BIZ VOICE: Banking on small guys Atlanta Journal Constitution, USA - To be sure, many banks are tightening their lending standards amid bailouts, industry consolidation and a decline in the creditworthiness of some borrowers. ...
Payday lending foes hopeful News-Leader.com, MO - While capping interest rates will force many payday lenders out of business, others will consolidate, making up for the smaller rate of return per loan with ...
US move cuts mortgages to lowest rate since February Baltimore Sun, United States - Nov 27, 2008 More borrowers will be able to refinance to consolidate debt, lower monthly payments or draw out cash, all of which should promote consumer spending and ...
Let bankruptcy help fix bad mortgages Christian Science Monitor, MA - In exchange for taking on a modest monthly payment, she could make some needed repairs and consolidate other debts. More sophisticated than many borrowers, ...
Transcript: Howard Lutnick Forbes, NY - Because right now, consolidating banks doesn't help create any loans whatsoever. I just don't think the moves they've made so far are going to take any help ...
Not-So-Free Lunch For BayernLB Forbes, NY - Although listed banks like Commerzbank (other-otc: CRZBY - news - people ) have taken advantage of consolidation opportunities, proposed talks between ...
AB town manager departs today Myrtle Beach Sun News, SC - After that, Williams said, he still believes the town should pursue the debt-consolidation loan and sell two unused lots to create a reserve fund. ...
Financial markets: Growing unpaid debts Inquirer.net, Philippines - Nov 30, 2008 They need to answer margin calls for their dollar investments; they need to pay their dollar loans and other obligations; they need to consolidate their ...
Ease the burden of student loans by consolidating Seattle Times, United States - Aug 3, 2008 By Chuck Myers - Uses question-and-answer format to provides information about student-loan consolidation. - This site contains factors to consider ...
Real cost of consolidation Irish Independent, Ireland - Debt consolidation combines all your loans into your mortgage and needs careful consideration. Calculate consolidation costs. The new loan will last much ...
Small Business Lending and Bank Consolidation: Is There Cause for Concern? - PE STRAHAN, J WESTON - Current Issues in Economics and Finance, 1996 - papers.ssrn.com ... Moreover, if small banks have a cost advantage in providing rela- tionship loans
to small businesses, consolidation will not lead to the disappearance of small ...
The Effects of Banking Mergers on Loan Contracts - P Sapienza - The Journal of Finance, 2002 - Blackwell Synergy ... Second, I study the impact of merger activity on the avail- ability of loans, examining
the impact of consolidation on the probability of severing prior credit ...
Universal Banking and the Future of Small Business Lending - AN Berger, GF Udell - Financial System Design: The Case for Universal Banking, 1996 - ideas.repec.org ... of credit to the small business segment because other institutions may pick up much
of the slack left by consolidation. To the extent that loans to small ...
[PDF]Bank Consolidation and Consumer Loan Interest Rates - C Kahn, G Pennacchi, B Sopranzetti - thAnnual Conference on Bank Structure and Competition, …, 2000 - fic.wharton.upenn.edu ... Comments Welcome Bank Consolidation and Consumer Loan Interest Rates* by Charles
Kahn ... Page 4. Bank Consolidation and Consumer Loan Interest Rates Abstract ...
Bank Consolidation and the Dynamics of Consumer Loan Interest Rates* - C Kahn, G Pennacchi, B Sopranzetti - The Journal of Business, 2005 - UChicago Press ...Consolidation leads to larger banks and could change the process by which most banks
make loans.12 Berger, Rosen, and Udell (2001) find that, for a given level ...
Why Do Banks Merge? - D FOCARELLI, F PANETTA, C SALLEO - papers.ssrn.com ... reducing bad loans and, in the long run, loans to small firms. To analyze mergers,
we consolidate the balance sheets of the banks involved throughout the ...
[CITATION] Bank Consolidation and the Provision of Banking Services: Small Commercial Loans RB Avery, KA Samolyk - Journal of Financial Services Research, 2004
Source: Google Scholar
The Best Time To Consolidate Loans
Before you get too deep into the New Year, construct a priority ladder for those resolutions you so positively affirmed a couple of weeks ago.
Place ``debt consolidation and switching'' near the top of the list because 1991 marks the end of the line for deductibility of interest on personal debts - except for home-mortgage interest.
That means it is definitely time to consider converting your personal debts to home-mortgage debts via a refinance or home-equity loan.
During 1987, consumers could write off 60 percent of their interest expenditures on charge account, car, boat and similar loans. The percentage fell to 40 in 1988, 20 percent in 1989 and 10 percent in 1990. This year will be the Year of the Big Zero because the Internal Revenue Service is no longer giving tax incentives for carrying consumer debt.
Barry Lewis, accountant in the Seattle office of Grant Thornton, says ``many people procrastinate and have not yet done any switching of their debt.''
I think most of the reason for procrastination lies on the shoulders of human nature, but a portion can be traced to Congress' five-year, tax-reform phase out. The process simply lulled taxpayers into thinking ``I'm still getting a little tax break'' on all this credit-card interest, so I'll wait until next year to deal with the consequences.
Well, next year is here. If you have the means to pay off your consumer debt, it's usually best to do so. If not, roll those debts into one monthly payment with tax-deductible interest.
There is one thing you should check with an accountant or attorney and that's the refinance and home equity limits set in 1987.
There is, for example, a ceiling on the interest you can deduct when refinancing your home. This ``cap'' limits write-offs of mortgage interest to your current ``acquisition indebtedness'' plus $100,000.
If the balance on your first mortgage is $50,000, for example, your tax-deductibility cap on a refinanced first mortgage would be $150,000.
If you were to borrow more than $150,000, you could not deduct the interest on the additional debt.
There are two exceptions, summarized by Fran Church, accountant in the Seattle office of Ernst & Young:
-- If you refinanced, or took out a second mortgage or equity line of credit on or before Oct. 13, 1987, and you have not added to it, your interest payments should be fully deductible, regardless of amount.
-- If your new loan is to ``buy, build or improve your home,'' your interest is deductible if the mortgage amount on your first and second homes does not exceed $1 million.
Tom Kelly is a private real-estate consultant. His column runs every Sunday in the Home/Real Estate section of The Times. Send questions and comments to Tom Kelly's column, P.O. Box 70, Seattle, WA, 98111.
Copyright (c) 1991 Seattle Times Company, All Rights Reserved.
