Homes by Vanderbilt of Sanford, North Carolina, has nothing to do with Vanderbilt Mortgage or Berkshire Hathaway and is not involved with this lawsuit in any shape or form.

I continue to find evidence that there is a fundamental shift going on in how low-income consumers access the payments system.  Earlier, I wrote at length about MetaBank and their prepaid debit card/line of credit platform developed in conjunction with NetSpend. I made some headway learning about the Emerald Advance and the Emerald Advance line of credit, both from Block.

Later, I made mention of the RushCard – a similiar product issued with funds from Bancorp Bank and M&T Bank.

Today, I see that Bancorp Bank (TBBK) has struck again.  Let’s look at their Eufora Card.  Eufora aims at the segment (more…)

HUD established a long-term of goal of improving the energy efficiency of homes in its Housing Choice Voucher Program (Section several years ago.

Right now, HUD spends $5 billion per year on energy bills. That figure increased by 13.5 percent between 2006 and 2008, alone. Energy costs for subsidies to Section 8 increased 18 percent.

HUD provides utility allowances to 84 percent of the residents in its Section 8 program.

In their own words, HUD states that the focus of its energy plan is Energy Star. EnergyStar is a (more…)

There are four important votes coming before shareholders of banks and financial services firms during the upcoming annual meetings.

Calvert will ask shareholders of BB&T and Capitol One to evalute “overdraft policies and practices and the impacts these practices have on borrowers.”

Christian Brothers Investment Services will ask shareholders of Cash America, a large payday lender, to adopt a policy that ends payday lending.

The Community Reinvestment Association of North Carolina is asking shareholders of JP Morgan Chase to “cease its current practice of issuing Refund Anticipation Loans.”

I am thrilled to see the socially responsible investment community acting to address these issues. This movement has been very active in pursuing important causes for environmental health and human rights.  There has been less attention to financial issues. That day has come. Perhaps this reflects how even the well-off have been hurt by the subprime lending crisis. My only lament is that there are not more than four ballot initiatives.

Refund anticipation loans may cease to be available after the 2010 tax season, according to some comments from tax preparers.

An internal memo sent by River City Bank to its tax prep partners references an FDIC communication that suggests that RCB prepare to exit its RAL business.

This is not confirmed.  At the same time, the market seems to be moving in response to this news.  Shares of H&R Block are down almost 15 percent this morning and now trading at a year low. That makes no sense, of course, because Block would not be impacted by FDIC action.  HSBC provides RALs for Block.  HSBC is regulated by the Office of the Comptroller of the Currency.  Block Bank is regulated by the Office of Thrift Supervision.

JP Morgan Chase, funder of RALs to Mo’ Money Taxes and approximately 13,000 independent preparers, would also be passed over.

For now, this is unconfirmed.