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News Roundup
This is a roundup of news that I have come across during the day. Here you can read about SoFi becoming a national bank, returning Aussies paying for their hotel quarantine, Americans rapidly shrinking their credit card debt during pandemic, fewer Americans may get a second stimulus check and Robinhood installing bulletproof glass after frustrated traders kept showing up at its office.
SoFi wants to become a national bank
Fintech company SoFi has filed an application for a national bank charter with the Office of the Comptroller of the Currency (OCC. If granted, the move would allow SoFi to operate under one set of federal regulations, rather than 50 different state regulations. In addition to unifying regulatory operations, the charter would allow SoFi to lend money and accept deposits independent of the partner banks it currently works with, as well as offer more competitive interest rates for its suite of loans, checking and savings offerings.
Returning Aussies should pay for hotel quarantine: Finance Minister
Finance Minister Mathias Cormann has backed making Australians returning from overseas pay for their two-week hotel quarantine stay. Taxpayers have been picking up the bill for people’s stint in hotels since the regime was introduced to prevent the spread of coronavirus. “There is absolutely a strong argument that on an ongoing basis, as we need to continue to manage the risk of people bringing infections in from overseas, that that is managed at people’s own expense,” he told Sky News on Friday.
Americans are rapidly shrinking their credit card debt during the pandemic
Americans’ credit card debt is shrinking rapidly during the coronavirus recession. That’s a sharp contrast with the last two economic downturns. The amount of consumer revolving credit, which is mostly credit cards, plunged by another $24 billion in May, the Federal Reserve said Wednesday. This costly form of debt is down more than $100 billion since hitting a record high in February and is now below $1 trillion for the first time in nearly three years.
Fewer Americans may get a second stimulus check
The new proposal would send a stimulus check to people making $40,000 or less a year. The new threshold would dramatically reduce the number of Americans eligible for the checks. The first round of stimulus payments was authorized by Congress with the $2 trillion CARES Act. The stimulus checks amounted to about $300 billion of that spending. The U.S. government has sent about 160 million payments worth $269 billion, according to a June Government Accountability Office report.
Robinhood installed bulletproof glass after frustrated traders kept showing up at its office
Some traders have visited Robinhood’s headquarters in Menlo Park, Calif., in recent years to confront the staff about their losses, said four employees who witnessed the incidents. This year, they said, the start-up installed bulletproof glass at the front entrance.
