Quote of the Month:
"Last year was surely one of the most memorable years ever experienced by the home mortgage market."
| Forecasts & Statistics |
| Product Trends |
| Industry Trends |
| Issue Archive |
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| Statistics on the Mortgage Refi Boom |
| In remarks to a recent convention of the Independent Community Bankers of America, Federal Reserve Board Chairman Alan Greenspan provided a startling summary of the dimensions of last year's (2002) boom in mortgage refinancing. To quote Chairman Greenspan, "Last year was surely one of the most memorable years ever experienced by the home mortgage market." |
| Personal Bankruptcy Filings Accelerate |
| This year's rise in personal bankruptcies continued through the end of April. As of the end of the 17th week of this year (April 26, 2003) personal bankruptcy filings in the U.S. were up 9.3% from the same period one year earlier. |
| Card Charge Offs Rise |
| After "bottoming out" at 4.61 percent in the in the fourth quarter of 2001, charge offs on bank credit cards at the 100 largest banks rose to 4.72 percent in the third quarter of 2002. However, smaller banks were having more problems with their credit cards. |
| Fastest Growing Metropolitan Areas |
| If you are seeking to open an office (or call center, or processing facility) in a large, fast growing metropolitan area, the following table from American Demographics may help. These are the five metropolitan areas of five million or more that reported the highest growth rates. |
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| Lenders Abandon Auto Leasing in New England States |
| "Vicarious Liability" statutes on the books in New York and Connecticut are responsible for the decisions of several major automobile lessors to halt auto leasing in those states. J.P. Morgan Chase is the most recent company to announce that it will stop writing leases in those states as of July 1. |
| Looking for an ATM? |
| If you have a Visa ATM card and an urgent need for cash, you can find the nearest ATM by turning on your computer. Log on to "Visa" and then select a region and/or country. Then click the "find" button and provide information such as the city, state or province, address or cross streets, postal zone. |
| Interest-Only Mortgage Loans |
| A small but rapidly growing trend in first mortgage products is the interest-only loan. Apparently emboldened by the relentless upward march in home prices, a growing number of consumers have exhibited a preference for interest-only loans, both fixed-rate and adjustable-rate. |
| Prospects for New Payment Devices |
| At the annual conference of the Electronic Transaction Association in April, various speakers offered their views on the likely growth prospects for various new electronic payment devices. Their overall take: most of the new handheld payment devices such as miniature credit cards, smart cards, and Radio Frequency Identification-based systems (RFID) will be slow to catch on here in the United States. |
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| Home Price Bubble? |
| In a speech delivered in early March of this year, Federal Reserve Board Chairman Alan Greenspan discounted the macroeconomic risk of a housing price bubble. Existing home prices rose by 7% during 2002 and by nearly 33% over the past four years. Some analysts have been expressing concern that the housing market may be exhibiting the same unsustainable growth that the stock market exhibited in 1999-2000. |
| Banks Branch |
| Not long ago, banks were encouraging customer to do their banking electronically. According to a recent article in Business Week, for about seven years Bank One discouraged its customers from using their tellers by charging a $3 fee each time they used a bank teller. |
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| Nissan Settlement |
| A year or so ago, attorneys charged that the finance unit of Nissan Motor had discriminated against black and Hispanic car buyers by charging them higher interest rates than those charged to white buyers. According to the article in a recent New York Times by Johnathan D. Glater, a settlement has finally been reached. |
| Payday Loans Under Attack |
| Where might a consumer go for a loan if he or she could not obtain credit from a bank, finance company, credit union, pawnshop or friends and relatives? The only alternative for a needy consumer might be a payday loan. What are payday loans? |