[gokenin]

You can blame the Republicans for stalling when it comes to these "reforms" but please does anyone really think that the banking system can be fixed and that the banks will not make money off of "stupid"people? I think people need to be educated about what banks offer , overdraft protection is an unsecured short term loan that you have to pay a penalty on. Credit Cards are an unsecured short term loan that if you dont pay back the lender has every right to penalize you for. People have to be responsible for what they do with their finances

[Rupert]

You can blame the Republicans for stalling when it comes to these "reforms" but please does anyone really think that the banking system can be fixed and that the banks will not make money off of "stupid"people? I think people need to be educated about what banks offer , overdraft protection is an unsecured short term loan that you have to pay a penalty on. Credit Cards are an unsecured short term loan that if you dont pay back the lender has every right to penalize you for. People have to be responsible for what they do with their finances

And....it will never happen. Unfortunately, the saying "You can't fix stupid" is absolutely true. What we can do is to stop bailing out the stupid and those that get so greedy in their quest to use the "stupid" that they become stupid themselves. This is what happened to banking and brokerage houses, along with some like AIG that sought to maximize their huge profits with the new found gold mine of ignorant patrons looking to get a home they had no chance of ever owning.
Soon enough (if not already being done) banks will bundle their prospective "Fees" into packages for speculators and sell them to brokerage firms for resale, and start a new wave of false productivity for Fat Cats to rake in billions off of. It is never ending, but the taxpayer should not pay for these highly risky adventures when they belly up. We are no longer a nation of products manufactured, we are a country of speculators and schemers producing nothing but pending bankruptcies.
Regards!

[Nesster]

Would you lend money to someone like that?

well, here is where things broke down big time. Every step of the way had local incentives to make the bad decisions; greed overwhelmed ethics for each individual along the way.

We've talked about the borrowers - a long bull market and bubble inflation does that to people. It's very difficult to not want what 'everyone else' is getting.

Then there are the mortgage brokers, those snake-oil salesmen whose job and income depended directly on how much volume they booked. And, if you conveniently ignored your scruples, the money was easy. Plus, after all, it wasn't their problem if loans went bad, that was the mortgage company's problem.

The mortgage co also was making money hand over fist, usually with very little risk. They had their clients (investment banks, mortgage packagers, Fannie, Freddie) clamoring for product... and to increase the crop, they threw out lending standards. After all, if they didn't, there were dozens more who'd do this; plus anyway, bad loans were not their problem, that was the investment banks' to deal with...

The investment banks hired S&P to triple-A rate the bonds they created out of the underlying mortgages. Volume was so large S&P couldn't keep up... and anyhow, real estate was going up, had been for ever, so what could go wrong? Fees, ca-ching!

and so on... note that at every step of the way profits and fees were generated, erm, extracted, and the resulting financial products were extremely attractive (high prices) : AAA bonds yielding way above what other bonds did.

The thing here is the whole chain was leaking money, generating money, making money... literally: manufacturing money.

[jeffkrol]

You can blame the Republicans for stalling when it comes to these "reforms" but please does anyone really think that the banking system can be fixed and that the banks will not make money off of "stupid"people? I think people need to be educated about what banks offer , overdraft protection is an unsecured short term loan that you have to pay a penalty on. Credit Cards are an unsecured short term loan that if you dont pay back the lender has every right to penalize you for. People have to be responsible for what they do with their finances

The economy would literally collapse overnight if "stupid people" were fixed... greed and stupidity is the fuel of the Wall Street......
We are all a little stupid. I like to call it "Original Stupid". We are born with it...
I've bought stock that appeared "smart" but soon became "stupid".
If a mortgage lender says "don't tell me your income, I don't want to know".. who in fact is the more "stupid"?..... Of couse they can bundle "stupid" and pass it off to the next "stupid" person.... until someone gets "stuck with it".....
SURPRISE, your (me, you ect.) it.
I prefer to fix the problem, not spread FUD....
As to overdraft protection.... I have 2 accts.. and one is for bills the other "stuff"... I was remiss in transferrring from Peter to pay Paul causing a $5 overdraft. My bank hit me w/ a $45 fee (????).. big whoop at the time but it became principal since I had in fact plenty of money there, only not "THERE" .. so I argued my case and won (begrudgingly the bank dropped the fee) and she said "you can set up overdraft protection between the 2 accounts"."Great idea" I thought, "stupid" of me not to have done that in the first place.. Next month I decided to test it... .37 overdraft. Pd by secondary account. unfortunately the banker had failed to inform me (and I "stupidly didn't ask) but that tiny electronic service, untouched by human hands, cost me a mere $10. Didn't argue this one but it would have been more my right then the first.
Needless to say I was err.. annoyed since no mention of a fee for this service was EVER spoken...
Their fault or mine? Usually when you "sell" something you mention the "price".......... The stupid part was I was aware it would overdraft.

Just an example of the "field" we play on....
Sure are a lot of stupid people, they seem to outnumber us, and again a great "market" for the banks....
American banks could collect nearly $40 billion in customer fees this year, according to new industry estimates. And now some members of Congress say it's time to overhaul rules that govern these fees. Personal Finance Expert Alvin Hall discusses the budding congressional effort and what customers can do to avoid excessive fees.
http://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=113058225
BofA's revenue from service charges was $2.7 billion in the second quarter, up 7.7% from the first quarter. The company holds 12.2% of all U.S. deposits
http://online.wsj.com/article/SB124899068710295093.html
Again there is no incentive for banks to eliminate stupid......
and when stupid runs out they go for smart..... You should be grateful to stupid.. they keep your rates down...
stupid is global..........
State-owned NCB, which is slated for privatisation, made a net profit of 1.41 billion riyals ($377 million) in the quarter after 1.06 billion in the same period a year ago, it said in a statement on Monday.
Net lending income rose 3.8 percent, while banking fees ganied 3.1 percent, the bank said, without giving comparison figures.
http://www.reuters.com/article/idUSLDE63B0KV20100412
so instead of going for the roots.. "they" prefer you get angry at your neighbor....... makes there life more "profitable"...
Down under the unthinkable has happened...........
http://www.reuters.com/article/idUSLDE63B0KV20100412
Australia's second-largest bank, will reduce some of its banking fees, including on overdrawn accounts, taking a A$210 million ($176 million) hit on its cash earnings in fiscal 2010, the bank said on Monday.
The reductions, to take effect from Oct. 1, are expected to reduce revenue in the bank's fiscal 2010 by A$300 million, it said in a statement. ($1=1.196 Australian Dollar)
MY God man.... what are they doing?????????????? How "evil"......
Oh I see.......
Australian families are being hit with excessive bank fees that amount to more than $50 a week, new research has claimed.
A study by Australia Institute found that the total cost of fees on households of two people or more works out at an average of $53.20 per week, the Daily Telegraph reported.
In addition, the institute discovered that a worker on $50,000 a year, which is less than the national average wage of more than $60,000, is forced to contribute $28.85 a week towards bank profits
http://mozo.com.au/savings-accounts/articles/bank-fees-are-costing-families-...week-/19715570

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Last edited by jeffkrol; 04-13-2010 at 05:43 AM.

[seacapt]

. We are no longer a nation of products manufactured, we are a country of speculators and schemers producing nothing but pending bankruptcies.
Regards!

AMEN!!!!!!
We build little , we for the most part don't know how to repair things , , we train our kids to be data entry specialists-SECRETARIES , we buy disposable crap from China and India. In short we have become slaves to the "One World Econmy" pipe dream.