Noticed today that as a result of the Fair and Accurate Credit Transactions Act (FACTA) of 2003, consumers are entitled to a free credit report each year. I browsed the various credit reporting web sites, however, and all of them still charge a small fee. Apparently, this part of the law doesn’t go into effect … …
Government Rejects $1.6 Billion Loan Guarantee for United. An unexpected but excellent decision. The rejection was the second in 18 months for United, which is based outside Chicago. In December 2002, the Air Transportation Stabilization Board rejected United’s first request, for $1.8 billion in loan guarantees. That action sent the airline into bankruptcy.
RCN filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection yesterday. Looks like the bondholders get converted to new equity as expected. RCN’s stock is effectively worthless under the plan as proposed. Holders of RCN’s existing preferred stock and common stock will receive, on a basis to be determined, equity warrants that are exercisable into two percent of … …
Citigroup to Pay $2.65 Billion in Deal With WorldCom Investors. I’m not holding my breath for a big payment. 😉 Financial services giant Citigroup has agreed to pay $2.65 billion to settle class-action suits brought by investors who bought WorldCom Inc. securities before the telecommunications company’s bankruptcy filing in 2002. Finally gave BitTorrent a try … …
RCN says it anticipates filing for Chapter 11. Dunno how I missed this news. Incredibly, I was considering buying the 10% 2007 bonds (CC-rated) last year. The price is back to its Nov 2003 level, but the prospects don’t look great. It’d be just crazy to buy now. RCN Corp. said on Thursday that the … …
Bummer! As of April 15, 2004, we will no longer be offering Private Payments® from American Express. Private Payments Transaction History will continue to be available until May 1, 2004. Please use this time to print any necessary information from your Private Payments Transaction History. Finally tried out Banh Mi So 1 (Broome St. near … …
Oops, I goofed as the Roth IRA income limits are much higher than I had remembered. Unless your income is very high (over $110k single or $160k joint filing), Roth is a better choice than non-deductible traditional IRA. You can have both, but the total contribution can’t exceed the annual limit ($3k in 2003-04).
I relented and bought TurboTax Deluxe 2003 over the weekend since Best Buy offered a $10 gift card, which made it effectively the same price as TaxCut Deluxe. It also helped that Intuit promised to remove the activation technology from their software. While I have read a number of negative Amazon reviews, I had no … …
Just noticed this recently. According to the Amex site: Effective March 15th, 2004 significant changes to the Membership Rewards® program will be implemented. Point Transfers: For each transfer of points into the Frequent Flyer program of a US airline, a fee of $0.0004 per point, with a maximum fee of $50, will be charged to … …
Noticed this the other day while reading a prospectus for the Vanguard NY Long-Term Tax Exempt Fund. Interesting (Admiral class shares have a slightly lower expense ratio), but I won’t have to think about this for quite some time… [Tenure Conversions into Admiral Shares] Three-year privilege. After three years in the Fund, you may convert … …