Bank of America's Industry-Leading Neighborhood Champions(R) Protected Mortgage(TM) Provides Security, Peace of Mind for Community Heroes and their Fa

Wounded Sheriff's Deputy Inspires the Bank to Act for Professions of Honor

CHARLOTTE, Aug. 8 /PRNewswire/ -- Bank of America today announced a mortgage program exclusively for police officers, firefighters, teachers and medical workers with an insurance feature that will repay all or a portion of their outstanding mortgage balance, up to $300,000, in the event of accidental death, permanent paralysis or dismemberment.

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Neighborhood Champions(R) Protected Mortgage(TM) includes an insurance benefit that provides a full or partial payoff of the mortgage loan in the event of a covered accidental death, paralysis or dismemberment. This industry-leading mortgage program is available to an estimated 16 million professionals, according to U.S. Census figures.

The significance of these loans extends well beyond protection coverage to basic housing affordability issues, according to Bank of America Consumer Real Estate and Insurance Services Group President Floyd Robinson. He says neighborhood champions are well deserving of these loans.

"Too many Americans in these professions of honor simply cannot find and afford quality housing, especially in metropolitan areas," says Robinson. "Neighborhood Champions Protected Mortgage not only helps these heroes realize the dream of homeownership, but also provides security and peace of mind should tragedy strike." Among the other advantages of Neighborhood Champions Protected Mortgage are the availability of 100 percent financing, competitive loan rates and flexibility on credit scores and credit histories.

The inspiration for Neighborhood Champions Protected Mortgage can be traced directly to Bank of America mortgage customer Adam Pierce, a 26-year- old Orange County, Florida, sheriff's deputy who was seriously wounded by a gunshot while on duty in 2005. Pierce recovered from his wounds but was unable to resume patrol duties. "Adam Pierce embodies what this loan program ought to do, and that is to protect these outstanding professionals," says Robinson, who was directly involved in the development of this innovative program.

"Law enforcement officers and firefighters face the danger everyday that we could be wounded or killed in an instant," Deputy Pierce says. "We understand those dangers and voluntarily put ourselves in harm's way. Neighborhood Champions Protected Mortgage and programs like this give us peace of mind that we would be covered should something happen to us."

Bank of America also has grandfathered more than 8,000 existing Neighborhood Champions borrowers into the program.

The insurance benefit, available in all states and Washington, D.C., provides an Accidental Death and Dismemberment insurance policy for the first two co-borrowers on the loan. All Neighborhood Champions protected mortgage loans, regardless of size, are eligible for insurance. The loan payoff will be based on the loan balance or $300,000, whichever is less, up to the policy maximum of $300,000. Moreover, borrowers do not have to qualify and receive coverage regardless of health status.

The availability of the Accidental Death and Dismemberment coverage is a significant enhancement to the program and is tied directly to concerns among workers in dangerous jobs, such as firefighters and law enforcement personnel, that injury or death on the job could jeopardize the financial stability of the family to keep their home. With low-to-no-down payment and credit guidelines combined, the program also makes it easier for these workers to realize the dream of homeownership.

Additionally, teachers, police officers, firefighters, medical workers and related occupations are eligible to receive a new rate discount on a Bank of America home equity line of credit or home equity loan. This special discount is only available by calling 1.888.870.9459.

    Highlights -- Neighborhood Champions Protected Mortgage program:

   -- The new feature of accidental death, dismemberment and paralysis
      insurance will cover the first two listed co-borrowers.

   -- All Neighborhood Champions Protected Mortgage loans, regardless of
      size, are eligible for the insurance.

   -- Insurance benefits are provided for covered accidental loss of life,
      limb, sight or hearing and include full or partial payoff of the loan,
      depending on the type of loss and the loan balance.

   -- The loan payoff will be based on the loan balance or $300,000,
      whichever is less, up to the policy maximum of $300,000.

   -- Insurance coverage also includes COBRA extension of up to $2,500 and
      adaptive home and vehicle coverage of up to $3,000.

   -- Insurance is provided by Minnesota Life Insurance Company.  In New
      York, insurance is provided by Securian Life Insurance Company, an
      affiliate of Minnesota Life Insurance Company.

   -- Insurance premiums paid by Bank of America may be taxable; customers
      should contact their tax advisor.

   -- Eligible borrowers include full time educational staff in primary,
      secondary schools, colleges and universities, and part time teachers;
      full time sworn officers and law enforcement employees; full time
      firefighters and fire department employees; full-time medical staff
      including nurses, nursing-pharmacy-dental assistants, medical
      technicians and employees of a hospital, nursing facility or doctor's
      office.

   -- Little or no down payment is needed from the borrowers own pocket.
      Gifts or other sources count toward the down payment.  Bottom line:
      this is ideal for workers with limited savings or assets.

   -- Flexible credit guidelines -- even for those without traditional credit
      histories.  We consider a wide range of credit scores.  A favorable 12
      month payment history (rent, three monthly bills) may be sufficient.

   -- Homebuyers in the designated occupations may apply for mortgage
      financing through the Neighborhood Champions Protected Mortgage
      Program, receive guidance about the process of financing a home or
      learn more about this exclusive program by:

         -- Contacting a national Bank of America mortgage loan officer at
            1.866.823.5446 or locate a local mortgage loan officer by calling
            1.800.344.9403

         -- Visiting our Web page, www.bankofamerica.com/loansandhomes

         -- Contacting a mortgage broker and ask for the Neighborhood
            Champions Protected Mortgage Program provided only by Bank of
            America

Bank of America is committed to help all borrowers achieve the dream of homeownership. In 2006, one in three home loans originated by Bank of America were for minority borrowers. More than one in five loans originated by Bank of America were for low- to moderate-income borrowers. The bank has earned Freddie Mac's Tier One Hall of Fame status, awarded for maintaining Freddie Mac's highest servicing performance rating for five consecutive years. Included in this rating is recognition of Bank of America's ability to prevent foreclosure for our customers experiencing financial difficulty.

About Bank of America

Bank of America is one of the world's largest financial institutions, serving individual consumers, small and middle market businesses and large corporations with a full range of banking, investing, asset management and other financial and risk-management products and services. The company provides unmatched convenience in the United States, serving more than 57 million consumer and small business relationships with more than 5,700 retail banking offices, more than 17,000 ATMs and award-winning online banking with more than 22 million active users. Bank of America is the No. 1 overall Small Business Administration (SBA) lender in the United States and the No. 1 SBA lender to minority-owned small businesses. The company serves clients in 175 countries and has relationships with 98 percent of the U.S. Fortune 500 companies and 80 percent of the Fortune Global 500. Bank of America Corporation stock is listed on the New York Stock Exchange.

source : http://money.cnn.com/news/newsfeeds/articles/prnewswire/CLW018A08082007-1.htm

ROUNDUP - China central bank says inflationary pressures increasing

BEIJING (XFN-ASIA) - Inflationary pressures in China are increasing and may not ease in the short term, the central bank said in its second quarter monetary policy report.

The People's Bank (nasdaq: PBCT - news - people ) of China (PBOC) said the trend towards economic overheating is becoming more apparent, reiterating the government commitment to 'moderately tighten monetary policy.'

It noted the difficulties in bringing down meat and grain price inflation in the short term and said that it remains on guard to watch if food price inflation spills out into other consumer goods, as well as energy, resources and labor costs.

Meat, particularly pork, and grain prices drove consumer price inflation (CPI) in June to its highest level since September 2004 at 4.4 pct year-on-year.

Most economists expect July CPI, which will be announced on Monday, to top 5.0 pct.

The PBOC said it still maintains its aim to control inflationary expectations and keep prices 'basically stable.'

It also reiterated its pledge to keep the yuan exchange rate 'basically stable at a reasonable and balanced level,' and cited economic theory suggesting that currency appreciation is an effective anti-inflationary measure.

The report added that the trade surplus will remain high in the second half of the year.

China recorded a trade surplus of 112.53 bln usd for the first half, with the June surplus at 26.91 bln usd, the highest monthly level since 2006.

The PBOC added that protectionism is 'unhealthy' for the world economy, noting the various articles of currency legislation working their way through the US Congress.

The bank said it will strengthen liquidity management using tools such as more reserve requirement hikes.

It said it will also steadily expand the Qualified Domestic Institutional Investor (QDII) scheme, launched last year to facilitate capital outflows from the mainland.

The bank acknowledged that to curb the widening of its trade surplus, China needs to also increase demand and adjust preferential policies for foreign investment and market opening.

The National Bureau of Statistics is expected to begin releasing July economic data later this week, with the producer price index (PPI) due out on Friday.

Source : http://www.forbes.com/markets/feeds/afx/2007/08/08/afx3998341.html

Australian central bank raises benchmark rate to 10-year high

SYDNEY: Australia's central bank raised its benchmark interest rate a quarter point Wednesday to its highest level in almost 11 years, and analysts said more increases were on the way.

The governor of the Reserve Bank of Australia, Glenn Stevens, raised the overnight cash rate target to 6.5 percent, the first adjustment since November, to curb an inflation rate running faster than he had forecast and to cool the biggest surge in lending since 1989.

Financial markets are already pricing in another move to 6.75 percent within the next six months.

Central banks globally are battling to curb inflation as booming world economic growth forces food and commodity prices up. England, Canada, New Zealand and South Korea all raised interest rates in the past month. The European Central Bank president, Jean-Claude Trichet, said last week that he might raise the benchmark rate from 4 percent next month.

"We see a still above-trend global growth, high commodity prices, easier fiscal policy, an ongoing investment boom and a rural recovery delivering 4 percent economic growth," said Scott Haslem, chief economist at UBS.

"At this point, we think the risks remain to the higher side and this underpins our expectation that a further hike at some point beyond August is a better than even bet," he added.

Investors seemed to agree, with interest rate futures pricing in around 28 basis points of tightening over the next 12 months, according to Credit Suisse.

Some were cautious, in case the squeeze in global credit markets took a toll on economic activity.

"I'm a little torn, seeing the domestic factors auguring strongly in favor of further rate increases, and the mess in the U.S. credit market suggesting the global economy may be in for a good bucketing," said Matthew Johnson, senior economist at ICAP.

The International Monetary Fund has played down the threat of a U.S. credit crunch crippling the world economy.

The fund raised its global growth forecast to 5.2 percent for 2007 and 2008, from its previous prediction of 4.9 percent for both years.

The rate move Wednesday will cost borrowers an extra 40 Australian dollars, or $34, per month on the average mortgage of 235,000 dollars, according to the Canberra-based Housing Industry Association.

The increase leaves consumers facing the highest borrowing costs since Prime Minister John Howard came to power in 1996.

Howard is behind in opinion polls, with an election due this year; the consumer price index is due on Oct. 24, but it is quite possible that the formal election campaign will be under way then, and the reserve bank has said it would be reluctant to move during the actual campaign.

Glenn Maguire, chief Asia economist for Société Générale, thinks the index could jump by 1.1 percent in the third quarter and add to pressure for a tightening.

"The RBA is now faced with a very real dilemma of the inflation fundamentals demanding a further rate hike in the midst of a federal election campaign where that decision will be highly politicized," said Maguire.

Source : http://www.iht.com/articles/2007/08/08/business/rates.php

Bank of England Signals Another Rate Increase Needed (Update4)

By Brian Swint

Mervyn King, the governor of the Bank of England.

Aug. 8 (Bloomberg) -- The Bank of England indicated it will have to raise the benchmark interest rate once more as record oil costs and rising food prices keep inflation above its target for the next two years.

The inflation rate will stay above the 2 percent goal until 2009, the central bank said in its quarterly inflation report today. The forecasts assume policy makers will raise the Bank Rate a quarter-point from the current 5.75 percent by the first quarter of next year.

The pound rose as investors increased bets that the central bank will raise the key rate beyond 6 percent in 2008. Inflation, which has exceeded the target for 14 months, may hold above the goal as the British economy grows this year at the fastest pace since 2004.

``Indicators of pricing and capacity pressures remain particularly important,'' Governor Mervyn King said at a press conference in London. ``If they do not fall back, that would be consistent with the upside risks to inflation crystallizing.''

The pound, which climbed to a 26-year high of $2.0654 on July 24, rose to $2.0389 at 2:50 p.m. in London.

King and policy makers around the world are keeping their focus on inflation even after a financial-market rout sparked by the U.S. subprime mortgage crisis prompted some economists to speculate they would take steps to safeguard growth.

`Predominant Risk'

The Fed, which yesterday kept its benchmark at 5.25 percent, said inflation is ``the predominant risk'' facing the economy, rebuffing calls for a more balanced take that may have presaged a rate cut. Australia's bank today raised its benchmark to an 11- year high of 6.25 percent and European Central Bank President Jean-Claude Trichet on Aug. 2 signaled the ECB would raise its main rate by a quarter point to 4.25 percent next month.

The U.K. benchmark is the highest among the Group of Seven countries. The rate is 4.5 percent in Canada and 0.5 percent in Japan.

The Bank of England has lifted borrowing costs five times in the past year, and interest rate futures suggest the Bank Rate may rise to 6 percent by 2008. The implied rate on the December contract rose 0.07 percentage point today to 6.23 percent, while the March contract was at 6.25 percent, as of 2:50 p.m.

The contract settles to the three-month London interbank offered rate for the pound, which averaged about 15 basis points more than the central bank benchmark for the past decade.

Growth Forecast

``The bank appears to be leaving the door at least slightly ajar as regards another two rate hikes from here,'' said Richard McGuire, an economist at RBC Capital Markets.

The bank said its projection for economic growth was ``somewhat weaker'' than in May, when it forecast gross domestic product to expand an annual 2.8 percent in the second quarter of 2009. Charts published today suggest that growth may touch about 2.5 percent. The expansion will be slower than it previously estimated because of the rate increases, the forecasts show.

Britain's economy grew 3 percent from a year ago in both of the first two quarters of this year, stronger than most economists had forecast. In May, the bank expected growth to average 3 percent in 2008 and 2.8 percent in 2009.

``We are not convinced that a further increase in rates is necessary, as such a move would cause damage,' said David Kern, economic adviser to the British Chambers of Commerce, a business lobby group.

Risks `Diminished'

While ``upside risks'' to inflation have ``diminished somewhat,'' the bank pushed back by about a year the date when inflation will drop below the 2 percent target.

``The scope for further upwards pressure on commodity prices, the limited margin of spare capacity and the continued elevation of some measures of inflation expectations and pricing intentions mean that the balance of risks'' to inflation ``is judged to be slightly on the upside,'' the central bank said.

The Bank of England is weighing the risks to inflation as gains in commodity costs and faster domestic economic growth push prices higher. At the same time, turmoil in global credit markets has increased the cost of borrowing for companies while consumers are shouldering record debts.

The Standard & Poor's 500 Index posted its biggest monthly decline in three years in July and in the U.K., the benchmark FTSE 100 index has fallen 4.5 percent since July 16.

If the bank declines to move the key rate to 6 percent, inflation is unlikely to return to target, the forecasts show. The bank releases minutes of the Aug. 2 meeting in a week.

Inflation slowed to 2.4 percent in June, down from a decade high of 3.1 percent in March, the government said July 17.

Crude oil prices rose to a record $78.77 a barrel on Aug. 1. An outbreak of foot-and-mouth disease in English cattle may also drive up food prices in the next few months, adding to inflation pressures, economists at BNP Paribas in London said yesterday.

Source : http://www.bloomberg.com/apps/news?pid=20601087&sid=a.tjf.ZGe99E&refer=home