The Biz2Credit Small Business Lending Index reported that big banks (those with more than $10 billion in assets) approved just 10.6 percent of all small business loan requests in April, down from 10.9 percent in April, and down from 11.6 percent in March 2011.

The big bank approval decrease is not terribly surprising as they have kept very tight lending standards in the post-financial crisis period, but a decline in small bank (those with less than $10 billion in assets) approval rates is a bit more disconcerting. Small banks approved 45.9 percent of loan applications in April, down from 47.6 percent in March.

Credit unions also reduced their loan approvals to small businesses, with their approval rating falling 0.5 percent to 46.6 percent in April.

At the same time, fewer small businesses sought loans, according to the report, with demand falling 5.4 percent last month.

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The Finance & Leasing Association said that total consumer finance provided by its members increased by 9% in March, compared with the same time a year ago. This includes personal loans, credit cards, store cards, store instalment credit, second mortgages and car finance.

Car loans saw the strongest growth, increasing by 22% on the previous year, followed by store instalment credit and second mortgages . Only store card credit dropped in that time .

In total, lenders provided almost 53 billion of consumer credit in the year to March 2012.

Fiona Hoyle, FLA Head of Consumer Finance at the Finance & Leasing Association, commented: “Our figures show a slight rise in most markets, which suggests that consumer confidence is showing signs of a tentative return.

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The first quarter of 2012 ends without a hoped-for reduction in interest rates from the Reserve Bank of Australia. While the cash rate lingers at a reasonably low 4.25%, RBA Governor Glenn Stevens seems satisfied with things as they are.

On 6 March Mr Stevens said: “With growth expected to be close to trend and inflation close to target, the Board judged that the setting of monetary policy remained appropriate for the moment”.

He noted that although the world economy will grow at a below-trend pace this year, this does not mean a deep downturn is occurring. The US economy is expanding “moderately” and equally modest is the slowing of growth in China.

Supporting the RBA’s stand, an article by Daniel Wills in the Adelaide Advertiser pointed out that housing affordability was improving in all states except South Australia.

“In the December quarter, required monthly loan repayments on a home in Adelaide increased by $97 to $2742. That compar

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New research from the annuity provide MGM Advantage, has found that many pensioners are currently struggling to pay off existing debts on things such as personal loans, outstanding homeowner loans and mortgages, as well as credit card debts.

According to the research, the average retired person in the UK has somewhere in the region of £8,000 worth of personal loan and other debts, which works out at a total figure of £96 billion worth of loan debt for all retirees collectively across the country.

The survey also found that typically men have a higher level of debt than women, with an average figure of £9,007 worth of loan debts, compared with just £7,350 for women.

Worryingly, the poll discovered that around 178,000 retired people owed more than £100,000 in various loans and other debts and a further 729,000 owed between £25,000 and £100,000. Only a

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Many customers are looking around for the best deals at the moment because of the slow economy and financial problems. However, when doing this, many are getting products which are either deemed too risky, hard to understand or just not suitable for them.

This new report, which has been created using consumer research, found that many people were not looking properly into deals and just opting for the products which were the cheapest. For example, they may not be look at any add-ons which will make everything more expensive.

Also, many companies were deemed too proactive when it comes to sales, and many are encouraging customers to take out products they simply don’t need. The report found that many were using tactics which were too pushy, especially as many of the consumers were in a vulnerable mindset.

The FSA will be working with these firms for the next 12 to 18 months to ensure that everything is up to standard. If

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Who would have thought it was possible even ten years ago?

However, as convenient as it may seem to be able to pay for goods or services in the middle of virtually anywhere by using your credit card, does this mean that the overriding need for convenience has now replaced consumerism as our next potential financial problem?

Think about it – another on-the-spot transaction that doesn’t require cash. 

Then add that to the myriad of other cashless transactions we already make and it makes it even more challenging to try and keep track of where our money is being spent – until you get that credit card statement at the end on the month.

Convenience is great – don’t get me wrong, as it’s an obvious bi-product of us all being more accessible and working more hours around the clock, resulting in our personal time being even more precious.

However, in our quest to try and fit as much as we can into our busy lives, we can now so easily spend our hard earned dollars with the swipe of a card – anywhere and anytime. And that takes

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The NAR reported, as quoted in a Washington Post, that existing-home sales fell 0.9 percent last month, to a seasonally adjusted annual rate of 4.59 million, down from 4.63 million in January.

Across the country, sales decreases in the Northeast and West off-set gains in the Midwest and South. In the Northeast sales fell 3.3 percent and 3.2 percent in the West, while the Midwest saw an increase of 1 percent and the Souths total grew by 0.6 percent.

On a yearly basis, sales were up however, growing 8.8 percent from February 2010. The national median home price also actually rose compared with the previous year, up 0.3 percent to $156,000, the first yearly gain since July 2010.

Still the drop in sales may be an indication of the bumpy road to recovery that lies ahead for the housing market.

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When determining whether or not to make a business loan, lenders turn the bulk of the heavy lifting over to staff credit analysts. Analysts, in turn, screw their hats on tightly, warm up their calculators and retrench into orgiastic numbers overload.

What are the business existing leverage and liquidity ratios? What about inventory, payable and receivable turns? Common-size percentages of cost of goods sold, operating expenses, gross and net profits? What about the ratio of cash flow to monthly payments and short-term debts? How about trend analysis — are the ratios generally improving, holding steady or declining over time?

The math required to properly analyze a prospective business loan is substantial. Since the world turned upside-down 3+ years ago, number-crunching has become even more integral today than ever before, with a renewed emphasis on fundamental analysis. U

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The Finance & Leasing Association is stressing the importance of looking into the vehicle’s history to make sure any loans on the vehicle have been repaid in full. Last year, cars were fraudulently sold with finance of more than 13 million still outstanding.

So someone buying a second-hand car could actually become the victim of this kind of fraud – and risk having the vehicle repossessed by the finance company which still owns it, in which case they’d lose both money and vehicle.

Checking it out isn’t difficult. A comprehensive car history check will show you all you need to know about the car and its previous ownership. It’ll show if there’s any finance outstanding on it, as well as whether it’s ever been stolen, scrapped, involved in an accident or had its mileage adjusted.

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The scheme as it currently stands will only be available to around 100,000 people; however, it is purposely designed to help both the embattled buyers and struggling construction industry. With it becoming increasingly difficult to get on to the housing ladder, this could possibly open the door to those who may otherwise struggle. But how could this possibly help the economy?

Well, the construction industry offers a wealth of employment opportunities. This generates revenue through taxation and also helps to reduce unemployment figures throughout the country. In any successful economy, there has to be fluid movement of money. With more people working, there is more cash available to spend on goods and services. E

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Approved auto loans

It can be difficult trading in a vehicle especially if you have bad credit.

Unfortunately this is often the case because we’ve seen it happen here at Auto Credit Express where we’ve spent more than a decade helping people with far from perfect credit find a new car dealer that understands these situations. Our website also contains information on topics such as disability ie and interest rates along with today’s subject: how negative equity in a used car trade in can sabotage an auto loan.

The appraisal

During the appraisal process, the dealer determines the value your car based on its age, condition and mileage.

Customers are often surprised that their car isn’t worth as much as they thought. While NADA and Kelley Blue Book values that consumers have access to are helpful, they should only be considered as a guide.

Real time auction values, available only to dealers, are usually more accurate. Further

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The website says that during 2011, consumers charged $48 billion in new credit card debt. That is 424 percent more than 2010 charges and 577 percent more than 2009 totals. That number is made up of $4 billion in total outstanding credit as well as $44.2 billion in consumer credit card defaults.

Looking back two years, with the exception of a single quarter, U.S. consumer debt management has consistently worsened, the report said, as quoted in the Chicago Tribune. First-quarter pay-downs have become less significant and the amount of new debt added in each subsequent quarter has grown compared to its respective counterparts in the previous two years.

It is important to note that much of the decline in credit card debt during the two previous years was due to card issuers writing off seriously delinquent debts they didnt believe would be repaid.

Card issuers were very aggressive in writing off bad debt in 2009 and 2010, said Greg McBride, senior financial analyst at Bankrate.com.

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The bank confirmed that it increased interest rates on its offset loan products on the 1st of March this year, by 0.25 per cent and that interest rates on the bank’s One Account loans will also increase by 0.25 per cent on the 1st of May.

RBS said that the reason for the increase in loan rates was due to the increased cost of wholesale loan funding and pointed out that this is the first increase in loan rates from the bank since June 2008.

It has been estimated that the rate increases are likely to affect somewhere in the region of 200,000 existing RBS home owner loan customers, many of whom may be tempted to look for a new cheap loan deal with an alternative lender.

RBS have said that the typical offset or One Account loan customer will see their loan rate increase to 4 per cent, which is the same as the bank’s standard variable rate for existing loans.

A spokesman for the Royal Bank of Scotland said “Over the last year, the cost of funds at which we need to borrow at to fund our mortgage and home owner loan commitments has risen considerably. We ha

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Not only this, but the survey also showed that nearly one fifth of people have the same PIN number for all their cards. This is very risky practice, as if your wallet is stolen and the thief manages to guess your PIN number, they will have access to all your accounts. With a rise on the amount of scammers out there trying to get our details, you have to be extra vigilant to make sure that this doesn’t happen to you.

So,  how can you try and prevent getting scammed?

• Make sure that you don’t use PIN numbers which would be easy to guess such as your birth date or an anniversary. You don’t want to make it easier for fraudsters to get access to your cash. It’s al

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