Personal Finance

If you are afraid to ask for money, that's normal…

Reuters - Europe's biggest bank HSBC Holdings said its profit in the third quarter was ahead of a year earlier as growth in Asia helped offset almost $5 billion in bad debts on U.S. home loans and asset writedowns.

--- Reuters ...

Reuters - Europe's biggest bank, HSBC Holdings , said its profit in the third quarter was up from a year ago as growth in Asia helped offset more than $4 billion in bad debts on U.S. home loans.

--- Reuters ...

AP - Sales of passenger vehicles in India fell by 9.1 percent in October, as high interest rates and tight consumer credit took their toll on what had been one of the world's fastest growing automobile markets, according to the Society of Indian Automobile Manufacturers, an industry group.

--- AP ...

AP - Consumers boosted their borrowing in September, defying expectations for a cutback.

--- AP ...

Reuters - Consumer borrowing unexpectedly rose by $6.86 billion in September, resuming its upward march after falling in August for the first time in more than a decade, a Federal Reserve report showed on Friday.

--- Reuters ...

AP - Zsolt Kerecsen, a 34-year-old software developer with three kids and a mortgage, is no high roller. But like thousands of other middle-class Hungarians he gambled by borrowing to buy a home in Swiss francs.

--- AP ...

BusinessWeek Online - Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac were controversial for years before they fell into government conservatorship this year. But few people have considered the risks posed by the Federal Home Loan Bank System (FHLB), even though it occupies the same gray area between the public and private sectors.

--- BusinessWeek Online ...

AP - French insurer Axa SA said its revenue slipped 3.1 percent in the nine months to September 30 on a steep drop in sales of life insurance and savings products in the U.S. and Britain.

--- AP ...

AP - Britain's Barclays bank said Thursday it has bought the Italian residential mortgage business of Australia's Macquarie bank.

--- AP ...

AP - House prices in Britain fell at their fastest rate in five months in October, taking them back to levels they were at three years ago, the country's biggest mortgage lender said Thursday.

--- AP ...