WASHINGTON?U.S. reinsurers reported a 90% combined ratio for the first half of 2007, compared with the 96.5% reported by a comparable group for the same period last year, according to a survey by the Washington-based Reinsurance Assn. of America. The 2007 first-half combined ratio of the 22...
CARSON CITY, Nev.?Nevada Gov. Jim Gibbons has asked the state attorney general to examine UnitedHealth Group Inc.?s proposed acquisition of Sierra Health Services Inc., a day after the transaction received approval from Nevada?s Division of Insurance. Minnetonka, Minn.-based UnitedHealth?s proposed...
While flipping through my Costco coupon book tonight, I noticed that Sharebuilder is running another promotion with Costco:
You can get a $70 or $90 Costco Cash card (depending on your membership level) after opening a new account and making one trade. They seem to be buckling down against people opening multiple accounts for bonuses, as it is now “one per unique account holder”. If you don’t have a Costco membership, there is also a similar bonus offering a $50 account credit.
Note: I just noticed in the fine print that you shouldn’t open the Costco-related account until 9/4, as that is when the promotion starts. How annoying, just like these post-dated Costco coupons…
Now, unless you really want to use Sharebuilder ...
LONDON?London-based THB Group P.L.C., the insurance brokerage and risk management group, has acquired Cardinus Ltd. of East Grinstead, England. THB will pay an initial consideration of £2.84 million ($5.71 million) for the entire issued share capital of the health and safety specialist....
The European insurance market has a stable outlook despite external influences including the weather-related events in Europe and the U.S. sub-prime credit market crisis, according to a report by New-York-based Moody?s Investors Service Inc. European insurers reported ratings stability and...
RIYADH, Saudi Arabia?Saudi Arabia?s insurance market saw significant growth in 2006 as gross premiums surged 35% to 6.9 billion Saudi riyals ($1.84 billion). Favorable economic conditions along with the introduction of compulsory motor and health insurance were the primary drivers of the...
WASHINGTON?A U.S. bankruptcy judge has approved a $449 million settlement agreement between Travelers Cos. Inc. and AcandS Inc. in connection with the insulation contractor?s asbestos-related claims against the insurer. Under terms of the settlement, St. Paul, Minn.-based Travelers will pay...
CLEVELAND?Ohio Attorney General Marc Dann has sued brokerage Marsh & McLennan Cos. Inc. and four major insurers, accusing them of conspiring to fix prices and engaging in anticompetitive business practices. Filed last week, the Cuyahoga County, Ohio, lawsuit names as defendants New York-based...
I got three e-mails with this same question yesterday! Mostly, people want to either participate in balance transfer arbitrage or grab a few new rewards cards.
To start off, we must realize that all credit scores are based on secret formulas, supposedly generated by supercomputers and mountains of data to accurately predict our creditworthiness. This results in companies like FICO never truly revealing the ingredients to the secret sauce, otherwise we could just do it ourselves and they’d have nothing to sell.
In other words, nobody truly knows the answer. Now, I have never read anything official that specifically listed “number of credit cards” as a negative factor in scoring. We can only examine what ...
CINCINNATI?Another federal appeals court has ruled that cash balance pension plans do not discriminate against older employees. In a decision handed down Monday, a three-judge panel of the 6th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals in Cincinnati unanimously upheld a lower court ruling last year that a...
