The FDIC launched the pilot of a new public awareness campaign last week (April 6th) on the benefits of having a bank account. The pilot targets the Houston and Atlanta areas, where it confirmed that both Black Americans and Hispanic…
Category: Pandemic
Two Days, Two Divergent Opinions, Who’s Right?
On Monday, March 15th, The Wall Street Journal ran a very upbeat article entitled, “U.S. Banks Will Turn Last Year’s Fear Into This Year’s Profits”. The article opines that the tens of billions of dollars that were set aside by…
New Bank Data Shows Income Down But Not Out
All bank star-ratings and reports are now based on year-end 2020 financial data. (Credit Unions will be updated soon.) Three new banks opened their doors during the fourth quarter, bringing the total number of de novos for 2020 up to…
Loans to Bank Insiders Top $34 Billion
Loans to bank insiders often arouse negative feelings to bank outsiders. Those people often hear news of inordinate salaries or bonuses paid to bank CEOs. So we were not surprised when there was pushback to the idea of forgiving certain…
When Common Bond Means Struggling Together
We may be tired of hearing that “we’re all in this together”, but for credit union members (who are also owners) their common bond makes it true. In good times, this common bond is a source of strength: a group…
PPP: Also Available From Your Credit Union
As of January 31st, 4,942 lenders were participating in the new 2021 Paycheck Protection Program. The vast majority are banks, but credit unions are doing their part as well. According to the Small Business Administration (SBA), during the first month…
Cautious Consumers Cut Credit Card Consumption
Since the pandemic began, not only are Americans cutting back on new credit card purchases, many consumers have been working to lower their balances. At the end of 2019, credit card balances at U.S. banks stood at over $941 billion.…
She’s Back… What will Dr. Yellen Bring?
Note: Since this article was written, Janet Yellen was confirmed (84-15) and was sworn in as the first Female Treasury Secretary in U.S. history on Tuesday morning. The original story follows: Janet Yellen has not been confirmed yet, but we…
PPP Relaunch Open to Select Institutions
We know many small businesses were left behind in the first round of Paycheck Protection Program (PPP) loans. That’s why when the Treasury Department reopened the portal on Monday, it granted access exclusively to Community Financial Institutions (CFIs). CFIs, which…
We Made it Through 2020, What’s Next?
As we say good-bye (and good riddance) to 2020 and look forward with hope for a brighter and healthier 2021, we remember 2020 as a year of loss. We’ve lost a great number of lives, jobs, and freedoms in the…