Private student lenders are stepping up their game to compete directly with government loans. For several years, private lenders offered mostly variable-rate loans that students used as gap funding to cover their needs above what they could get on government loans. Now private lenders are introducing loans fixed at nearly the same rates as some federal products, seeking to nab a bigger piece of the student loan market as outstanding debts balloon to more than $1 trillion. The largest student lender, SLM (SLM), known as Sallie Mae, introduced fixed-rate loans earlier this month. On May 21, Discover Student Loans (DFS), the third-largest education lender, started a fixed-rate loan program as well. Wells Fargo (WFC), the second-biggest lender, had launched fixed-rate loans last summer. For families ... Continue reading →
Tower climber Jay Guilford poses atop a cell tower. He was one of 11 climbers to die while working on AT&T jobs during a wave of cell service expansion from 2006 to 2008. Photo courtesy of Bridget Pierce. Jay Guilford was a tiny but vital cog in the carrier’s plans. On a clear evening in May, Guilford was dangling, 150 feet in the air, from a cell tower in southwest Indiana. He had been sent aloft to take pictures of AT&T antennas soon to be replaced by 3G equipment. Work complete, Guilford sped his descent by rappelling on a rope. Safety standards required him to step down the metal pole, peg by peg, using a special line that would catch automatically if he fell. But ... Continue reading →
May 17 (Bloomberg) -- Isaac Gagnon stepped off the school bus sobbing last October and opened his mouth to show his mother where it hurt. She saw steel crowns on two of the 4-year-old's back teeth. A dentist's statement in his backpack showed he had received two pulpotomies, or baby root canals, along with the crowns and 10 X-rays -- all while he was at school. Isaac, who suffers from seizures from a brain injury in infancy, didn't need the work, according to his mother, Stacey Gagnon. "I was absolutely horrified," said Gagnon, of Camp Verde, Arizona. "I never gave them permission to drill into my son's mouth. They did it for profit." Isaac's case and others like it are under scrutiny by federal lawmakers ... Continue reading →
AIG CEO Leaves Shareholder in Dark on Legal Costs By Noah Buhayar - Wed May 16 16:10:52 GMT 2012 Enlarge image AIG Chief Executive Officer Robert Benmosche Robert Benmosche, president and chief executive officer of American International Group Inc. Robert Benmosche, president and chief executive officer of American International Group Inc. Photographer: Andrew Harrer/Bloomberg American International Group Inc. (AIG), the insurer majority owned by the U.S. Treasury Department after a 2008 bailout, declined to reveal legal costs in response to the only investor who asked a question at its annual meeting. “I don’t believe we go through and identify that as a number that we go public with,” Chief Executive Officer Robert Benmosche, 67, told the man who identified himself as an AIG shareholder at ... Continue reading →
Facebook’s Saverin May Save $67 Million on U.S. Tax Bill By Jesse Drucker - Wed May 16 04:01:00 GMT 2012 Enlarge image Facebook Co-Founder Saverin Gives Up U.S. Citizenship Before IPO Jason Kempin/Getty Images for Common Sense Media Eduardo Saverin, co-founder of Facebook, in New York City. Eduardo Saverin, co-founder of Facebook, in New York City. Photographer: Jason Kempin/Getty Images for Common Sense Media Facebook Inc. (FB) co-founder Eduardo Saverin will save at least $67 million in federal income taxes by dropping U.S. citizenship, according to a Bloomberg analysis of the company’s stock price. Those savings will keep growing if Facebook’s shares increase. Saverin renounced his citizenship around September and he lives in Singapore, according to his spokesman, Tom Goodman. Saverin, 30, was part of ... Continue reading →
Enlarge image OWS Protest Student Debt Occupy Wall Street protesters demonstrate against student loan dept reaching $1 trillion on April 25, 2012 in New York. Occupy Wall Street protesters demonstrate against student loan dept reaching $1 trillion on April 25, 2012 in New York. Photographer: Scott Houston/Corbis Enlarge image OWS Protest Student Debt Occupy Wall Street protesters burn a Sallie Mae envelope during a demonstration against the rise of student loan debt reaching $1 trillion. Occupy Wall Street protesters burn a Sallie Mae envelope during a demonstration against the rise of student loan debt reaching $1 trillion. Photographer: Scott Houston/Corbis Enlarge image ECMC CEO Richard Boyle Educational Credit Management Corp. via Bloomberg Richard Boyle, chief executive officer of Educational Credit Management Corp. (ECMC). Richard Boyle, ... Continue reading →
