YHOO: Yahoo! Launches Personal Finance Website

Yahoo! (NASDAQ:YHOO) launched a new personal finance website, which brings together the Internet's most useful tools and information to help consumers manage their personal finances. Yahoo! Personal Finance (http://finance.yahoo.com/personal-finance) offers consumers a suite of new financial centers, covering every major area of personal finance, ranging from "Banking & Budgeting" to "Retirement." The site continues the company's media strategy of bringing together the best tools and information around a particular topic from the industry's leading providers, while also expanding advertising inventory in one of the largest advertising categories.

"The goal of Yahoo! Finance has always been to help our users make informed financial decisions, and now we're able to do that across every aspect of their financial lives," said Peggy White, general manager, Yahoo! Finance. "Not all of our users manage an investment portfolio, but we all manage a checkbook. This presents a huge opportunity for Yahoo! Finance to expand beyond our core investing-focused offerings."

Yahoo! Finance has already established itself as the Internet's number one destination for investing tools and information, and aims to expand its audience size and engagement with the addition of a new personal finance home.

The new Yahoo! Personal Finance features include:

-- Nine resource centers covering every major area of personal finance, ranging from "Banking and Budgeting" where users will receive helpful information on their daily finances, to a "Taxes" resource center that provides the tools and information consumers need for tax planning. Additional resource centers include: Career & Work, College & Education, Family & Home, Insurance, Loans, Real Estate, and Retirement.

-- Twenty-five premier content providers, including CNNMoney.com, Consumer Reports, Kiplinger, The Motley Fool, Smart Money, and The Wall Street Journal.

-- Forty-eight original "How To" guides on a wide range of important financial topics, such as "Plan for the Cost of College" and "Budgeting for a Baby."

-- Sixty-six new financial calculators within different financial areas to help consumers estimate everything from "What would my loan payments be?" to "How much will I need to save for retirement?".

-- Integration of Yahoo! Answers, featuring editorially-selected user generated questions and answers about a variety of financial topics.

-- Advice columns from Yahoo! Finance's 13 financial experts who provide advice exclusive to Yahoo!, including a new career advice column, "The Brazen Careerist," written by author Penelope Trunk.

-- A new personal finance glossary from Lightbulb Press, a leading financial literacy publisher.

New Advertising Opportunities

Yahoo! Personal Finance extends Yahoo!'s platform for advertisers who want to reach consumers as they are considering or researching important life decisions. Yahoo! Finance is already a leading destination for marketers across different advertising categories, and expanding into personal finance will help create new opportunities and increase the engagement of the site's current audience.

The site's charter advertisers for the launch of Yahoo! Personal Finance include E*TRADE FINANCIAL, LendingTree.com, Intuit TurboTax, Progressive Direct, and Quicken Loans.

GE: GE Money and C-Thru Collaborate on Consumer Finance Program

GE Money’s Sales Finance unit today announced a new multi-year agreement for consumer financing with C-Thru Industries. GE's PROJECTLINE PlusSM and PROJECTLOANSM programs will be available to homeowners for the purchase of C-Thru's line of outdoor living spaces, including sunrooms, conservatories and patio enclosures.

Available February 1 through authorized C-Thru dealers, the programs provide both installment and revolving lines of credit, flexible terms, an easy application process and fast funding decisions. Contractors and dealers also receive comprehensive customer service, partner training and marketing expertise and materials.

"More home improvement plans involve financing and our experience in the home improvement industry offers C-Thru an added advantage," said Bruce Christensen, vice president and general manager of GE Money’s home improvement industry division. "Having a financing program is foundational to a manufacturer’s marketing strategy and we look forward to helping them grow their business through this program."

Over the past 15 years, GE Money’s home improvement division has been an industry leader, providing more than $13 billion in home improvement financing to nearly half a million homeowners. Several thousand home improvement contractors nationwide offer GE financing to their customers.

C-Thru Industries, founded in 1947 and based in Riverside, Calif., sells through authorized dealers throughout the U.S. They have led the pioneering effort behind products such as the aluminum patio cover, patio room enclosure, integrated electrical raceway systems and sunrooms.

"We are pleased to partner with GE Money and excited about the possibilities this program offers our customers," explained Mike Leigh, sales manager of C-Thru Industries. "We believe in offering products that meet a variety of styles and needs, and this new financing option complements our product line and business philosophy."

ABOUT C-THRU INDUSTRIES

C-Thru Industries, Inc. (formerly known as C-Thru Aluminum Awning Company) was founded by Stanley J. Albany in 1947. In the 1950s, C-Thru led the pioneering effort in producing such items as the structural aluminum patio cover, the patio room enclosure, safe integrated electrical raceway systems and the finest sunroom in the industry. Today, C-Thru Industries has established itself as a world-class manufacturer of sunrooms, conservatories and patio enclosures. Almost 60 years of experience have resulted in a product that is beautiful, durable and appreciated by customers. C-Thru products are distributed through a nationwide network of authorized dealers. Visit www.c-thru.com to learn more.

ABOUT GE MONEY AND SALES FINANCE

Sales Finance, based in Kettering, Ohio, is part of GE Money, formerly GE Consumer Finance. The Sales Finance division provides private label credit card programs, marketing, installment lending and financial services for national and regional retailers, dealers, manufacturers and service providers in more than 20 industries including: home improvement, furniture, sporting goods, powersports, outdoor power equipment, automotive, recreational vehicles, consumer electronics and appliances, floor covering, marine, music, jewelry, and health care.

With $163 billion in assets, GE Money, a unit of General Electric Company (NYSE: GE), is a leading provider of credit services to consumers, retailers and auto dealers in approximately 50 countries. GE Money, based in Stamford, Conn., offers a range of financial products, including private label credit cards, personal loans, bank cards, auto loans and leases, mortgages, corporate travel and purchasing cards, debt consolidation and home equity loans and credit insurance. More information can be found online at www.gemoney.com