committee, and it was also expected he would take a greater role in leading the company.In a separate statement, Citi, which took a hit of $6.5 billion from asset writedowns and other credit-related losses in the third quarter, said it would take an additional $8 billion to $11 billion in writedowns.“It was the honorable course, given the losses we are now announcing," Rubin said of Prince's resignation in an interview with The Associated Press.Prince joined former Merrill Lynch & Co.
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