BlueCross rated top Tennessee employer
For the fifth time in the past seven years, BlueCross BlueShield of Tennessee has earned a spot on Forbes’ list of America’s best large employers.
The Chattanooga-based health insurer, which employs 6,300 workers, ranked 27th out of 500 employers in the Forbes list and was the highest-ranked Tennessee company. The Tennessee BlueCross plan was the second-highest ranked insurance company and one of three Blue plans to make the 2022 ranking. The company has earned placement on several Forbes lists in recent years, including recognition as one of Tennessee’s top employers in 2021 and best employer for diversity in 2019, 2020 and 2021.
“We take pride in maintaining our organization’s culture as we adapt to meet the demands of a changing business environment,” Roy Vaughn, senior vice president and chief human resources officer at BlueCross, said in a statement Thursday.
The list is compiled by Forbes and market research firm Statista, who surveyed 60,000 Americans working for businesses with 1,000 or more employees.
Amazon settles feud over Visa card fees
Amazon.com Inc. has agreed to accept Visa Inc.’s cards across its global network, settling a feud that threatened to damage the financial giant’s business and disrupt e-commerce payments.
The agreement, announced by both companies, resolves a dispute that at one point spurred Amazon to consider a ban on U.K.-issued Visa credit cards. The retailer said it will no longer charge customers who use Visa cards on its site in Singapore and Australia an extra fee and won’t turn off Visa credit cards from amazon.co.uk.
Amazon had considered shifting its popular co-brand credit card to Mastercard Inc. The Amazon card is one of the industry’s largest co-branded portfolios, and the company used talks to renew the agreement as a way to secure better terms from Visa, according to people familiar with the matter.
Retailers have long balked at the fees they pay each time a consumer swipes a card at checkout. While it can amount to just pennies per purchase, that adds up: Merchants spent a whopping $110 billion in card-processing fees in 2020 alone.
Tesla investigated again over vehicle stops
U.S. auto safety regulators have launched another investigation of Tesla, this time tied to complaints that its cars can stop on roads for no apparent reason.
The government says it has 354 complaints from owners during the past nine months about “phantom braking” in Tesla Models 3 and Y. The probe covers an estimated 416,000 vehicles from the 2021 and 2022 model years.
No crashes or injuries were reported.
The vehicles are equipped with partially automated driver-assist features such as adaptive cruise control and autopilot, which allows them to automatically brake and steer within their lanes. Documents posted Thursday by the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration say the vehicles can unexpectedly brake at highway speeds.
“Complainants report that the rapid deceleration can occur without warning and often repeatedly during a single drive cycle,” the agency said.
Mortgage rates near 3-year high
Average long-term U.S. mortgage rates jumped again this week, approaching levels not seen since 2019.
The average rate on a 30-year loan reached 3.92%, up from 3.69% the previous week, mortgage buyer Freddie Mac reported Thursday. A year ago, the long-term rate was 2.81%.
The last time the 30-year rate was higher was in May of 2019, when it reached 3.99%.
The average rate on 15-year, fixed-rate mortgages, popular among those refinancing their homes, rose to 3.15% from 2.93% one week earlier. It stood at 2.21% a year ago. It last breached 3% in March of 2020, just as the pandemic was emerging in the U.S.
“As rates and house prices rise, affordability has become a substantial hurdle for potential homebuyers, especially as inflation threatens to place a strain on consumer budgets,” said Sam Khater, Freddie Mac’s chief economist.
Stock gains in 2021 boost 401(k) accounts
Wall Street’s blockbuster gains in 2021 helped pad savers’ retirement accounts, lifting the average balance on some popular investment plans to new highs.
The average 401(k) plan balance stood at $130,700 at the end of last year, up 7.6% from 2020, according to Fidelity Investments. The median balance, a better measure of the typical plan size, rose 2.1% to $28,600. The figures are based on a review of 20.4 million Fidelity accounts. About 60 million Americans actively participated in 401(k) plans at the end of the third quarter last year, according to the Investment Company Institute, an association representing investment funds.
The average balance for individual retirement accounts on Fidelity’s platform also climbed to a record-high $135,600 as of the fourth quarter of 2021, up 5.9% from a year earlier.
– Compiled by Dave Flessner