Green Tip of the Week: It's flu season
It’s flu season and you know you’re supposed to wash your hands, but don’t neglect your feet and your home’s indoor air quality. The germs on your shoes find their way into your home and carpets. According to one study, 27 percent of the bacteria in the home are the E. Coli virus. For a healthy home, leave your shoes at the door.
All of us from CountyProperties wishes you good health!
Fewer banks tightened lending standards last quarter, Federal Reserve says
Fewer U.S. banks tightened lending standards for companies and consumers in the third quarter as the economy grew for the first time in more than a year, a Federal Reserve survey showed.
Demand for most types of loans weakened at a smaller number of banks than in the second quarter, the Fed also said Monday in its quarterly Senior Loan Officer survey. For prime residential mortgages, a larger number of banks reported stronger demand, the central bank said.
The report helps explain why Fed policymakers last week said "tight credit" remains a drag on the economy and pledged to keep their benchmark interest rate near zero for an "extended period." JPMorgan Chase & Co. is among the banks that have reduced lending in response to stricter underwriting standards for consumer loans and lower demand from companies.
"It will be helpful if the banks were more prepared to lend, because there are creditworthy borrowers that are having difficulty getting credit," said Brian Bethune, chief financial economist at IHS Global Insight.
The survey of loan officers at 57 U.S. banks and 23 U.S. branches of foreign banks was conducted from about Oct. 6 to Oct. 20, the central bank said. The report doesn't identify respondents.
Loans and leases held by U.S. commercial banks have declined for 10 straight months, falling to $6.7 trillion as of Oct. 28 from $7.2 trillion at the end of 2008, according to a separate statistical release from the Fed.
Commercial and industrial loans have dropped to $1.37 trillion from $1.6 trillion, commercial real-estate loans have declined to $1.66 trillion from $1.72 trillion, and consumer loans have fallen to $847 billion from $857 billion at the end of last year.
In response to a question on the decline in commercial and industrial loans, banks cited lower originations of loans and decreased draws on revolving credit lines as the two most important reasons for the drop.
About a net 15% of banks tightened standards on commercial and industrial loans, half of the prior survey and below the peak of about 80% a year ago, the Fed said. Also, about a net 15% of respondents said they tightened standards for credit-card loans, the smallest since April 2008 and down from 35% in the July survey.
Banks were extending commercial real estate loans more often than refinancing them, the Fed survey showed. About 75% of U.S. banks reported extending more than one-fourth of construction and land development loans that were scheduled to mature by September.
Last month, the Fed and other regulators urged commercial real estate lenders to "work constructively" to arrange modifications with borrowers who show a willingness to repay debt posing the biggest threat to the U.S. banking industry. Loan originations by the biggest U.S. banks receiving government assistance fell by 17% in August from a month earlier, the Treasury Department said Oct. 15, the most recent report.
In its monthly survey of lending by the top 22 recipients of capital injections from the $700 billion Troubled Asset Relief Program, the Treasury also said total loan balances fell by 1% in August from a month earlier.
Loans at JPMorgan Chase in New York fell to $653.1 billion at the end of the third quarter from $761.4 billion a year earlier. The decline reflected "some tightening of underwriting standards" on consumer loans, including credit cards, Chief Financial Officer Michael Cavanagh told analysts during an Oct. 14 call following the release of the quarter's results. Loan demand from companies also fell, he added.
Bank of America Corp.'s loans and mortgages shrank to $878.4 billion from $922.3 billion a year earlier. The drop was due to "lower consumer spending and a resurgence in the capital markets" that allowed corporations to issue bonds and equity to pay off debt, Kenneth Lewis, chief executive officer of the Charlotte, N.C., said on an Oct. 16 conference call with analysts after the third-quarter report.
Employers continued cutting jobs even after the economy expanded at a 3.5% annual pace in the third quarter. The unemployment rate rose above 10% last month for the first time since 1983, a Nov. 6 Labor Department report showed.
TAX CREDIT EXTENDED-It's official
President Barack Obama has signed into law the The Worker, Homeownership, and Business Assistance Act of 2009 which extended the tax credit of up to $8,000 for qualified first time home buyers purchasing a principle residents and a $6,500 tax credit to Move-Up home buyers who have owned a home for at least 5 years.
It has been extended through April of 2010. The credit can also be used to help pay for closings costs as well as meet the FHA 3.5% downpayment requiremnets (Consult with one of our Approved Lenders). The credit can also be used to change your clients paycheck withholdings so that they can save for a downpayment quicker for those conventional loans.
State's tax withholding bump-up starts today
Some call it California'scash advance. Effective today, the amount of state income taxes withheld from California workers' paychecks will increase 10 percent. That might sound like a tax increase, but state officials insist that's not the case. Tax experts agree, saying this bump up in withholding taxes gives the state some wiggle room in managing California's treasury in a year that saw a titanic political battle to get a handle on the state's budget. The increased withholding comes on top of a 0.25 percent state income tax increase and a reduction in the dependent credit, also enacted as part of the state budget.
Essentially, the accelerated withholding program does not generate additional tax revenue. Instead, it front-loads it, bringing cash in more quickly in an effort to keep the state treasury stocked with funds, which is where the "cash advance" tag comes in. State officials have estimated that the move will generate an additional $1.7 billion in the current fiscal year. The bottom line is that a worker's total annual income tax bill won't rise, and the amount owed at April 2010 tax time will be adjusted accordingly.
Simply put, if you owe taxes when April 15 comes along, the balance due will be less based on what was withheld from your paycheck in the last two months of the year. If you're due a refund, you can expect a little more. Taxpayers can evade the accelerated withholding schedules simply by increasing the number of allowances on the withholding forms filed with their employers. That won't make much difference for the calendar 2009 tax year, but it will have a bigger impact for 2010 and perhaps beyond.
Besides increased withholding, a state income tax increase approved by the Legislature as part of February's budget deal will raise rates by 0.25 percentage points for each tax bracket for the 2009 and 2010 tax years.
Also in the mix: A new tax law lowered the state dependent exemption credit from last year's $309 to $98 for the 2009 and 2010 tax years.
Please consult and verify withyour tax adviser regarding the above tax information.