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British government takes controlling stake in Lloyds banking group

The British government has become the majority shareholder in Lloyds Banking Group PLC in exchange for insuring more than 260 billion pounds ($367 billion dollars) in toxic assets, the bank said Saturday.

The deal means the government’s stake in Britain’s third-largest bank will surge from 43.5 percent currently to at least 65 percent and possibly as high as 77 percent.

As a condition for the deal, Lloyds promised to increase lending — primarily to businesses — by 28 billion pounds ($39 billion) over the next two years.

Eric Daniels, the group’s chief executive, said in a statement that the deal “substantially reduces the risk profile of the group’s balance sheet. Our significantly enhanced capital position will ensure that the group can weather the severest of economic downturns and emerge strongly when the economy recovers.” Read more

Investors could get say at Madoff plea hearing

A person close to the case said Friday that Madoff is expected to plead guilty at a hearing next week to charges that he carried out the massive swindle. A federal judge issued an order inviting potential victims who wish to be heard at Thursday’s hearing to notify the court a day earlier.

Madoff, 70, is waiving his right to have a grand jury hear the government’s case against him, agreeing instead to be charged directly by prosecutors, a step defendants take when they are preparing to plead guilty in a case.

Madoff could enter a guilty or not guilty plea, depending on whether he has reached a plea deal with the government.

But a person close to the case, who spoke on condition of anonymity because the plea has not yet occurred, said Madoff was expected to plead guilty. Read more

IRS dumps private debt collectors, shifts pendulum

The Internal Revenue Service’s decision this week to quit using debt collectors to dun delinquent taxpayers was celebrated by public employee unions as a pendulum shift after watching the Bush administration often opt for private contractors over federal workers to deliver government services.

The IRS program was a small one, bringing in a little more than $80 million since its inception in 2006. But it represented an ideological toehold for conservatives who believe that private companies are more efficient than government agencies.

It was an ideology embraced by former President George W. Bush, who famously — and unsuccessfully — toyed with the idea of partially privatizing Social Security. Read more

How to Use Beneficial Finance to Resolve the Credit Hassles

May be it is impossible to balance two tasks at the same time. In exactly the same manner, a tenant will find it difficult to obtain financial aid when he is having serious credit issues such as CCJs, IVA, arrears, defaults, late payments etc. The only alternative in these circumstances lies in availing finances that will not only provide the monetary assistance, but also help the applicant to tackle the bad credit issues. This is why lenders in the loan market have formulated a beneficial financial scheme in the form of no credit check tenant loans.
The name itself connotes the fact that these loans are approved by the concerned lenders without any credit check. In fact, the inability of the applicant to pledge collateral too has been taken care of. These are primarily unsecured loans, wherein the borrower gets to access the finances without pledging any collateral. Since there is no collateral involved, the approval of the loans too come quickly as the processing of the loans is fast.

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