Besides making it more expensive for U.S. homebuyers to buy a house with a mortgage, higher yields also put downward pressure on prices for everything from stocks to cryptocurrencies. Eventually, they could help cause companies to lay off more workers.
Increasing numbers of borrowers are falling behind on their credit-card and auto-loan payments, but banking and economic experts say this is not necessarily a sign of economic troubles ahead.
Rates have risen for the pst four weeks, grim news for would-be homebuyers already challenged by a housing market that remains competitive due to a dearth of homes for sale.
This year’s rise in borrowing costs has made commercial real estate one of the hardest-hit areas of the economy. Property sales, especially for office buildings, have slowed to a trickle, giving landlords and lenders few markers to determine the value of certain assets.
A study by the New York Federal Reserve has found that 14% of applicants for auto loans were rejected over the past year—the highest such proportion since the New York Fed began tracking the figure in 2013.
The report criticizes lenders, many of which are headquartered out of state, for taking money out of local economies and luring Hoosiers into “a debt trap.”
An Associated Press analysis found that fraudsters potentially stole more than $280 billion in COVID-19 relief funding, while another $123 billion was wasted or misspent.
Federal student loan borrowers haven’t been required to make loan payments since March 2020. But the grace period is almost over: Some 44 million borrowers will be required to either begin or continue making payments in September.
Leading Federal Reserve officials are sending out stronger signals that they will forego an increase at the central bank’s next meeting, though they indicate hikes could resume later this year.
A Federal Reserve report shows that banks raised their lending standards for business and consumer loans in the aftermath of three large bank failures. It’s a trend that could slow the economy in coming months.
All over the country, small-business owners are feeling the early consequences of this spring’s banking crisis, which spanned two chaotic weeks in March and is still ricocheting through the economy.
Small businesses are seeing the already-tough process of getting business loans get even tougher. They say they’re getting rejected for loans or seeing more unfavorable terms, meaning some plans for expansion are being put on hold.
The Fair Housing Center of Central Indiana and Indianapolis-based Rainbow Realty Group Inc. have announced a settlement in a legal fight over an allegedly predatory rent-to-own program.
Signs of a possible credit crunch in the United States had begun to emerge even before Silicon Valley Bank collapsed on March 10, raising worries about the stability of the financial system.
The average annual percentage rate on new-car loans was 6.3% last month, the highest since April 2019, according to Edmunds.
Credit card debt is rising at its fastest clip in more than 20 years, according to the Federal Reserve Bank of New York. Overall, Americans owe $887 billion on their credit cards, a 13 percent increase from a year ago.
Democratic state Rep. Rep. Greg Porter of Indianapolis condemned the policy in a statement Tuesday and said he was drafting legislation to retroactively eliminate state income tax on debt relief.
Banks aren’t reporting signs of trouble in their loan portfolios, but, at the same time, many that were reducing their reserves last year are now building them back up.
The SBA’s Office of the Inspector General has estimated that at least $80 billion distributed from the $400 billion Economic Injury Disaster Loan program could have been fraudulent, much of it in scams using stolen identities.
The three major U.S. banking regulators said Thursday they a plan to rewrite much of the outdated regulations tied to a decades-old banking law designed to encourage lending to the poor and racial minorities in the areas where banks have branches.
