May 16
The lender that provided $9.5 million to convert 74 State in downtown Albany into a luxury boutique hotel wants to foreclose on the property.
CIT Lending Services Corp. claims the hotel owners defaulted on the debt, according to a lawsuit filed in state Supreme Court in Albany.
The hotel opened in early 2007 in a tall, slender office building downtown that had sat vacant for years.
It has been marketed as a high-end option for travelers, with plush accommodations, a piano bar and a restaurant that prepares dishes with organic and free-range meats.
Tags: 74 State, Albany
May 16
UMB Bank now has a direct way to tap into the market for affinity credit cards, an increasingly popular fund-raising tool for not-for-profit organizations.
UMB said May 10 that it bought New York City-based CardPartner Inc. from Serverside Group for an undisclosed amount. CardPartner helps organizations create free Affinity Visa Platinum Rewards credit cards to offer their membership. For every person who activates an account, the organization receives $50.
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Tags: Affinity Credit, Affinity Credit Cards, Cards, Credit Cards
May 16
Georgia — the nation’s leader in bank failures since August 2008 — sits atop another unfortunate gauge of misery for the industry.
According to an analysis by FIG Partners LLC of first-quarter financial reports, there are 331 banks with more than $100 million in assets in the U.S. that also have a Texas Ratio over 100.
Of those 331 banks, 69 (21 percent) of them are in Georgia; the most of any state in the union. The Peach State actually has 78 total banks with a Texas Ratio over 100, including those with assets south of $100 million.
Why does this matter? The ratio is a pretty effective measurement of which banks are grappling with the most credit issues.
Tags: Nation, Nation Texas