The Inquisitr » federal reserve

Fed Says Consumers Can Say No To ATM Overdraft Fees

AHN — Fri, 13 Nov 2009 00:55:54 +0000

Washington, D.C. (AHN) – Consumers will be able to opt out of overdraft fees at automated teller machines under new rules announced Thursday by the Federal Reserve.

The rules take effect in August 2010.

Banks will be required to send customers a notice explaining card policies and fees. Customers will have to choose to be charged overdraft fees at retail stores or ATMS.

The rules are intended to reduce fees for smaller purchases where an overdraft fee might exceed the cost of the purchase.

Consumer testing found that consumers prefer not to be charged overdraft fees at ATMs or for one-time debit card transactions unless they have agreed to be charged, the Fed said in a statement. “At the same time,” the board said, “testing shows that most consumers want overdraft services to cover important bills, such as checks they use to pay rent, utilities, and telephone bills.”

Consumers who do not “opt in” to the fees cannot be discriminated against by their financial institution, according to the rules.

Banks earn $25 billion to $38 billion a year on overdraft fees, according to Fed officials.

Beige Book: Economy Leveling Off, But Still Has Weakness

AHN — Thu, 22 Oct 2009 00:42:49 +0000

Washington, D.C. (AHN) – The U.S. economy is leveling off, but some sectors are still stumbling, the Federal Reserve said in a Beige Book report today.

The summary of economic activity in the Fed’s 12 districts said there were indications of “either stabilization or modest improvements in many sectors, albeit often from depressed levels.”

While the optimistic signs of economic activity outnumber the pessimistic, the report noted that “virtually every reference to improvement was qualified as either small or scattered.”

Positive markers were seen in residential real estate and manufacturing, while commercial real estate was among the weakest areas.

Consumer spending was described as still “weak,” although some improvement was noted.

Manufacturing was viewed as generally stronger than the previous period, while agricultural activity was mixed.

Little or no increase was detected in pressures to raise prices or wages, the report said.

Districts reported weak or declining demand for loans, although some areas reported “further erosion of credit quality.”

The Beige Book is released two weeks prior to the next meeting of the Federal Open Market Committee. The next meeting of the group is scheduled for Nov. 3-4.

RetailMeNot offers bailout discount code

Duncan Riley — Thu, 02 Oct 2008 20:54:49 +0000

Melbourne based discount shopping site RetailMeNot has an offer you can’t refuse: a discount code for the US Bailout here.

25% off when you spend $700 billion or more

Guy King can laugh, but Australian’s haven’t woken up to the fact yet that the RBA (Reserve Bank of Australia) has been pumping tens of billions into the financial system recently without any serious scrutiny…eventually though, some one is bound to notice.

Track/ watch Black Monday live online

Duncan Riley — Mon, 15 Sep 2008 07:13:11 +0000

The grim news from Wall Street is that the Federal Reserve has decided to stop bailing out merchant banks from the public purse, and as a consequence Lehman Brothers, one of the biggest and most prestigious firms on Wall Street, will be filing for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection.

The Fed, never one to sit back and not try and save the market from itself, has announced an offer where banks will be able swap their unsaleable mortgage backed securities for Treasury bonds, but as we write this post, whether that will be enough to prevent the biggest black Monday of all time is yet to be seen.

Nouriel Roubini, quoted in Crikey, says

“What we are facing now is the beginning of the unravelling and collapse of the entire shadow financial system…The step by step, ad hoc and non-holistic approach of Fed and Treasury to crisis management has been a failure so far as plugging and filling one hole at the time is useless when the entire system of levies is collapsing in the perfect financial storm of the century.”

My FSRA License expired a few years ago, so under Australian law I can no longer provide financial advice, but others are saying: you should be afraid.

Whether the market takes the blow and handles the news, or whether it takes a massive dive, you can track/ watch Black Monday live online.

Stock prices

Google Finance now offers live market prices from major stock exchanges as does Yahoo Finance. Both include coverage of the European markets, which may be the first indicators of how big the hit will be following the Lehman Brothers news. The main stock exchanges directly: NYSE, NASDAQ, AMEX.

Blogs

Silicon Alley Insider is one of the better bets among the tech blogs, Henry Blodget is a former trader, and understands the market. AOL’s BloggingStocks will have lots of coverage, and at worst case, hit The Inquisitr logo on this post (or the link), we’ll also be covering some of it as well, particularly any tech angles.

Live video

Livestation once again offers the best live video coverage of all sites. Along with their partner sites, you can also watch Bloomberg live as well, which will offer you non-stop coverage.

Station websites will also offer coverage. CNN is always a good bet.

Other

Look to Twitter and FriendFeed for information, users of both will be providing filtered links of the things you need to know. Reddit will as always offer a unique take. Google News is another outlet you can use. For the blogging reaction, try Technorati.

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