La Jolla, CA (PRWEB) July 1, 2007 -- There is still time for procrastinators to consolidate their student loans before the clock strikes twelve on June 30, 2007. That's when interest rates on existing, variable-rate federal student loans will jump 0.08 percent (8 basis points) raising the rates from 6.54 percent to 6.62 percent.

Thanks to ScholarPoint's user friendly online application process that includes e-sign technology, recent grads can wait until 11:50 Saturday night to apply for a consolidation loan. "Although we don't recommend waiting that long, our innovative system allows borrowers to complete their application entirely online in under ten minutes 24 hours a day. ScholarPoint staff will also be on hand and ready to answer questions," said Chris Studer, President and CEO of ScholarPoint.

VTB 24 boosts small business loan portfolio

RBC, 24.07.2007, Moscow 17:04:38.VTB 24's small business loan portfolio has increased 53 percent since the start of the year to $1.2bn as of the end of June, the Russian bank said in a statement. VTB 24 provided 4,377 credits to small businesses, bringing their total number as of July 1 to 13,475, including 1,132 in Moscow, 842 in the Moscow region, and 11,501 in Russian regions. Between January and July, the bank opened 13 new small business credit outlets in the regions, raising their overall number to 83.

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Recovering From Bad Credit Scores

Have you experienced a bankruptcy? Maybe you have just had trouble paying certain bills on time for the last few months because you lost your job? There are many reasons you may have bad credit scores. The thing to remember is that these are not permanent credit scores. You can recover from having bad credit scores even if you have had a bankruptcy. It can take a little longer to recover from a bankruptcy bringing down your credit scores, but the fact that you can recover is very important.

Student loan bill would ease burden

THE Senate's work Thursday wasn't as attention-getting as its all-night session on reducing U.S. troops in Iraq, which grabbed the national spotlight. But it was vital nonetheless for helping students and their families afford a college education.

Senators spent most of the day debating amendments to a bill that would shift about $18 billion from student loan com-

panies toward financial aid. The House already has approved a bill that would cut excessive taxpayer-funded subsidies to lenders over five years.

The Senate's version is slightly different. But the premise is the same: putting money back in the hands of families to ease the burden of rising college costs.

That goal has drawn bipartisan support. The bill by Sen. Edward Kennedy, D-Mass., passed out of committee, 17-3.

ASK CLARK HOWARD

I was sitting in the dentist's chair last week, watching satellite TV to take my mind off the drilling, and noticed that in between scenes of the old "Naked Gun" movie, there were a lot of commercials.

US sub-prime loan crisis claims first victim

A German bank has become the first victim of the crisis in American high-risk mortgage lending - so-called sub-prime loans. IKB surprised the markets by announcing a profit-warning linked to problems in the US sub-prime market. The chief executive has gone, and its main shareholder has had to step in to shore-up IKB's credit-worthiness. Sam Stovall, the Chief investment strategist at Standard and Poor's Equity research said: "Investors are worried that there will be a bleeding effect from the decline in the sub-prime lending area that could work its way into other areas, either in mortgages or mortgage-backed securities etc. And a lot of the large cap (capitalised) banks as well as the investment banks have been dragged down because of that worry." Shares in Germany's Postbank, Hypo Real Estate, Commerzbank and Deutsche Bank all fell as investors' worried about just how deeply the lenders are involved with the complex US sub-prime market.