Primerica Financial Services, Inc.Duluth, GA, United States

Government Aids Consumer Finance Firms - US government officials plan to lend as much as $200 billion to holders of securities backed by car loans, credit card loans, student loans, and loans guaranteed by the Small Business Administration. The government program is designed to make it easier to issue securities based on the loans, which in turn will enable consumer finance companies to sell loans and make new ones, according to The Wall Street Journal. The program is overseen by the Federal Reserve and is backed by $20 billion from the Troubled Asset Relief Program (TARP), the $700 billion bailout plan designed to stabilize the US financial system.

Credit Card Debt Forgiveness Plan Denied - The US Office of the Comptroller of the Currency (OCC) has rejected a proposal by groups representing lenders and consumers for a pilot program that would have allowed lenders to forgive as much as 40 percent of credit card debt. Uniting behind the proposal were the Financial Services Roundtable, which represents banks, brokerage firms, and insurance companies, and the Consumer Federation of America, a coalition of 300 consumer groups. The unlikely allies called for the OCC to authorize repayment plans that would reduce the principal owed by consumers who don't qualify for existing repayment plans. The OCC objected to a provision that would have allowed banks to defer reporting losses on the forgiven debt.

Credit Companies Share Blame for Auto Industry Woes - US monthly sales reported by automakers for October 2008 were the worst in 25 years, and industry experts say the car companies' financing affiliates are partly to blame. For example, General Motors, the hardest hit, was hindered by its financing arm, General Motors Acceptance Corp. (GMAC), which began restricting auto loans to buyers with credit scores of 700 or more; less than a third of GM's customers have a score that high. The financing arms of Ford, Toyota, and Honda, which have stronger credit ratings than GMAC, have been able to offer loans to more customers and thus help their parent companies perform better than the industry as a whole.