Washington – In a surprise move, Senate Republican leader Mitch McConnell on Tuesday proposed a “last choice option” to avoid default on the national debt that would require the support of just over a third of the House and Senate to raise the national debt ceiling.

The McConnell proposal, which requires special legislation to be adopted, gives the president expedited procedures to increase the debt limit by as much as $2.4 trillion that require only submission of a plan to reduce spending by a greater amount. There is no requirement that Congress actually pass those spending cuts.

But even if the cuts are never passed, the proposal has two political advantages for Republicans: It forces President Obama to lay out his proposed spending cuts in writing, a longtime GOP demand. And it absolves Republicans of responsibility for sending the nation into its first-ever default, as early as Aug.

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One of the first things most investors look for in a dividend stock is the current yield. You will commonly hear things like stock XYZ is yielding over 6% or stock ABC has a higher yield than its peers . While there is no doubt the dividend yield can be a useful factor in selecting the top dividend paying stocks, it is certainly not the most important.

There is actually a lesser known (but just as important) financial ratio that investors can use to screen dividend stocks. This financial calculation is called the dividend growth rate and can provide beneficial data for the investor. Lets take a look at both financial ratios and why calculating the growth rate is important.

The yield of a stock is a financial ratio which calculates the percentage paid out to shareholders in dividends compared to the current share price. This percentage represents an estimate of the return on investment an investor could expect in dividends. Read more…

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Regions Bank will now offer the Western Union global money transfer service and the Western Union expedited bill pay service across 1,700 of its branch locations in the U.S. As a Regions Bank accountholder, you can now send and receive domestic or international money transfers and make same-day payments conveniently and quickly to members of Western Unions growing Biller network. The services will be available later this year at Regions Bank branches in the 16 states the bank serves. Plans also include offering Western Union online services to Regions Bank online customers.

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We have recently seen some amazing credit card offers this summer and they just keep getting better. Discover has just launched a new offer starting today. They are now offering a version of the Discover Open Road Card with a $150 Restaurant.com Gift Certificate. You might remember the other version of this offer that came with a $75 Restaurant.com gift certificate. This new offer that is available starting on the July 1st that it will be running through July 24th. You can check out all the details below:

• Free $150 Restaurant.com Gift Certificate with first purchase
• 0% intro APR on purchases and balance transfers for 12 months, then the variable APR of 11.99% – 20.99%
• 5% Cashback Bonus on up to $300 in gas, hotel, theme park, and movie theater purchases now through September
• Plus, 2% automatically at any gas station and any restaurant all year long
• Ranked #1 in customer loyalty
• 24/7 access to a U.S.

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Individuals looking for employment often times have a number of hurdles to climb in order to land that new job. A number of employers believe using background checks and credit searches on applicants gives them a feel for if the applicant is honest and good at managing their daily lives. To many individuals, peering at one’s history with credit cards and loans however is going a step too far.

Employers should not assume that because a potential candidate for their company has a bad credit history they will then turn out to be a bad employee.In an effort to be sure that employers do not go too far in using credit history to screen each and every applicant, some states have been discussing and/or passing legislation to limit the reach of businesses.

As federal law reads, an employer is required to get written permission from an applicant to run a credit check.

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