The first two provisions of the Credit Card Accountability, Responsibility, and Disclosure (“CARD”) Act of 2009 went into effect Thursday, August 20, 2009.  The CARD Act is designed to protect consumers from unfair and deceptive practices by credit card companies. 

“We may be seeing the beginning of the end of the recession,” President Barack Obama said yesterday in Raleigh.  Indeed, parts of the country are starting to experience some economic stability, according to the latest figures issued by the Federal Reserve, but the Fifth District of Virginia, North Carolina and  South Carolina remains weak. 

From the Triangle Business Journal, an update to our previous news on regional bank BB&T:  BB&T Corp. will pay $3.1 billion to buy back preferred stock sold to the federal government, marking the Winston-Salem banking giant’s exit from the Troubled Asset Relief Program (“TARP”).

Bloomberg reports that Magna International Inc., Canada’s largest auto-parts supplier, is in talks with General Motors Corp. about acquiring the Saturn brand as the automaker shrinks operations, people familiar with the discussions said.

MAKE THE MOST OF TROUBLED TIMES.   After serving on a recent panel with three local entrepreneurs at our local American Marketing Association luncheon. I thought some of the themes and ideas that were discussed at that lunch belong on this blog, because I firmly believe that small businesses, privately owned businesses,  – businesses started, [...]

President Obama and Treasury Secretary Timothy Geitner announced Monday that $15 billion of the Troubled Asset Relief Program (TARP) will be committed to the Small Business Administration (SBA) so that the government can purchase SBA-backed loans from the banks that have originated them. The SBA FAQ is here. SBA lending has crashed with all other [...]