NEW YORK (AP) — The stock market ended a tumultuous year right where it started.
In the final tally, despite big climbs and falls, unexpected blows and surprising triumphs, all the hullabaloo proved for naught. On Friday, the Standard & Poor’s 500 index closed at 1,257.60. That’s exactly 0.04 point below where it started the year.
“If you fell asleep January 1 and woke up today, you’d think nothing had happened,” says Jack Ablin, chief investment officer of Harris Private Bank. “But it’s been up and down all year. It’s been crazy.” Read the rest of this entry »
Nationally, surveyors found payday lenders had an average APR of 470% and an average fee of $18.28 to borrow $100 for two weeks. The national average was 474% in the 2000 PIRG/CFA report. Our calculation of APRs for a 14-day, $100 loan in the survey ranged from a minimum of 182% to a maximum of 910%. The most common APR in 2001 was 390%, the same as in 2000. Read the rest of this entry »
This section draws extensively on an earlier paper that 1 wrote on pay-day lending. /. According to a recent survey of 521 banks across the country banks’ bounced check fees average $26 for “big” banks and $22 for “small” banks ).
If the borrower fails to pay the NSF charges, the bank may report her to “ChexSystem,” a business that maintains records of individuals’ deposit account management histories. Read the rest of this entry »
Neither competition nor the law appear to be working in states that authorize payday lending. Surveyors surveyed 186 stores in 13 of the 26 states that permit payday lending (including North Carolina, which permitted payday lending until 31 August 2001.)
In states where payday lending is authorized, 15% of payday lenders surveyed quoted rates higher than allowed by law in that state. Over-charging was found in 6 of the 13 states surveyed where fee limits are set. Read the rest of this entry »
The legal status of payday lending is being fought out state by state while the industry attempts to evade state usury, small loan, and even payday loan laws through affiliating with federally insured depository institutions in hopes of successfully claiming banks’ exportation and preemption privileges. (See Bank Section)
Angela Borg