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December 16, 2007
Supporting the people of Ghana
Funny things happen when people have too much free time on their hands. For example, this email exchange:
What: An opportunity to purchase super-premium, single-source Ghanaian chocolate to help save the lives of potentially hundreds of thousands of children in Ghana and the rest of Africa. 100% of the proceeds go directly to fund programs run by (charity), a New York based nonprofit operating in Ghana with a mission to reduce the incidence of roadside injury in developing nations around the world. How: Those who are interested in purchasing can either send an email to XXXX or place their order directly via the website at: XXXXX Each package of 3 three-ounce bars sells for $30 (half of which is tax deductible as a charitable donation). These make great gifts for the holidays!
To which someone hits "reply to all" with this note:
In some ways, i feel that i am already supporting the people of ghana. I am in constant email correspondence with the son of their former president, and i am helping him to access the frozen bank accounts that contain the billions in foreign aid he has squirreled away. However, since i stand to profit handsomely from this venture, i suppose i am in a position to give back. i will find you to discuss specific amounts but count me in.
Posted by adrianjo at 07:00 PM
December 10, 2007
My plan for solving the mortgage crisis
There’s been a lot said about the so-called housing and subprime loan crisis. I’ve not yet written about it much, but my mortgage is technically subprime. Although I’m a prime borrower, I have one of the 1.5% of subprime loans that went to prime borrowers in 2Q07. (To an underwriter, my application is thus “Alt-A”.) Now according to my state’s junior Senator, a robotic and conniving woman named Hillary, I’m surely a victim of a “predatory” lender and as a victim, I deserve something. Call it HillaryCare for Housing. And it would be just as much a disaster as the original HillaryCare for health care.
As an alleged victim, I thought I’d offer my support for the three-point plan offered by Michelle Malkin:
Suck. It. Up.
I’m a homeowner only because of the miracle of subprime mortgage financing (which dates back to the even greater miracle of junk bonds), easy credit, and investors who were willing to provide easy credit. I was fully aware of the risks, as was my bank, who went belly-up a mere 10 days after making me my loan.
The problem with HillaryCare, Barney Frank’s plan, and even the Bush plan is that all would make it harder for me to get a future mortgage or refi from what I have. They’d also make it harder for people in my situation – mid-20s with six figures of non-mortgage debt – to become homeowners. And that would depress prices when I go to sell.
The “rescue” plans so far would impose penalties on mortgage lenders and/or investors, destroy the sanctity of contracts (such as Hillary’s 5-year “freeze”), or cause outright elimination of certain products, like the mortgage product I have. If Senators like Hillary want folks with subprime loans to be able to refinance when necessary, they need to continue to make credit available. This means supporting a strong dollar, not raising the capital gains tax (as Hillary begrudgingly admitted to Maria Bartiromo this morning), privatizing Fan and Fred, and most importantly, not placing huge restrictions on the functioning of the mortgage market. Too often government's knee-jerk reaction is to regulate something to death. They've already done it with Sarbox, and we see the predictable result that financial business is fleeing from New York to London, Dubai, and Hong Kong.
The best thing for the housing market right now is for those who took bad risks to Suck. It. Up. Homeowners who can’t afford their houses will have to become renters again. Suck. It. Up. Lenders who made bad loans will have to decide whether for foreclose or make a workout. Suck. It. Up. Investors in securities will have to decide whether to let the special servicers renegotiate terms or take foreclosure losses. Suck. It. Up. All the rest of the people who made millions during the run-up can ride it down too. Suck. It. Up.
The worst thing that could happen is for a Sarbox-like “solution” from the government—like all the major proposals so far would be--that would further restrict the availability of subprime loans to people like me. Some 94% of subprime loans, incuding mine, are paid early or on-time. Given that, it's hard even to argue that there is any crisis at all. I’m old enough to make mortgage decisions for myself, I know a sucker bet when I see one, and the last thing I need is for Hillary to come with a heavy-handed “rescue.” Suck. It. Up. You too, Hillary.
Posted by adrianjo at 12:29 AM
Get hundreds of dollars back from Visa and Mastercard
For once I’m happy to see a lawsuit get a big settlement, $313M.
I remember sitting in the Bruxelles office on a lonely Friday night in 2004, tediously doing my expenses from a month of trips to Paris, when I realized that Citibank was converting my euro-based purchases at 0.8 euro to the dollar. At the time, the prevailing quoted exchange rate was 0.83, and the euro had never been as bad as 0.8. (Oh for the good old days of an only slightly-weak dollar!)
I called Citibank, who swore up and down that the exchange rate used was the prevailing interbank rate and that they added no markup. I later learned that Citibank was adding 2% and Visa was adding 1%, which was not disclosed. The customer service rep, her manager, and some other expert I talked to were either stupid or liars. I’ll give Citibank the benefit of the doubt. This is the bank that’s so uncoordinated that Citi Mortgage demanded I go to a Citibank and pay them $65 for cancelled checks that I then had to send to Citi Mortgage.
Anyway, the upshot of all this is that you can get all these fees, from 1996 to 2006, refunded. I figure that between visits to 66 countries over the course of almost 300 days abroad, I probably spent $30,000 on credit and ATM cards. With a 3% fee, that’s $900 I’m owed. Add it up for yourself and it might come to a nice chunk of change.
Visit www.ccfsettlement.com to file your claim.
Posted by adrianjo at 12:04 AM