Liberty Bank and Trust of New Orleans acquired Detroit-based Home Federal Savings Bank after the bank was shut down by the Office of Thrift Supervision (OTS) Nov. 6.
Tag: bank
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Banks Offer College Saving Deals: Are These The Best Financing Plans?
Filed under: Personal Finance, News, The Economy, Financial Aid
Banks and credit unions are developing new methods of helping families finance college educations. In this economy, families have seen certain accounts set aside for financing education, such as those funded by stock portfolios, steeply decline in value. On top of that, tuition costs at top schools have increased by 62% over the past ten years, cutting sharply into education savings. To help families cope with these trends, “a growing number of financial institutions are rolling out incentives to help families save or pay for higher education,” according to USA Today.
Two examples of these college saving offerings include:
Citizens Bank is giving a $1,000 bonus to consumers who open a college savings account by a child’s sixth birthday. Justice Federal Credit Union – which serves Department of Justice and Homeland Security employees – is offering a discount on a loan to pay for college costs. And Grow Financial Federal Credit Union in Tampa is donating money to student scholarships based on a local university football team’s “return yards,” which is how far players run with the ball after receiving a punt or kick. (USA Today)
A new college saving deal offered by your bank may be the right thing for your family. Yet, financial experts urge consumers to carefully evaluate any college saving incentive. The motive for lending institutions to create these deals is to build better relationships with a future generation of customers. The student of today will need loans for grown-up purchases like houses once a college education is fully financed. Thus a bank’s offering may not necessarily be in your best interest. You will still want to shop around for college savings plans that net you and your student the best deal.
What are some additional ways of saving for and paying for college during tough economic times? State 529 plans are one important tool in a parent’s arsenal for paying for college, and should be explored fully. Please see SmartMoney.com for more great college saving advice.
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Revolution Money: Would You Use the New Revolution Money Card?
Filed under: News
Revolution Money is a relatively new money exchange system and credit card network. Having recently expanded its reach by partnering with Fifth Third Bank as an issuing agent for its cards, Revolution Money also just raised $42 million through Goldman Sachs in April. People in the business community must really believe Revolution Money is something very special. With a sea of credit and debit cards available to consumers and merchants, what makes Revolution Money and it’s card offering different?
Well for one thing, the card physically looks and technically functions like nothing else on the market. Paymentsnews.com explains:
Originally positioned to appeal to the extremely security conscious market segment, all transactions are PIN-based, riding over the debit networks’ rails using a proprietary BIN range (PINs for ecommerce transactions are entered in the CVC2/CVV2 field). Cards are not embossed, and do not have the cardholder name printed on the card or encoded on the mag-stripe. In addition, the number printed on the card is different than the number encoded on the mag-stripe, adding some level of additional risk management.
Financial protection is definitely a plus during these uncertain times. In addition, Revolution Money offers an innovative and extra-secure way of sending money online called Revolution Money Exchange, which touts itself as a viable alternative to both checks and cash. Revolution Money is definitely leading on the bleeding edge in terms of offering consumers new ways to safely spend.
But what does Revolution Money offer the business owner? Uniquely, the Revolution Money system is set up to reward merchants with points for encouraging customers to use the Revolution card, while suggesting that merchants pass those rewards on to their customers. This then promotes the loyalty of customers to the specific merchants offering the rewards, rather than the card. Businesses of various kinds can surely see the potential in this type of “revolutionary” arrangement with a credit card company. Usually, merchants lose money on credit card deals and the card issuer retains all the loyalty based on rewards. The Revolution Money system reverses all that.
Should Revolution Money and Revolution Money Exchange turn the purchasing world on it’s head? Will the Revolution Money card become a preferred method for payment for consumers and merchants alike? Can Revolution Money Exchange really overtake the ubiquity of PayPal? Only time will tell. But as this recent partnership between Revolution Money and Fifth Third Bank shows, this company is taking no prisoners on its rampage path of growth.
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Dear New York Times…
Posted by: Russell Simmons
**UPDATE**
We received a very gracious communication from the NY Times offering to hear Russell’s vision…stay tuned…
I’m outraged that you would publish an article that associates the RushCard with other financial products, some of which prey on the underserved. The article was, in my opinion, unfair, misinformed and bordering on slanderous. The RushCard is not just a prepaid card, it’s an empowerment program that took me many years to build. It was built specifically to help people in underserved communities. It offers more than a prepaid card or a bank account.
Many of our members have low incomes and need to manage their money very closely. We offer free services like budgets, text alerts and online charts for analyzing and tracking spending. Banks don’t offer these tools. Had you spoken with our members, you would have learned that over half of those, who use these services say they save more than $300/year. That’s a lot of money for them.
Our members are left out of mainstream financial institutions and need to rebuild their credit files. You could have learned that RushCard is the only prepaid card that allows members to have their transactions reported to multiple credit reporting agencies, helping them build their credit files. We don’t charge for this either.
Our members struggle with healthcare. Not everyone can afford medicines or treatment. Had you contacted me, you would have learned that we’re bringing out a free drug discount card later this year to help our members with the high cost of prescription drugs.
We would have told you that unlike credit cards and other cards we don’t have hidden fees, overdraft fees or finance charges. We don’t hide or bury our fee structure – it’s all easily available on our website and with every card we send out. Unlike other prepaid cards, we’ve never charged for customer service. We’re more transparent than any other prepaid card. We let you transact in ways the more privileged take for granted.
We have 2 million members. These are real people who see real value in our services. Everyday I read messages from our members who are grateful for the RushCard after having terrible experiencing with their bank or financial services provider. There are thousands of stories of how people landed up with hundreds of dollars of surprise charges from their bank accounts. None of this happens on the RushCard. Had you contacted me, I would have shared these stories with you.
With today’s economic conditions, the underserved communities are being taken advantage of more than before. It’s important that they understand the good and the bad in their options. Your article focused only on the cost, which we keep as low as we possibly can, and not on the array of benefits that go beyond that of any other card, which is why it is a program, and one I’m proud to put my name on.
My empowerment initiatives, which include the Hip Hop Summit’s focus on financial education, and my many charities are there to serve people. Had you called me, you would have known all this.
Russell Simmons -
Where In The World Are The Best Wages?
Posted by: Illmatic Which country can you make the most money in?
It pays to work in Switzerland: employees in Zurich and Geneva have the highest net wages in the world, a study by banking group UBS shows, while those in India’s Mumbai take home the lowest.
The Swiss cities were also ranked among the top five most expensive in the world in the bank’s 2009 “Price and Earnings” international study.
“With its extremely high gross wages and comparatively low tax rates, Switzerland is a very employee-friendly country,” the Swiss bank said in a statement.
The study, published every three years, compares the income and purchasing power of employees in 73 cities across the globe, highlighting wide discrepancies in wages between different regions, and even within the same country.
Click Original Story For More.