Will represent Antebellum home: Baton Rouge-based Wright Feigley Communications has been hired to lead the advertising and marketing campaign for Nottoway Plantation. The first ads, using the slogan “Every castle needs a queen,” have started appearing in regional publications, on billboards and on the radio. Wright Feigley says the goal is to reintroduce the plantation and its restaurants to customers in south Louisiana and beyond.
Fraud on the rise: Mortgage fraud, identity theft and employee-related financial crimes have increased during the recession, reports National Public Radio. A survey by Kroll, a risk consulting firm, found that 36% of senior corporate executives believe that the general risk of fraud has increased because of the recession. The economic downturn has made employees desperate and more open to illegal schemes. There’s one upside: it’s generally easier to catch financial fraud when economic times are bad, because companies and regulators are looking harder at the books. Read the full report here.
Record low: The national average for a 30-year fixed-rate mortgage hit 4.75% last week, the lowest point recorded by the Zillow Mortgage Rate Monitor since it was launched in April 2008. That’s down from the average of 4.84%, for the week ending Nov. 8. Fifteen-year fixed-rate mortgages also fell, to 4.25% from 4.29%. Zillow notes that rates continued to fall through Monday.
