NEWS: Consumer borrowing goes up again

ALTERNATIVE FINANCIAL SERVICE PROVIDERS ASSOCIATION

September 10, 2020

The Internal Revenue Service (IRS) has partnered with the Alternative Financial Service Providers Association (AFSPA) to assist in an ongoing effort to bring information, research, data and education to the unbanked and underbanked population of America.

LET YOUR CUSTOMERS KNOW

The IRS has asked for immediate assistance in finding the millions that are eligible for, but are unaware they qualify for or how to receive, the $1,200 'Economic Impact Payments' or 'stimulus checks'.

The deadline to receive these payments is October 15, 2020

IRS TOOLKIT

Coronavirus Tax Relief and Economic Impact Payments

Consumer borrowing goes up again with 3.6% rise in July

Auto loans increased, but for the 5th straight month credit card spending dropped

WASHINGTON - U.S. consumer borrowing rose by a solid 3.6% in July, the second monthly gain after the coronavrius pandemic had sent borrowing down sharply in the previous three months.

The Federal Reserve reported Tuesday that the 3.6% increase in July, which represented a $12.2 billion advance, followed a 3.3% rise in June and sharp declines in March, April and May.

The strength in July came from a $12.5 billion rise in the category that includes auto loans and student loans. The category that covers credit cards fell by $293 million, the fifth straight month that the credit card category has declined.
Read more at FOX BUSINESS

How Americans of different ages used their stimulus money

How you spent your stimulus check likely depends on how old you are.

Also critical to spending decisions was your employment status, as impacted by the coronavirus outbreak.

Thanks to the federal CARES Act, American households received checks this spring up to $1,200 per adult and $500 per child under age 17 - with a top amount of $3,400 for a family of four that met the income and age requirements.

Most people (81%) who said they'd lost income since March said the money would go toward expenses, rather than paying off debt or adding to savings, according to the Bureau of Labor Statistics. Read more at CNBC

Here's where the jobs are - in one chart

CNBC studied the net changes by industry for August jobs based on data contained in the employment report.

Government showed the strongest hiring numbers. A torrent of hiring by the federal government for the 2020 Census ballooned net payrolls for the sector by 344,000, about 25% of the over-the-month gain in total nonfarm employment. That eye-popping number was in large part thanks to the federal government's hiring of 238,000 temporary 2020 Census workers.

"After the sell-off yesterday, there will have been a collective sigh of relief to see payrolls rise 1.37 million in August, the fourth consecutive month of gains," Seema Shah, chief strategist at Principal Global Investors, said in an emailed statement.
Read more at CNBC

2020 election: Where the candidates stand on banking

President Donald Trump. Republican

The president is not a fan of the Dodd-Frank Wall Street Reform and Consumer Protection Act, the big banking bill enacted in 2010 after the 2007-08 global economic meltdown. He's called the law - which created the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau, imposed a big-bank stress test and banned proprietary trading - a "very negative force" and, in 2018, signed a bill to pare back parts of it, mainly for smaller banks. That law, the Economic Growth, Regulatory Relief, and Consumer Protection Act, waives the stress test for banks with assets of $250 billion or less and also waives the restriction on proprietary trading - known as the Volcker Rule - for banks with assets of $10 billion or less.

Trump has also made deregulation the focus of some of his earliest executive orders. In the most well-known of these, he required federal agencies to eliminate two existing rules for any new rule they issue, and in another order, he directed Treasury to evaluate laws, regulations and other official orders against the goal of making banking as competitive as possible while protecting consumers.

In short, the president is predisposed to easing restrictions on banks.

Read more at BANKING DIVE

Alabama credit union to buy bank in 6th such deal of 2020

Alabama One Credit Union in Tuscaloosa announced Thursday it has agreed to buy First Bank of Linden, an $82 million-asset, single-branch institution roughly 100 miles west of the state capital, Montgomery.
The deal represents the credit union's second takeover of 2020, following a July merger that brought Alabama Rural Electric Credit Union under the Alabama One umbrella. Alabama One CEO Bill Wells said the motivation for the deal was geographical, as it would expand the credit union's footprint in western Alabama, which the executive sees as strategically important.
Alabama One did not disclose the all-cash price it will pay for the bank. The deal, expected to close by June 2021, would mark the sixth purchase of a bank by a credit union this year.

Read more at BANKING DIVE

9M Americans missing stimulus payments on IRS mailing list

The IRS is trying to reach millions of Americans who may be eligible for an economic impact payment but have yet to provide the necessary information to the government.

The tax agency said on Tuesday that it planned to send letters to 9 million people later this month who typically are not required to file tax returns and have yet to provide their information in order to claim their stimulus checks.

According to the agency, many of these people don't file income tax returns because of low incomes - but are likely still eligible to receive a payment.
Read more at FOX BUSINESS

Could payday lenders return to South Dakota? Feds might open the door

Just a rate cap on payday loans wasn't enough.

The group of lawmakers who crafted the language in South Dakota's current restrictions on payday loans, which limit interest rates to 36 percent, knew the industry would try to find ways to work around the rule.

So they included some extra protections in the statute, using language intended to stop non-bank lenders from using any "device, subterfuge or pretense" to circumvent the state's rate cap.

Lenders have found a way to do just that, partnering with banks to get around similar protections in other states
Read more at THE ARGUS LEADER

Businesses are paying the price of stressed staff as pandemic money pressure takes its toll

With some staff understandably anxious about money, many businesses are feeling the knock-on effect as the recession hits - and it's up to the c-suite to save them. Four in 10 (41%) employers surveyed say that increased financial stress amongst employees has negatively impacted their business this year - almost three times the 15% who reported experiencing this challenge before 2020. And with eight in 10 (78%) concerned about the impact of this year's economic environment on employees' financial wellbeing, this problem is only set to grow.

That's according to new research from financial wellbeing platform nudge, which is urging businesses to open up the conversation about money and help staff upskill and take control of their finances, to alleviate additional workplace stress and reduce business disruption.
Read more at PERSONNEL TODAY

$4B in PPP loans were duplicates or had mismatched data, analysis finds

More than $1 billion in Paycheck Protection Program (PPP) funds went to borrowers who received multiple loans through the program, according to an analysis of Small Business Administration (SBA) data by Democratic staff of the Select Subcommittee on the Coronavirus Crisis. PPP forbids companies from receiving multiple loans.
About $96.3 million in PPP funding, encompassing 613 loans, was given to borrowers who have been debarred or suspended from doing business with the federal government, the analysis found. Those borrowers are also ineligible for PPP.
Subcommittee staff flagged more than 11,000 borrowers - recipients of nearly $3 billion in loans - for using information in PPP applications that mismatches data contained in the federal government's System for Award Management (SAM) database.