NYC, NY, United States (AHN) – The rate for the 30 year fixed mortgage rate remained near 4 percent for the third consecutive week, according to Freddie Mac’s weekly survey.

Mortgage rates in general were little changed.

The 30-year fixed rate mortgage rate averaged 4 percent or the week ending Nov. 17, up slightly from 3.99 from the previous week, and below the 4.39 percent recorded a year earlier.

Rates on the 15 year fixed rate mortgages averaged 3.31 percent, up from 3.3 percent a week ago, and below the 3.67 percent recorded a year ago.

While the ailing housing market is showing some signs of life, mortgage rates are expected to stay low for an extended period.

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Toronto, Ontario, Canada (AHN) – A study released on Thursday identified the desired retirement age for the average Canadian worker at 63. The report by the Canadian Imperial Bank of Commerce said 37 percent of survey respondents cited that age as the time when they would likely have saved enough to permanently leave the workforce.

However, many of them upon nearing their target retirement age find they could not afford to retire because of insufficient savings and accumulated personal debts.

Although only 22 percent of the survey respondents said they would likely still have outstanding payables due when they reach their target retirement age, previous CIBC surveys showed that 54 percent actually still have some debts at that time, according to CIBC Executive Vice President Christina Kramer.

The discovery of financial insufficiency leads many employees to postpone retirement beyond their original target date or to cut expenses to stretch their income or future pension.

An International Monetary Fund study said that Canadian personal debt has surged by 30 percent since early 2009. It partly blamed mortgage payments that increased for many Canadian homeowners after Ottawa reduced the maximum amortization period to 30 years from 35 years.

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Washington, DC, United States (AHN) – A rising number of college graduates are filing for bankruptcy protection, says a study by the Institute for Financial Literacy scheduled for release on Tuesday.

In 2006, degree holders accounted for 11.2 percent of bankruptcy protection filers, the study found. By 2010, their proportion rose to 13.6 percent.

Similar trends were observed for holders of two-year associate degrees and graduate degrees. On the other end, high school diploma holders or college dropouts logged a decline in bankruptcy protection applications.

Leslie Linfield, executive director of the Institute, said the new trends challenged beliefs that an advanced education is almost a guarantee for economic success. Linfield said the recession indicated otherwise.

Bankruptcies in the U.S. dramatically rose after the 2008 financial crisis due to less consumer credit available after lenders tightened underwriting benchmarks and lowered loan limits.

Data from the Department of Education released on Monday showed that before students leave university some of them are defaulting on their student loans. For the fiscal year that ended on Sept 30, 2010, student loan defaults went up to 8.8 percent from 7 percent the previous year.

Financial difficulties faced by new graduates and students that led to the loan defaults were particularly felt among those enrolled at for-profit colleges and universities where the default rate in the first two years of payment zoomed to 15 percent from 11.6 percent.

For students enrolled in public educational institutions, the default rate climbed to 7.2 percent from 6 percent. At not-for-profit private institutions, the rate was 4.6 percent, up from 4 percent.

Deputy Education Secretary James Kvaal said there is a strong link between student default rates and joblessness rates..

The data supports an Institute for higher Education Policy study that found that for every borrower who defaults, there are two more who are behind in payments. Only 37 percent of borrowers who began to repay their student loans in 2005 managed to pay their loan fully and on time.

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Washington, DC, United States (AHN) – A rising number of college graduates are filing for bankruptcy protection, says a study by the Institute for Financial Literacy scheduled for release on Tuesday.

In 2006, degree holders accounted for 11.2 percent of bankruptcy protection filers, the study found. By 2010, their proportion rose to 13.6 percent.

Similar trends were observed for holders of two-year associate degrees and graduate degrees. On the other end, high school diploma holders or college dropouts logged a decline in bankruptcy protection applications.

Leslie Linfield, executive director of the Institute, said the new trends challenged beliefs that an advanced education is almost a guarantee for economic success. Linfield said the recession indicated otherwise.

Bankruptcies in the U.S. dramatically rose after the 2008 financial crisis due to less consumer credit available after lenders tightened underwriting benchmarks and lowered loan limits.

Data from the Department of Education released on Monday showed that before students leave university some of them are defaulting on their student loans. For the fiscal year that ended on Sept 30, 2010, student loan defaults went up to 8.8 percent from 7 percent the previous year.

Financial difficulties faced by new graduates and students that led to the loan defaults were particularly felt among those enrolled at for-profit colleges and universities where the default rate in the first two years of payment zoomed to 15 percent from 11.6 percent.

For students enrolled in public educational institutions, the default rate climbed to 7.2 percent from 6 percent. At not-for-profit private institutions, the rate was 4.6 percent, up from 4 percent.

Deputy Education Secretary James Kvaal said there is a strong link between student default rates and joblessness rates..

The data supports an Institute for higher Education Policy study that found that for every borrower who defaults, there are two more who are behind in payments. Only 37 percent of borrowers who began to repay their student loans in 2005 managed to pay their loan fully and on time.

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expects profit to jump more than 20 percent next year from this year’s record as the country’s biggest lender boosts corporate loans and issues more credit cards, chief executive

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London, England, United Kingdom (AHN) – The Bank of England is considering another round of fiscal stimulus after the pound dipped and interest rates suffered its largest drop in over 18 months on Wednesday.

Reports said the British central bank may order another round of quantitative easing – or the printing of electronic money. The move would boost money supply and improve the pound’s standing against other currencies.

Some of the nine-members of the Monetary Policy Committee of the Bank of England pushed for more stimulus action because of threats to the recovery of the British economy. The committee, in a 8-1 vote, opted to keep key lending rate at the record-low level of 0.5 percent and not to increase the bank’s $300 billion (200 billion pounds) quantitative easing program for the meantime.

On Wednesday, the business group CBI forecast that the Bank of England would hike benchmark interest rates later than previously anticipated. CBI foresaw key lending rates going up to 1.25 percent by the end of 2011.

CBI said Britain’s tentative recovery will be sustained, but with weaker levels of growth because of massive spending cuts by the coalition government.

Among CBI’s other major predictions are that inflation would remain above the Bank of England’s 2 percent target until 2011, exports would rise by 3.5 percent in 2010 and 6.4 percent in 2011 and unemployment would even grow to 2.62 million jobless Britons by end of next year.

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San Jose software maker Adobe Systems on Tuesday reported a $230.1 million profit for its most recent quarter, up 69 percent from a year earlier. Third-quarter revenue climbed 42 percent to a record $990.3 million.

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San Jose software maker Adobe Systems on Tuesday reported a $230.1 million profit for its most recent quarter, up 69 percent from a year earlier. Third-quarter revenue climbed 42 percent to a record $990.3 million.

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Washington, DC, United States (AHN) – Two-thirds of travelers are angered and surprised by hidden airlines fees, according to a survey conducted by a trio of travel agencies.

The Consumer Travel Alliance (CTA), Business Travel Coalition (BTC) and American Society of Travel Agents (ASTA) found the last minute fees that prompted anger included charges for services such as checked baggage, advance seating and priority boarding.

“As we come to the end of one of the busiest air travel periods of the year, millions of Americans are returning from their summer vacations tanned, rested, and mad as hell,” said Kevin Mitchell, chairman of the Business Travel Coalition. “They are tired of arriving at the airport and finding huge unexpected costs for travel services they thought were part of the ticket price.

Conducted over the two weeks before Labor Day, the survey of 1,396 travelers found:

Two-thirds (66 percent) of respondents said they had been surprised at the airport by unexpected fees for things such as checking bags, requesting a seat assignment, getting extra legroom, or flying standby.

Nearly a third (29 percent) said they were surprised often or nearly every time they travel via air by such fees.

Nearly two-thirds (65 percent) said such fees placed some or a great deal of unexpected financial strain on their budget for the trip, while more than a quarter (26 percent) said that those fees placed a great deal of unexpected strain.

— A nearly unanimous 99% of respondents said that they think airlines should be required to disclose all of their fees in advance on every website that sells airline tickets.

— When asked to rank the fees they found most annoying, respondents rated carry-on baggage fees the most annoying, with 91% calling those fees “very annoying,” followed by seat reservation fees (88% very

annoying), checked baggage fees (74%), and telephone reservation fees (67%).

Consumer travel advocates regard the hidden fees as a violation of a traveler’s most basic right- to know how much they will have to pay for their trip.

Charlie Leocha, President of the Consumer Travel Alliance. “When two out of every three air travelers say they have been surprised by hidden fees at the airport, you know the current system is broken and needs to be fixed. Airlines should have to share their fees with every traveler, through every ticketing channel in which they participate, to every point of sale.”

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