Consumer Loans

Provident Bankshares Corp.'s profit rose 14.2 percent in the third quarter, propelled by strong demand for consumer loans and banking products, the company said yesterday.Provident made $11.3 million in the quarter that ended Sept. 30, compared with $9.9 million for the corresponding period in 1998. The year-ago figure was boosted by $1.6 million in net securities gains.The company made 43 cents per diluted share, up 16 percent from the prior year. The results beat analysts' estimates by a penny, according to Zacks Investment Research, which surveyed five analysts who follow the company.

IF YOUR company, town or organization doesn't have a credit union, now is the time to start looking around.Most credit unions offer their members superior deals -- higher rates on savings than banks provide, and lower rates on consumer loans. Congress has just passed a law that will make it easier for people to join.Tens of millions of people are potentially eligible for membership, says Dan Mica, head of the industry's trade group, the Credit Union National Association.Credit unions are organized for groups of people with a common affiliation -- for example, employees of the same company or residents of the same rural district.

WASHINGTON -- The U.S. Office of Thrift Supervision is warning savings and loans about acquiring excessive concentrations of a certain type of home equity loans often used for debt consolidation.The agency, which regulates the nation's 1,200 savings and loans, warned about high loan-to-value mortgage loans, or "high-LTV" loans, which are mortgages that can approach or even exceed the value of the property they're borrowed on.Such loans, which can have first or second-liens on a home, typically are used to consolidate credit card, auto loan and other debt into a single monthly mortgage payment.

Provident Bankshares Corp. reported a 21.7 percent increase in fourth-quarter earnings yesterday, driven by strong demand for consumer loans and fees generated by its brokerage business and customer accounts.The Baltimore-based banking company earned $6.2 million, or 70 cents a share, in the three months ended Dec. 31, compared with earnings of $5.1 million, or 59 cents a share, during the comparable period in 1995.The fourth-quarter performance beat analysts' estimates of 68 cents a share.

NationsBank Corp., the rapidly growing mega-bank with operations in Baltimore, said yesterday that earnings rose 22 percent in 1996, backed by growth in consumer loans and investment banking services.NationsBank earned a record $2.375 billion in 1996, or $8 a share, compared with earnings of $1.950 billion, or $7.13 a share for all of 1995.Fourth quarter earnings jumped 24 percent to a record $632 million, or $2.19 a share, compared with $510 million, or $1.87 a share, for the same period the previous year.

A surge in consumer loans and income from checking account products pushed Provident Bankshares Corp.'s earnings up 41 percent in the fourth quarter, the company said yesterday.Provident earned $5.1 million in the fourth quarter and $18 million for the full year -- a 44 percent gain over 1994.On a per-share basis, Provident made 61 cents for the quarter and $2.20 for the year, compared with 45 cents and $1.72 respectively in 1994."It has been an upward trend," said James R. Wallis, Provident's chief financial officer, referring to the once-troubled company's turnaround, which began in 1990.

Provident Bankshares Corp.'s earnings soared 23 percent in the third quarter as the company racked up gains in consumer loans and fees from services.Provident earned $5.9 million for the third quarter ended Sept. 30, or 67 cents a share, compared with $4.8 million, or 56 cents a share, for the same time a year ago."It is the best quarter we have ever had," said James R. Wallis, Provident's chief financial officer.The Baltimore-based banking company's earnings jumped 30 percent for the first nine months of the year to $16.8 million, or $1.92 a share, compared with earnings of $12.9 million, or $1.51 a share, in 1995, adjusting for a 5 percent stock dividend .Provident's stock closed yesterday at $34.75, down 50 cents.

NationsBank Corp.'s third-quarter earnings jumped to a record $625 million, an 18 percent increase from a year ago, as consumer loans surged and a strategy of putting more profitable credits on the books has taken hold, the company said yesterday.The Charlotte, N.C.-based bank earned $2.12 a share for the third quarter in 1996, compared with $1.95 for the same quarter a year ago, beating analysts' estimates."It was a good quarter, it came in on target," said George M. Salem, a banking analyst with New York-based Gerard Klauer Mattison & Co. "They are becoming more of a consumer and small corporate bank; that is where returns are higher."

Scores of banks across the country yesterday lowered the prime lending rate a quarter of a point, following the Federal Reserve's move on Tuesday to cut short-term interest rates.First Maryland Bancorp, Provident Bankshares Corp., NationsBank Corp. and Signet Banking Corp. were among area banks to trim the prime rate to 8.5 percent from 8.75 percent.The prime rate is a benchmark that banks use to set interest rates on business and some consumer loans. Its reduction could mean lower interest rates for business and consumer loans, including auto loans and some credit cards, said Christine Chmura, chief economist with Richmond-based Crestar Bank.

A sharp increase in consumer loans and higher income from banking products helped fuel a 41 percent increase in Provident Bankshares Corp.'s third-quarter earnings, the company said yesterday.Provident earned $4.8 million in the quarter ended Sept. 30, and $12.9 million for the first nine months of the year, up 45 percent from a year ago."We have come a long way in five years," said Carl W. Stearn, Provident's chairman and chief executive, who noted that 1990 was the last time the company lost money.

Credit markets for housing are loosening up a bit. Will automobile lending be next? Car dealers certainly hope so. Thanks partly to the decline in consumer spending power and partly to the evaporation of credit, 2008 was the worst year for auto sales in a very long time. Maryland dealers sold 16,842 new cars in November, down 38 percent from November 2007 and the worst result for any month in more than a decade. But dealers hope that federal bailouts will do for car loans what they're starting to do for home loans.

Burt Greenwood Jr.'s business is booming - not in spite of a dismal economy but because of it. His squadron of tow truck drivers can barely keep up with the orders to repossess cars and trucks of people who have fallen behind in their payments. "Our intake of new work is increasing like crazy because of the state of affairs economically," said Greenwood, chief executive officer of Greenwood Recovery, who estimates his volume at 40 percent higher than a year ago. That mirrors what appears to be happening statewide.

The payday-lending industry renewed its push yesterday to offer its services in Maryland, even as a Baltimore delegate, under fire from constituents, said he was withdrawing his sponsorship of legislation to allow the loans. Del. Talmadge Branch, who heads the Legislative Black Caucus, said he would pull his name from the bill after hearing from hundreds of Baltimore residents who decried payday loans as legalized loan-sharking. "If that's how they feel, that's what I'll do," said Branch, an East Baltimore Democrat.

National payday lending chains are eager to move into Maryland as the General Assembly considers exempting such businesses from a law that limits the interest rates allowed on consumer loans. If legislators approve the change, it will open the door for the chains to set up shop in Maryland and start making high-interest, short-term loans to consumers who are borrowing against their next paycheck. "They wouldn't be working this hard to get legislation if they didn't feel there was a good market in Maryland and didn't want to get into it," said Maxine Adler, an Annapolis lobbyist hired by a national association of payday lenders.

Trying to prod state regulators to crack down on payday lenders, a public interest group filed a complaint yesterday against 10 Baltimore businesses that it claims are violating Maryland's consumer loan laws. The group, Baltimoreans United in Leadership Development (BUILD), lodged the complaint with Maryland Commissioner of Financial Regulation Mary Louise Preis, whose agency oversees consumer loan businesses. Payday lenders make short-term, high-interest loans by accepting postdated checks from people who, in effect, borrow against their next paycheck.

Provident Bankshares Corp.'s profit rose 14.2 percent in the third quarter, propelled by strong demand for consumer loans and banking products, the company said yesterday.Provident made $11.3 million in the quarter that ended Sept. 30, compared with $9.9 million for the corresponding period in 1998. The year-ago figure was boosted by $1.6 million in net securities gains.The company made 43 cents per diluted share, up 16 percent from the prior year. The results beat analysts' estimates by a penny, according to Zacks Investment Research, which surveyed five analysts who follow the company.

IF YOUR company, town or organization doesn't have a credit union, now is the time to start looking around.Most credit unions offer their members superior deals -- higher rates on savings than banks provide, and lower rates on consumer loans. Congress has just passed a law that will make it easier for people to join.Tens of millions of people are potentially eligible for membership, says Dan Mica, head of the industry's trade group, the Credit Union National Association.Credit unions are organized for groups of people with a common affiliation -- for example, employees of the same company or residents of the same rural district.

WASHINGTON -- The U.S. Office of Thrift Supervision is warning savings and loans about acquiring excessive concentrations of a certain type of home equity loans often used for debt consolidation.The agency, which regulates the nation's 1,200 savings and loans, warned about high loan-to-value mortgage loans, or "high-LTV" loans, which are mortgages that can approach or even exceed the value of the property they're borrowed on.Such loans, which can have first or second-liens on a home, typically are used to consolidate credit card, auto loan and other debt into a single monthly mortgage payment.

Provident Bankshares Corp. reported a 21.7 percent increase in fourth-quarter earnings yesterday, driven by strong demand for consumer loans and fees generated by its brokerage business and customer accounts.The Baltimore-based banking company earned $6.2 million, or 70 cents a share, in the three months ended Dec. 31, compared with earnings of $5.1 million, or 59 cents a share, during the comparable period in 1995.The fourth-quarter performance beat analysts' estimates of 68 cents a share.

NationsBank Corp., the rapidly growing mega-bank with operations in Baltimore, said yesterday that earnings rose 22 percent in 1996, backed by growth in consumer loans and investment banking services.NationsBank earned a record $2.375 billion in 1996, or $8 a share, compared with earnings of $1.950 billion, or $7.13 a share for all of 1995.Fourth quarter earnings jumped 24 percent to a record $632 million, or $2.19 a share, compared with $510 million, or $1.87 a share, for the same period the previous year.