Reduced trust leads to a decrease in lending for SMEs

The UK’s big banks have renewed their lending squeeze, according to the Federation of Small Businesses (FSB), with four in 10 of Britain’s smaller enterprises refused credit in the last three months.

Mortgage rates are unchanged!

Mortgage Rates were nearly unchanged to slightly higher depending on the lender in question.  The pre-rounded average from our best-execution calculation barely budged today and only moved on the rates page due to crossing over the mid-point and rounding to the next 0.01 higher.  Lenders' rate sheets have been fairly diverse recently, but took steps to become less stratified today.  In other words, rates between lenders grew more similar, and 3.625% continues to be the current Best-Execution rate for Conventional 30yr Fixed loans.

New database against credit card issuers!

Details of complaints filed against credit card issuers will be made public for the first time beginning Tuesday morning when the federal consumer watchdog agency launches a new database.

Anyone with access to the Web will be able to go online and find out what credit card holders are complaining about and why. It's a move applauded by consumer groups that want transparency in banking, but met with trepidation by lenders, who say anyone with a beef -- legitimate or not -- can file baseless complaints that can potentially harm a bank's reputation.