Articles on Banking

Who Should Face the Music When the Banks Fail?

Should everyday folks bear the brunt when banks fail, or should the bankers themselves be held responsible?

New $100 Bill Unveiled

Even though ordinary people hardly ever receive or spend one, with the number of $100 bills in circulation in the billions it's worth putting the effort into making them extreme

SBA Loans Up 90%

Thanks to American Reinvestment and Recovery Act (ARRA) initiatives, the first quarter of 2010 shows weekly SBA loan volume up 90% over comparative weeks in 2009.

10 Tips to Save You from an ATM Skimmer

If you don’t yet know the term “skimmer,” put it in your vocabulary. Here are ways to avoid ATM skimmers.

CitiMortgage Told Me to Default on My Loan

Only in the completely screwed-up world of the lending industry would this be a logical and serious piece of advice. But that’s basically what I was told after calling CitiMortg

This May Be the Best Time to Negotiate Loan Terms

With credit at its tightest in over ten years, banks are hurting. For successful borrowers, that means loan terms and conditions may be more negotiable then ever.

What Every Business Owner Should Know About Collateral

Establishing the collateral value of an asset is often a point of contention in loan negotiations. Here are some rules-of-thumb to help you understand how a lender's likely to v

The Truth About Personal Guarantees

If you’ve ever borrowed money from a bank for business use, you’ve no doubt argued against adding your personal guarantee to the deal. And if you’re like most small business own

The Truth About Business Grants

If you don’t mind lots of paperwork, frequent disappointment, and many strings attached, here’s a quick guide to the slow process of finding grant money for your business.

Cash-Strapped Businesses Turn to Purchase-Order Financing

Many business owners are turning to alternative lenders who offer to finance their purchase order.

12 Steps to a Loan Renewal in 2010

It’s your job to make sure your 2009 financial statements don’t send bankers running for the hills. So how do you protect your company from being crushed in the crunch come time

Best Money Tips: How to Apply for a Loan at a Peer to Peer Lender

Welcome to Wise Bread's Best Money Tips roundup. Today, we tell you how to apply for a loan at a peer-to-peer lending site, the six biggest investing mistakes, and how to set up

Financial IQ Test: How Healthy Are Your Bank Accounts?

Following is a Financial IQ Test, designed to help you determine how healthy your bank accounts –- and your interaction with them -– are. Tally up your score and see how you fare.

Book Review: Complicit - How Greed and Collusion Made the Credit Crisis Unstoppable

This week a government committee is investigating the cause of the financial crisis by interrogating bank titans what exactly went wrong. Complicit: How Greed and Collusion Made th

My Bank Stole My Grocery Money

My bank charged me almost $100 in overdraft fees, even though my bank statement never went negative. As one of my colleagues here at Wise Bread reported last week, banks use this s

Avoid Bank Fees

How do you avoid bank fees? Read the stuff from your bank and understand what services are free and what services aren't.

An Introduction to High Yield Reward Checking Accounts

Here is a quick introduction to reward checking accounts and how you can take advantage of these high yielding accounts.

The Three Interest Rates

I got a notice from one of my credit cards a bit ago, announcing that they were raising the interest rate. It's only of theoretical interest to me, of course--I use credit cards f

10 Tips To Lower The Cost of Banking

When shopping for a money market savings account or other bank products, I don't believe it should be all about the yield. You should also be aware of how much it costs to bank wit

The Different Types of Loans: A Primer

Do you know the basics of various loans? If not, then check out this loan primer.