If you read the newspaper headlines and billboard advertisements recently, you may notice something interesting (if not, strange) happening. National Australia Bank (NAB) announced that it is ‘breaking up’ with the rest of the banks in a new campaign. That immediately provoked reactions from the other banks, including Suncorp with its “breaking up” theme in a recent billboard advertisement.

Soon, bank investors are fretting about a price war among the banks, which means the race is on to the bottom for profits. As this

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Happy holidays, homebuyers! You just got a very nice present.

Mortgage rates have hit record lows, with the interest rate on a 30-year, fixed-rate loan, the most popular choice of homebuyers, averaging 3.91% this week, according to Freddie Mac’s Primary Mortgage Market Survey.

That’s down from 3.94% last week, and is the lowest in the 40-year history of the survey.

Rates have fallen 0.9% since the beginning of the year. For a homeowner with a $200,000 mortgage, that means a savings of $1,200 a year, said Frank Nothaft, Freddie’s chief economist.

With rates at or below 4% for the last eight weeks, home sales are getting a boost, Nothaft added. Read more info…

On the evening of July 31, Congress reached an agreement to raise the 14.3 trillion debt ceiling and reduce federal spending, instantly giving the Treasury 400 billion additional borrowing power.  In May the debt limit was reached, however the Treasury Department said it could keep government functioning normally until the close of August 2. Congressional leaders came to an agreement and the Senate raced to get the debt ceiling increase signed into law just hours before the deadline.

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You may well have had the experience of using a website that appears to be largely illogical in terms of what it expects you to need to do in order to use it. This is a situation that professional website designers seek to avoid.

The website mess

If you have encountered a badly designed website, you will know how frustrating and irritating it can be to try and use it.

Its worth noting that this is nothing to do with a concept of whether it works in a technical sense.

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It wasn’t so long ago that certificates of deposit (CDs) enjoyed a special place in the hearts of savers everywhere.  But, CDs were looked down upon by investors who pinned their hopes on generating above average rates of return investing in the stock market.  As market volatility took its toll on active investor’s portfolios, a new hybrid investment was created to address the needs of conservative savers.  The new offering, called an equity-linked CD, guaranteed return of principal and payment of interest if the market index did well.  The best part is that it’s covered by the FDIC program. 

Also known as a market-linked CD or the indexed CD, they all follow the same basic premise:  offer a time-based deposit vehicle (CD) and link its interest payments to a group of securities or an index.  Add a few restrictions regarding how much of the index gain the investor will participate in, put a cap on the amount the investor can realize on an annual basis and make the CDs callable, like a bond.  One more feature (for the issuer that is) create two methods to calculate the interest to be paid. Additional in

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