Online Loan Exchange GovGex.com Reaches $100 Million Milestone

This milestone, following an 85 percent volume increase in the fourth quarter, indicates a sharp increase in demand for GovGex.com services as sellers seek buyers for government-backed loans. With more than 20 buyers, including broker-dealers registered to assemble SBA pool securities, GovGex.com continues to add more buyers, increasing potential for more bids and higher premiums for sellers facing liquidity challenges.

In addition to helping foster liquidity in the secondary market for government guaranteed loans, GovGex.com has emerged as an independent source for real-time secondary market clearing price information -- generated by actual bids from all buyers on GovGex.com.

Quicken Loans Named to FORTUNE's '100 Best Companies to Work For'

Quicken Loans, the nation's largest online retail mortgage lender, has been named to FORTUNE Magazine's annual "100 Best Companies to Work for in America" list for the sixth consecutive year. Quicken Loans is ranked #29 on the list, which is available online at www.fortune.com/bestcompanies and also will appear in FORTUNE's February 2nd issue, available on newsstands the week of January 26th.

"This year's ranking is especially gratifying because it comes during a year in which many in our industry were simply fighting for survival. We have prospered despite the headwinds because our passionate and committed team members embraced the challenges and turned them into opportunities," said Quicken Loans Chairman and Founder Dan Gilbert.

uMonitor partners with BANKDetect to Offer Online Account Opening and Funding Incorporated with Red Flags, ID Verification

MEMPHIS, Tenn. - (Business Wire) uMonitor, the innovative financial solution services provider for banking customer acquisition and retention, and BANKDetect, a knowledge-based technology company that focuses on loss prevention and compliance for the financial industry, today announced a partnership to integrate their services for financial services clients. BANKDetect will incorporate ID verification (name, address, phone, zip, SSN, etc.,) including “red flags” compliance (indicators of possible risk of identity theft) with uOpen & uFund^®, uMonitor’s online account opening and funding solution. This will enable uMonitor to meet all necessary regulatory compliance requirements as recently set forth by the government.

BANKDetect and uMonitor can integrate with all major core processors. Currently, both companies partner with Open Solutions, which allows Open Solutions’ clients to quickly deploy uMonitor’s uOpen & uFund and BANKDetect’s solutions, as they are already integrated with their core processing platform, online banking service and loan decisioning system.

Avoid any online payday lending

Complaints to Maine's consumer credit protectors increased late last year when people who had borrowed from online "payday" companies learned they were being charged exorbitant fees and interest.

"Uniformly, these borrowers tell us, 'This is the biggest mistake I've ever made.' Nobody's had a good experience with these out-of-state lenders," said Superintendent William Lund of the Bureau of Consumer Credit Protection.

Payday loans are short-term transactions designed to be repaid when borrowers get their next paychecks.

Payday Loans With Higher Rates Are Good

Online payday loans are a relatively new way for consumers to obtain the short-term cash they need during emergencies. While these loans have been popular with the general public, critics claim that the cost of payday loans in general is excessive and requires low rate caps. These critics believe that low rates will lead to a greater percentage of loans being funded and a lower rate of loan default.

However, in a study entitled “The Effects of Usury Laws: Evidence from the Online Loan Market” by Stanford University’s Oren Rigbi, we see empirical evidence that just the opposite is true. Borrowers who experienced a low cap did not produce the results the critics would have expected.

Need help now to pay for college? Compare scholarships online

These are tough times. To help, we're offering pieces of advice in the Business section each day this month.

Problem: You need more money for college quickly and don't know where to turn.

Solution: Look for scholarships. Peruse the scholarship offerings online from the College Board (collegeboard.com), Scholarships.com and Fastweb.com. Many have grants that have rolling deadlines and easy, online applications.

If you're maxed out on lower-interest federal loans, consider comparison shopping with SimpleTuition.com or StudentLoanMonkey.com. The sites allow prospective students to shop around for student loans and avoid a hard inquiry on their credit reports. As the credit crunch has crimped student borrowing and increased interest rates on private loans, SimpleTuition and StudentLoanMonkey will show you available offers from a wide swath of lenders, not just ones that market heavily. Wall Street Journal