(By Bruce Henderson, bhenderson@charlotteobserver.com) Duke Energy’s proposal for an overall 15 percent N.C. rate hike should be reduced to less than 5 percent, a key consumer advocacy agency said Tuesday. The N.C. Utilities Commission’s Public Staff, which represents consumers, recommended that Duke’s request for $646 million a year in new revenue be sliced to $211 million.
(By Kirsten Valle Pittman, kpittman@charlotteobserver.com) Bank of America Corp. has eliminated its planned $5 debit-card fee, backing down after more than a month of harsh criticism and mounting pressure as top competitors declined to follow suit with similar charges. Analysts say it was a necessary move that will chip away at some of the resentment against the nation’s second-largest bank by assets. But they say the about-face also highlights the Charlotte bank’s decreasing ability to lead other big banks – and raises more questions about chief executive Brian Moynihan’s credibility as the bank faces challenges on multiple fronts.
(By Ely Portillo, elyportillo@charlotteobserver.com) elyportillo@charlotteobserver.com A Charlotte couple has been ordered to pay $24 million in penalties and restitution stemming from a Ponzi scheme that targeted elderly investors, the U.S. Commodity Futures Trading Commission said Tuesday.
Lawrence Yun, chief economist for the National Association of Realtors, offered a flat prediction Tuesday: “We will not have another recession.” In remarks to the Charlotte Regional Realtor Association, he forecast “moderate” Gross Domestic Product expansion of 1.5 percent to 2.5 percent over the next two years.
(By Andrew Dunn, adunn@charlotteobserver.com) B& is growing. The Winston-Salem-based bank announced Tuesday that it is acquiring BankAtlantic, based in Fort Lauderdale, Fla., for about $301 million.
(By Arlene Satchell, (Fort Lauderdale) Sun Sentinel) Thanksgiving Day is approaching, and the longer you wait to buy plane tickets, the more you’ll pay, experts say. “Every day you don’t buy your ticket, add $5 to your online ticket,” said Rick Seaney, chief executive officer of travel website FareCompare.com .
(By Andrew Dunn, adunn@charlotteobserver.com) Potentially millions of homeowners who believe their mortgage servicers made mistakes or misrepresentations while foreclosing on them can get an independent review of their case. The reviews stem from a federal settlement in April, in which regulators ordered some two dozen lenders and subsidiaries to end questionable foreclosure practices such as “robo-signing.”
(By CLARKE CANFIELD, Associated Press) A litigation trust created for FairPoint Communications Inc. creditors is blaming Verizon Communications for FairPoint’s bankruptcy. In a $2 billion fraudulent transfer lawsuit filed in North Carolina last week, the FairPoint litigation trust claims FairPoint went bankrupt because of its “disastrous” $2.3 billion purchase of Verizon’s landline and Internet operations in Maine, New Hampshire and Vermont in 2008. FairPoint filed for bankruptcy 18 months after the acquisition.
(By LARRY NEUMEISTER, Associated Press) The federal government sued one of the nation’s largest privately held mortgage brokers on Tuesday, saying its decade-long fraudulent lending practices cost the government hundreds of millions of dollars and forced thousands of American homeowners to lose their homes. The lawsuit in U.S. District Court in Manhattan sought unspecified damages and civil penalties and named as defendants Houston-based Allied Home Mortgage Corp., founder Jim Hodge and Jeanne Stell, the company’s executive vice president and director of compliance.
(By PALLAVI GOGOI, AP Business Writer) Mike Mayo is at it again. Mayo is the Wall Street analyst who has been a thorn in the side of banks for years. Outspoken, blunt, volatile and prickly, the 48-year old has been ridiculed by his peers, shut out of industry conferences, and slighted by CEOs. In 2000 Mayo was fired from Credit Suisse months after he wrote a negative report that exhorted investors to sell all bank stocks.
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