Tuesday, 02 December 2008 00:00

I'm sure you've seen many bank giveaways (I call them swag) to entice you into opening a checking account. This ad (shown below) popped up on my screen and reminded me how important the amount you "keep" in the bank matters for your loan approval.

Banks want to see you have enough cash flow to make payments on a loan and of course to see how much your entire account is worth to them (such as interest from your account). So, when National City offered $150 just to open a checking account, you can see it's important. Here's a tip: start looking at your bank statements and calculate the average amount you keep in the bank. It's one of the fields we ask for on MoneyPath and just as you'll need collateral to get a loan, another major factor is your deposits.

Monday, 01 December 2008 00:00

Since Kevin is currently remodeling his home, we meet outside of our St. Matthews bubble for a weekly Monday roundup at BW-3's. While we've somehow not paid attention to the 40 plasmas showing Monday Night Football, we have caught the eye of the staff. Hint: we're the only two guys with laptops working during MNF.

Wednesday, 26 November 2008 00:00

The argument we're in a credit crunch took an odd turn today when American Banking Association's Chief Economist Jim Chessen said,

...that despite the economic downturn, banks continue to lend.He noted banks' loans to businesses increased by more than 8 percent since last year, while loans to individuals increased nearly 7 percent.

Chessen also pointed to strong domestic deposit growth of 7.2 percent in the past year as people have turned to banks to safe-keep their money. I twittered this stat today and it raised some eyebrows, but it just shows the media skewing the public's impression on the current credit market. I will not argue we're in an overall bad economy, but the statistics show that more business loans were done in Q3 of 2008 versus Q3 of 2007. Pretty impressive given a few large bank's struggles.