Posted on: August 30, 2011 by Mark Pelshak
BY CANDICE CHOI - AP PERSONAL FINANCE WRITER
NEW YORK — Several banks are waiving a variety of fees for customers hard hit by Hurricane Irene.
Chase says it will waive fees for customers in 13 states through Sunday. The waived fees include overdraft and out-of-network ATM fees on checking accounts and late fees for credit cards and mortgages.
The waivers apply to customers in Connecticut, Delaware, Maine, Maryland, Massachusetts, New Hampshire, New Jersey, New York, North Carolina, Pennsylvania, Rhode Island, Vermont and Virginia.
Wells Fargo says it will waive out-of-network ATM fees, as well as early withdrawal fees on certificates of deposits. Wells Fargo’s waivers last through Friday and apply only to customers in Connecticut, New Jersey and New York.
As a general practice, other banks – including Bank of America, Capital One, Citi and PNC Bank – say they waive fees on a case-by-case basis whenever customers are facing hardships as a result of natural disasters. They say customers should contact their local branches to explore possible account adjustments, such as lowered credit card interest rates.
Hurricane Irene left many areas up and down the East Coast besieged by floodwaters. On Tuesday, more than 2.5 million people from North Carolina to Maine were still without electricity and airlines said it would be days before thousands of stranded passengers find their way home.
Early estimates put Irene’s damage at $7 billion to $10 billion. By comparison, Hurricane Katrina caused more than $100 billion in damage.
Posted on: July 27, 2011 by Mark Pelshak
America’s Best Cities For Young Professionals
Jul. 12 2011 -
With the unemployment rate stuck above 9%, recent college graduates are facing fierce competition for white-collar work: More than 2 million college-educated workers 25 and older are unemployed, according to the Bureau of Labor Statistics.
But prospects are much brighter in some cities than others, most notably Des Moines, Iowa, which ranks No. 1 on our list of Best Cities For Young Professionals.
The Iowa state capital has a higher concentration of big businesses (1 for every 568 residents) than any other city we assessed, which equals more job opportunities. Financial services and insurance companies like Principal Financial Group and EMC Insurance Companies have long made their home in the corn-belt city, earning it the nickname “Hartford of the West.”
With business costs 16% below the national average, Des Moines has been attracting startups and companies relocating from the coasts, and a number of established companies in the area are expanding, like DuPont’s bioscience unit Pioneer Hi-Bred, which plans to hire an additional 500 employees over the next few years. As a result, Des Moines boasts a low 5.8% unemployment rate (sixth lowest of the 100 cities we studied) and healthy projected job growth rates of 0.97% in 2011 and 2.86% in 2012.
In Pictures: The 15 Best Cities For Young Professionals
“We’re encountering a lot of young individuals moving here from larger cities where it would take five or 10 years to ascend into positions, where here they are having opportunities given to them to move more quickly into their career paths.” says Mary Bontrager, vice president of workforce for the Greater Des Moines Partnership, a regional economic development organization.
The median salary for employed college graduates between the ages of 24 and 34 in the city is $47,200. That ranks only 42nd out of the 100 cities we screened for the list, but that salary goes further in Des Moines, where living costs are 8% lower than the national average, making it the 22nd least expensive city.
Behind The Numbers
To determine the best cities for young professionals, which we define as adults aged from 24 to 34 who hold a Bachelor’s degree or higher, we started with the 100 largest U.S. Metropolitan Statistical Areas (cities and the suburbs surrounding them) as defined by the U.S. Office of Management and Budget. We assessed these cities based on seven factors, weighting them evenly: local unemployment rates and 2010 to 2012 job growth projections provided by Moody’s Economy.com; Census Bureau data on the number of small businesses (defined as less than 500 employees) per capita, as well as the number of large businesses; the median salaries for 24- to 34-year-old employed college graduates, provided by PayScale.com; Moody’s cost-of living index, to gauge how far those paychecks will go; and the percentage of the population aged 25 and older with college degrees in the area.
In second place on our list: Raleigh, N.C. The college town turned boom town, which tops our Best Places for Business and Careers list this year, has the fourth best job growth outlook of the cities we studied (2% a year for 2010-12) and a 7.9% unemployment rate that’s well below the national average. With an abundance of colleges and universities in the area such as University of North Carolina and Duke University, and Research Triangle, a major center for high-tech and biotech research, more than 42% of the local population touts BA degrees, making it the most educated of the cities we looked at.
In Pictures: The 15 Best Cities For Young Professionals
Midwestern cities eclipsed many glitzier coastal competitors for top spots on our list. In addition to Des Moines, Madison, Wis., ranks third; billionaire Warren’s Buffett’s hometown of Omaha, Neb., is No. 5; and Minneapolis-St. Paul, Minn., is No. 10. All three tout low unemployment rates and a large college-educated demographic. The cost of living in each of these areas is around or below the national average, ensuring their young residents’ relatively high salaries go even farther. Healthy job growth is projected in all of these heartland hubs as well.
A few northeast metropolises cracked the top 15: hedge fund heavy Fairfield County, Conn. (No. 15); Portland, Maine (No. 6), which boasts the highest number of small businesses per capita of the cities we screened; government-town Washington, D.C. (No. 9); and the education and tech hub of Boston, Mass. (No. 12). No West Coast cities made the cut.
Posted on: February 27, 2011 by Mark Pelshak
Hello and thank you for visiting PremiereTriangleHomes.com – your #1 resource for the exceptional golfcourse, lakefront, estates, houses, townhomes, condos and vacant land properties in the Triangle area of North Carolina. This web site is designed to provide you with the latest real estate market information for the Triangle featuring the finest properties in Raleigh, Cary, Apex, Durham, Chapel Hill, Holly Springs, Wake Forest, Garner, Fuquay Varina, Morrisville, and Knightdale Real Estate.
PremiereTriangleHomes.com is not just about real estate listings – here you will find a wealth of useful real estate information for home buyers and sellers including such topics as How To Stop Paying Rent and own your ownhome, Seven Deadly Sins To Avoid When selling a home, Things To Know when buying your first home, 5 Secrets to Buying the Best House for your money, Top 10 Mistakes when financing real estate, How To Plan your next move, How to Get Top dollor for your home in any market.
Check out our exceptional real estate services on Thumbtack
Posted on: February 26, 2011 by Mark Pelshak
If you like exotic or non-traditional dining, food cooked with the freshest of ingredients, and décor that reminds you that you are not in your average cliché establishment then Unaabi Grill located at 914 Kildaire Road in Cary, North Carolina is for you.
The minute you walk into the door you are hit with such sensually tantalizing aromas that you almost want to bombard the kitchen and start ravaging. If you can hold back this temptation, you will be welcomed by a hospitable host who will show you to your seats. Your eyes will be treated to the interior decoration which is authentic Afghani.
If you like exotic or non-traditional dining, food cooked with the freshest of ingredients, and décor that reminds you that you are not in your average cliché establishment then Unaabi Grill located at 914 Kildaire Road in Cary, North Carolina is for you.
The minute you walk into the door you are hit with such sensually tantalizing aromas that you almost want to bombard the kitchen and start ravaging. If you can hold back this temptation, you will be welcomed by a hospitable host who will show you to your seats. Your eyes will be treated to the interior decoration which is authentic Afghani.
If you like exotic or non-traditional dining, food cooked with the freshest of ingredients, and décor that reminds you that you are not in your average cliché establishment then Unaabi Grill located at 914 Kildaire Road in Cary, North Carolina is for you.
Chat With an Agent Now!
Connect with me