GEICO INSURANCE

GEICO The Government Employees Insurance Company is an American auto insurance company headquartered in Chevy Chase, Maryland. It is the second largest auto insurer in the United States, after State Farm.It is a wholly owned subsidiary of Berkshire Hathaway that as of 2014 provided coverage for more than 22 million motor vehicles owned by more than 14 million policy holders. GEICO writes private passenger automobile insurance in all 50 U.S. states and the District of Columbia. GEICO sells its policies through local agents, called GEICO Field Representatives, and over the phone directly to the consumer, and through their website. Its mascot is a Gold dust day gecko with a Cockney accent, voiced by English actor Jake Wood. GEICO is well known in popular culture for its advertising, having made a large number of commercials intended to amuse viewers.

GEICO was founded in 1936 by Leo Goodwin Sr. and his wife Lillian Goodwin to provide auto insurance directly to federal government employees and their families.Since 1925, Goodwin had worked for USAA, an insurer which specialized in insuring only military personnel; he decided to start his own company after rising as far as a civilian could go in USAA's military-dominated hierarchy. Based on Goodwin's experience at USAA, GEICO's original business model was predicated on the assumption that federal employees as a group would constitute a less risky and more financially stable pool of insureds, as opposed to the general public. Despite the presence of the word "government" in its name, GEICO has always been a private corporation not affiliated with any government organization.

In 1937, the Goodwins relocated Advertising campaigns

Main article: GEICO advertising campaigns

GEICO has many well-known ad campaigns. In 2012 GEICO spent over $1.1 billion in advertising, or 6.8% of its revenue. All are made and produced by The Martin Agency, which is based in Richmond, Virginia. GEICO ads have featured several well-known mascots, including:

Martin, The GEICO Gecko is the most prevalent spokesperson mascot and speaks with a Cockney accent.

The GEICO Cavemen (from ads claiming using their website is "so easy, a caveman could do it").

Maxwell, the GEICO "Piggy" who shouts a long "Whee" and appears in more radio and TV commercials.

Actor Mike McGlone, who uses film noir-style narration to compare the ease of GEICO to things, famous people, or idioms. ("Could switching to GEICO really save you 15% or more on car insurance?...Is having a snowball fight with pitching great Randy Johnson a bad idea?") The scene is then acted out, with typically humorous results. In addition to Johnson, other ads have included Charlie Daniels, Andrés Cantor, Foghorn Leghorn, Elmer Fudd, R. Lee Ermey, and Ed "Too Tall" Jones among others, including Maxwell the Piggy.

The "money savers" campaign enlisted actors to portray average consumers who have resorted to various humorous extremes in order to save money, such as teaching a dog to sing or teaching a group of Guinea pigs to row a boat and perform some mundane task for the consumer, and then presented switching to GEICO as an easy alternative to such endeavors with the common line ".... there's an easier way to save money."

The "Happier Than...." duo features Jimmy (actor Timothy Ryan Cole) and Ronnie (musician Alex Harvey) playing a guitar and a mandolin, respectively, on a small portable stage. They comment on a fictitious preceding event, such as a man dressed in 15th century attire laughing as he leads a trio of speed boats with the painted names Nina, Pinta, and Santa Maria. After cutting to the duo, one says to the other "You know, folks who save hundreds of dollars by switching to GEICO sure are happy." The other then replied, "How happy are they, (Jimmy/Ronnie)?" and in the case above, the response is "Happier than Christopher Columbus with speedboats!"

CASH, the stack of cash that represents the money you could have saved by switching to GEICO.

There are also GEICO ads that feature stories from GEICO customers about situations in which the company assisted them, but are translated by celebrities like Little Richard and Joan Rivers. Film trailer announcer Don LaFontaine appeared in one such ad, shortly before his death. The tag announcer for these spots was D.C. Douglas. GEICO is also an official sponsor of the National Hockey League and themed commercials for that always feature members of the hometown Washington Capitals. GEICO from San Antonio, Texas to Washington, D.C. and reincorporated the company as a D.C. corporation after realizing that their business model would work best in the place with the highest concentration of federal employees

An important figure in GEICO's history is David Lloyd Kreeger, who became president of the company in 1964 and helped steer it into a major insurance enterprise.In 1948, he formed a group of investors who bought into GEICO right before it went public that year. He became senior vice president and general counsel of the company. Six years after becoming president of GEICO in 1964, he was named chairman and chief executive officer. He retained those titles until he retired in 1975. He continued as chairman of the executive committee until 1979, when he was named honorary chairman

Mortgage Insurance

Mortgage Insurance (also known as mortgage guarantee and home-loan insurance) is an insurance policy which compensates lenders or investors for losses due to the default of a mortgage loan. Mortgage insurance can be either public or private depending upon the insurer. The policy is also known as a mortgage indemnity guarantee (MIG), particularly in the UK.

Private Mortgage Insurance

Private mortgage insurance, or PMI, is typically required with most conventional (non government backed) mortgage programs when the down payment or equity position is less than 20% of the property value. In other words, if you're purchasing or refinancing a home with a conventional mortgage, if the loan-to-value (LTV) is greater than 80% (meaning you have less than a 20% equity position), it's a good bet you'll be required to carry private mortgage insurance.

PMI rates can range from 0.32% to 1.20% of the principal balance per year based on percent of the loan insured, LTV, a fixed or variable interest rate structure, and credit score.The rates may be paid in a single lump sum, annually, monthly, or in some combination of the two (split premiums). Most people pay PMI in 12 monthly installments as part of the mortgage payment.

In the United States, PMI payments by the borrower were tax-deductible until 2010.

Borrower paid private mortgage insurance, or BPMI, is the most common type of PMI in today's mortgage lending marketplace. BPMI allows borrowers to obtain a mortgage without having to provide 20% down payment, by covering the lender for the added risk of a high loan-to-value (LTV) mortgage. The US Homeowners Protection Act of 1998 allows for borrowers to request PMI cancellation when the amount owed is reduced to a certain level. The Act requires cancellation of borrower-paid mortgage insurance when a certain date is reached. This date is when the loan is scheduled to reach 78% of the original appraised value or sales price is reached, whichever is less, based on the original amortization schedule for fixed-rate loans and the current amortization schedule for adjustable-rate mortgages. BPMI can, under certain circumstances, be cancelled earlier by the servicer ordering a new appraisal showing that the loan balance is less than 80% of the home's value due to appreciation. This generally requires at least two years of on-time payments. Each investor's LTV requirements for PMI cancellation differ based on the age of the loan and current or original occupancy of the home. While the Act applies only to single family primary residences at closing, the investors Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac allow mortgage servicers to follow the same rules for secondary residences. Investment properties typically require lower LTVs.

There is a growing trend for BPMI to be used with the Fannie Mae 3% downpayment program. In some cases, the Lender is giving the borrower a credit to cover the cost of BPMI.

Lender Paid Private Mortgage Insurance: Lender paid private mortgage insurance, or LPMI, is similar to BPMI except that it is paid by the lender and built into the interest rate of the mortgage. LPMI is usually a feature of loans that claim not to require Mortgage Insurance for high LTV loans. The advantage of LPMI is that the total monthly mortgage payment is often lower than a comparable loan with BPMI, but because it's built into the interest rate, you can't get rid of it when you reach an 20% equity position without refinancing.Mortgage insurance began in the United States in the 1880s, and the first law on it was passed in New York in 1904. The industry grew in response to the 1920s real estate bubble and was "entirely bankrupted" after the Great Depression. By 1933, no private mortgage insurance companies existed. The bankruptcy was related to the industry's involvement in "mortgage pools", an early practice similar to mortgage securitization. The federal government began insuring mortgages in 1934 through the Federal Housing Administration and Veteran's Administration, but after the Great Depression no private mortgage insurance was authorized in the United States until 1956, when Wisconsin passed a law allowing the first post-Depression insurer, Mortgage Guaranty Insurance Corporation, to be chartered. This was followed by a California law in 1961 which would become the standard for other states' mortgage insurance laws. Eventually the National Association of Insurance Commissioners created a model law.

Esurance Insurance

Esurance Insurance Services, Inc. is an American insurance company. It sells auto, home, motorcycle, and renters insurance direct to consumers online and by phone. Its primary competitors are other direct personal insurance writers, mainly GEICO and Progressive. Founded in 1999, the company was purchased by Allstate in 2011, and is now a wholly owned subsidiary of Allstate.

Esurance was founded in 1999, and became one of the first insurance companies to sell policies directly to consumers over the internet, instead of using in-person meetings or phone calls.

n 2000, Esurance was acquired by Folksamerica Holding Company, a subsidiary of White Mountains Insurance Group. Esurance, which is based out of San Francisco, had by that time expanded to offering policies in 24 states, but had also just laid off staff and was actively soliciting a purchaser

In 2004, Esurance began to offer multi-car discount packages to same-sex couples, by offering multi-car discounts to any group of people that lived together.The company claims to be one of the first insurers to have offered such packages to same-sex couples. 

In May 2011, Allstate announced that it was purchasing Esurance and rate-comparison site Answer Financial for approximately $1 billion. At the time, Esurance was selling policies in 30 states and was in the midst of a five-year growth period that saw them double the number of policies in force. Allstate, for its part, was losing policy holders to the three major online policy retailers; Esurance, Progressive, 

llstate's acquisition of Esurance was completed in October of that year. The combined company became the sixth-largest provider of auto insurance policies. In September 2012, White Mountains filed a lawsuit against Allstate alleging that Allstate failed to meet a deadline to produce a financial audit that was part of the sale, and that Allstate deducted $5.2 million in legal expenses from the value of the sale that they were not allowed to deduct by the terms of the agreement.

Marketing

Esurance's first television advertising campaign was launched five years after the company went live.The campaign was aimed at the 18 to 24-year-old male demographic, and had a budget of $60,000, a tiny fraction of the over $1 billion spent on advertisements within the insurance industry. The commercials featured an animated character named Erin Esurance, a pink-haired spy inspired by Sydney Bristow from the television show Alias. The character and campaign were initially well received, leading to over 30 separate advertisements featuring Erin, and a dramatic increase in brand awareness. However, by 2009 industry polling on corporate mascots found Erin had become unpopular with viewers; 30% of viewers found the character annoying - double the industry average - and was below industry average in sincerity and believably.Polling found Erin was less popular than even Microsoft's notorious Clippy character. Additionally, a large number of pornographic images featuring Erin were created, and in some cases sold, by fans of the character. The illustrations became so prevalent that when the character was searched for by name without mature content filters enabled, the vast majority of results were pornographic.

Esurance also markets itself heavily through sports teams and sporting events, where it casts itself as being more environmentally friendly than competitors. The company has sponsored a number of sporting events and teams, including the US Open tennis tournament, the Golden State Warriors, and the San Francisco GiantsIn 2010 Esurance launched a new advertising campaign designed by the firm Duncan/Channon. By this point the company had an advertising budget of $100 million. Set in a fictionalized version of the Esurance office, but featuring actual Esurance employees, the commercials emphasized both the company's high tech platform and the personal touches offered by speaking to employees. The campaign was a deliberate break from focusing the advertisements on the 18-24 male demographic

The new campaign was short lived; In December 2011, Esurance announced another new advertising campaign. It emphasized efficiency and positioned the company as "Insurance for the Modern World"; the target demographic was families and professionals in the 25-49 age group. John Krasinski narrated the commercials, which were developed by ad agency Leo Burnett.

U.S. Bancorp

U.S. Bancorp is an American diversified financial services holding company headquartered in Minneapolis, Minnesota. It is the parent company of U.S. Bank National Association, the seventh largest bank in the United States based on $416.0 billion in assets (as of September 30, 2015 per official FDIC data) and fourth largest in the US in total branches

U.S. Bank ranks as the fifth largest bank in the U.S. based on deposits, with $263.7B in deposits as of June 30, 2014. U.S. Bank's branch network serves 25 Midwestern and Western states with 3,151 banking offices and 5,001 ATMs.[citation needed] U.S. Bancorp offers regional consumer and business banking and wealth management services, national wholesale and trust services and global payments services to over 15.8 million customers. The company employs over 65,000 people, and services consumers ranging from investment services, credit cards, loans, and generalized banking.

U.S. Bank was formed during the 1990s through the acquisitions of several major regional banks in the West and Midwest. Those banks, in turn, had grown from the mergers of numerous smaller banks throughout the years. Since 1988 U.S. Bank has acquired or merged with over 50 banks. The U.S. Bank name first appeared as United States National Bank of Portland, established in Portland, Oregon in 1891; it changed its name to the United States National Bank of Oregon in 1964. In 1902, it merged with Ainsworth National Bank of Portland, but kept the U.S. National Bank name. The decision turned out to be advantageous for the bank, as a 1913 federal law prohibited other banks from using “United States” in their names from that time forward. U.S. National was among the first banks to form a bank holding company — called U.S. Bancorp, on September 9, 1968The central part of the franchise dates from 1864, with the formation of First National Bank of Minneapolis. In 1929, that bank merged with First National Bank of St. Paul (also formed in 1864) and several smaller Upper Midwest banks to form the First Bank Stock Corporation, which changed its name to First Bank System in 1968.

In the eastern part of the franchise, Farmers and Millers Bank in Milwaukee opened its doors in 1853, growing into the First National Bank of Milwaukee and eventually becoming First Wisconsin and ultimately Firstar. In Cincinnati, First National Bank of Cincinnati opened for business in 1863 under National Charter #24—the charter that U.S. Bancorp still operates under today, and one of the oldest active national bank charters in the nation. Despite having started up in the midst of the Civil War, First National Bank of Cincinnati would go on to survive many decades to grow into Star Bank.

These banks thrived as independent entities. As opportunities arose, each participated in in-market mergers and acquisitions during the early decades of the 20th century and in more widespread expansions during the 1980s and 1990s — including the 1993 transaction that brought Colorado National Bank in Denver into the First Bank System, and West One Bancorp of Boise, Idaho, coming into the original U.S. Bancorp in 1995..

In 1997, U.S. Bancorp merged into First Bank System. Although First Bank System was the surviving company and corporate headquarters stayed in Minneapolis, the merged bank took the U.S. Bancorp name. In the following years, U.S. Bancorp expanded into California by acquiring several small institutions.

In 1999, Firstar merged with Star Bank, and acquired Mercantile five months later. The present-day company was formed when Firstar bought U.S. Bancorp, a deal which closed on February 27, 2001. While Firstar was the surviving company, it changed its name to U.S. Bancorp and moved its headquarters to Minneapolis.

On December 13, 2001, two business lines of Firstar switched to the U.S. Bancorp name, the first name changes after the Firstar/U.S. Bancorp merger.

US Bank in Hudson, Ohio

On November 14, 2008, U.S. Bancorp received $6,599,000,000 from the Emergency Economic Stabilization Act in the form of a preferred stock and related warrants. On November 21, 2008 U.S. Bank purchased Downey Savings & Loan Assn FA from Downey Financial Corp and Pomona First Fed Bk & Tr (PFF) from PFF Bancorp Inc. (CA). At year-end 2008, U.S. Bancorp had total assets of $266 billion, and U.S. Bank was the 6th-largest commercial bank within the United States. On June 17, 2009, U.S. Bancorp redeemed the $6.6 billion of preferred stock and on July 15, 2009, it completed the purchase of a warrant held by the U.S. Treasury Department. This effectively concluded U.S. Bancorp’s participation in the Capital Purchase Program. It was among the first banks to repay the Troubled Asset Relief Program (TARP) funds.

The American Express

The American Express Company, also known as Amex, is an American multinational financial services corporation headquartered in Manhattan's Three World Financial Center in New York City, United States. Founded in 1850, it is one of the 30 components of the Dow Jones Industrial AverageThe company is best known for its credit card, charge card, and traveler's cheque businesses. Amex cards account for approximately 24% of the total dollar volume of credit card transactions in the US.

Early history

In 1850, American Express was started as an express mail business in Buffalo, New York. It was founded as a joint stock corporation by the merger of the express companies owned by Henry Wells (Wells & Company), William G. Fargo (Livingston, Fargo & Company), and John Warren Butterfield (Wells, Butterfield & Company, the successor earlier in 1850 of Butterfield, Wasson & Company).Wells and Fargo also started Wells Fargo & Co. in 1852 when Butterfield and other directors objected to the proposal that American Express extend its operations to California.

American Express initially established its headquarters in a building at the intersection of Jay Street and Hudson Street in what was later called the Tribeca section of Manhattan. For years it enjoyed a virtual monopoly on the movement of express shipments (goods, securities, currency, etc.) throughout New York State. In 1874, American Express moved its headquarters to 65 Broadway in what was becoming the Financial District of Manhattan, a location it was to retain through two buildings.

American Express buildings

In 1854, the American Express Co. purchased a lot on Vesey Street in New York City as the site for its stables. The company's first New York headquarters was an 1858 marble Italianate palazzo at 55–61 Hudson Street, which had a busy freight depot on the ground story with a spur line from the Hudson River Railroad. A stable was constructed in 1867, five blocks north at 4–8 Hubert Street.

The company prospered sufficiently that headquarters were moved in 1874 from the wholesale shipping district to the budding Financial District, and into rented offices in two five-story brownstone commercial buildings at 63 and 65 Broadway that were owned by the Harmony family.

In 1880, American Express built a new warehouse behind the Broadway Building at 46 Trinity Place. The designer is unknown, but it has a façade of brick arches that are redolent of pre-skyscraper New York. American Express has long been out of this building, but it still bears a terracotta seal with the American Express Eagle.

ten-story building by Edward H. Kendall on the site of its former headquarters on Hudson Street.

By 1903, the company had assets of some $28 million, second only to the National City Bank of New York among financial institutions in the city. To reflect this, the company purchased the Broadway buildings and site.

At the end of the Wells-Fargo reign in 1914, an aggressive new president, George Chadbourne Taylor (1868–1923), who had worked his way up through the company over the previous thirty years, decided to build a new headquarters. The old buildings, dubbed by the New York Times as "among the ancient landmarks" of lower Broadway, were inadequate for such a rapidly expanding concern. After some delays due to the war in Europe, the 21-story neo-classical American Express Co. Building was constructed in 1916–17 to the design of James L. Aspinwall, of the firm of Renwick, Aspinwall & Tucker, the successor to the architectural practice of the eminent James Renwick, Jr.. The building consolidated the two lots of the former buildings with a single address: 65 Broadway. This building was part of the "Express Row" section of lower Broadway at the time. The building completed the continuous masonry wall of its block-front and assisted in transforming Broadway into the "canyon" of neo-classical masonry office towers familiar to this day.American Express extended its reach nationwide by arranging affiliations with other express companies (including Wells Fargo – the replacement for the two former companies that merged to form American Express), railroads, and steamship companies.

Financial services

In 1882, American Express started its expansion in the area of financial services by launching a money order business to compete with the United States Post Office's money orders.

Sometime between 1888 and 1890, J. C. Fargo took a trip to Europe and returned frustrated and infuriated. Despite the fact that he was president of American Express and that he carried with him traditional letters of credit, he found it difficult to obtain cash anywhere except in major cities. Fargo went to Marcellus Flemming Berry and asked him to create a better solution than the letter of credit. Berry introduced the American Express Traveler's Cheque which was launched in 1891 in denominations of $10, $20, $50, and $100.

Traveler's cheques established American Express as a truly international company. In 1914, at the onset of World War I, American Express in Europe was among the few companies to honor the letters of credit (issued by various banks) held by Americans in Europe, because other financial institutions refused to assist these stranded travelers.

Capital One Bank

Capital One Capital One Financial Corporation is an American bank holding company specializing in credit cards, home loans, auto loans, banking and savings products. When measured in terms of total assets and deposits, Capital One is the eighth-largest bank holding company in the United States. As of 2012, The bank has 963 Capital One Bank Branches  ncluding 10 café style locations for their Capital One 360 brand On July 27, 1994, Richmond, Virginia-based Signet Financial Corp announced the spin off of its credit card division, OakStone Financial, naming Richard Fairbank as CEO (Signet Banking Corp is now part of Wells Fargo). Signet renamed the subsidiary Capital One in October of that year. The spinoff was concluded February 28, 1995, making Capital One fully independent. Unlike other diversified financial services firms, Capital One began as a "monoline", meaning the vast majority of its business was in consumer lending, particularly credit cards. Remaining a monoline is risky, as it can be very profitable industry in good times, and markedly unprofitable in bad. Most consumer-lending monolines in the past twenty years have either gone out of business (e.g., The Money Store, NextCard, Royal Acceptance) or have been acquired (e.g., MBNA, Beneficial, First USA)Capital One is notable for having experienced neither. 

Capital One Auto Finance

Capital One Auto Financial Corporation is the parent company of Capital One Auto Finance Company, based in Plano, Texas The company includes Summit Acceptance Corporation, which Capital One acquired in July 1998, and PeopleFirst Finance LLC, which was acquired in October 2001. The companies were combined and rebranded as Capital One Auto Finance Corporation in 2003. As of 2012, Capital One Auto Finance is the largest Internet auto lender, as well as one of the top US auto lenders overall.

The company, which previously sold auto loans only through direct mail and auto dealerships, lets auto owners refinance existing auto loans and shoppers apply for new auto loans online. A decision usually comes within 15 minutes, after which the buyer receives a "blank check" for up to the approved auto loan amount, which the buyer uses to purchase a car. To the dealership, it is as if the buyer were paying cash. The checks can be used to purchase a new or used vehicle, or to refinance an existing auto loan with another lender.

CapitalOne 360

CapitalOne 360 is an online banking division of Capital One. The division originated in a separate company, ING Direct, which was founded in 2000 in Wilmington, Delaware as a brand for a branchless direct bank. In September 2007, ING Direct acquired 104,000 customers and FDIC insured assets from the failed virtual bank NetBank.Two months later, ING Direct acquired online stock broker Sharebuilder.Since 2001, Capital One has been the principal sponsor of the college football Florida Citrus Bowl, rebranding it the Capital One Bowl in 2003. It sponsors a mascot challenge every year, announcing the winner on the day of the Capital One Bowl. Capital One is one of the top three sponsors of the NCAA, paying an estimated $35 million annually in exchange for advertising and access to consumer data.

wo months later, ING Direct acquired online stock broker Sharebuilder.

In June 2011, Capital One Financial Corporation purchased ING Direct USA from its Netherlands based parent, ING Group, paying US$9 billion (€6.3 billion). The sale was completed on June 16, 2011 with the CEO of ING Group at that time Jan Hommen saying the sale "marks a further important step in the restructuring of ING Group. Yet at the same time we are saying goodbye to a very successful business and a dedicated teamFollowing the acquisition, ING direct was rebranded.