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E*Trade Financial the online brokerage company has returned to profitability after posting second quarter profits on Wednesday for the first time in three years.

The company has not faired well after its business was negatively impacted by bad loans made by its banking division, which reported its seventh consecutive drop in loan loss provisions.

Net charge-offs, or loans that E*Trade doesn’t think it can collect, were $US225 million ($252m), falling 42 per cent from a year ago.

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() - The European Commission on Friday extended the bank support schemes of Portugal and Spain until the end of this year. The Commission has already extended its authorization of bank guarantee schemes in Sweden, Germany, Austria, Latvia, Ireland, Spain, Denmark, The Netherlands, Slovenia, Greece and Poland.

The extended Portuguese guarantee scheme requires the banks to pay higher premiums for the guarantees granted by the state. This is to encourage banks to finance themselves without state support and to limit distortions of competition, the Commission said in a statement.

A majority of support schemes for financial institutions, put in place in 2008 and 2009 to ensure financial stability, have been periodically extended, generally for six months, when requested by the member states concerned and justified.

Full Article…

Health Savings Accounts (HSA) are the most popular health insurance plans in California for individuals and families, of late.

Blue Shield of California reported to us that their best selling health insurance plans have been HSA’s and there’s are good reasons to choose an HSA for your health insurance coverage.

One topic I discuss with new customers who are buying a health insurance program is the lowest cost and lowest potential annual out of pocket cost. You have choices of deductibles with HSA plans. The higher the deductible the lower the premium. Under HSA coverage, the insurer does not pay for any medical charges (except some preventive care).

Full Article…

Brent Hunsberger, The Oregonian
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The “hiatus” is over, and just in time for a remarkable week. President Barack Obama signed a far-reaching financial regulatory overhaul, and regulators vowed to limit less-than-obvious marketing fees that you and I pay each time we invest in a mutual fund.

These developments are quite a coincidence, given what I was up to while this column was dark. But more on that in a moment.

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Share First, the financial reform. Full Article…

Freddie Mac reports lowest mortgage rates ever.
Consumers that are considering buying a home have literally never been in a better position to get a great deal on a mortgage, as rates have hit their lowest point ever this week.

According to the latest Primary Mortgage Market Survey from Freddie Mac, which tracks the rates for all types of mortgages across the country, APRs on both 30-year and 15-year fixed-rate home loans for the week ending July 22 declined to the lows never before recorded by the lending giant.

Freddie Mac said the rate for 30-year fixed-rate mortgages dropped to 4.56 percent, down from 4.57 percent the week prior, and well below the 5.2 percent APR from the same week in 2009. Full Article…