Aight, let’s hear it Greenie!
How was L3 brah?
Sounds like two different questions. I’ll tackle the L3 somwhere else.
Well, at the bank, I got to meet a lot of interesting people.
There was a guy who had been displaced by Katrina. He came in with a FEMA check for about $90k (and I know his house was worth nowhere near that much). He opened an account, and depoisted it. A few months later, he comes in, sporting new tattoos and gold teeth. And no–this was not an isolated incident.
Most of the people who came in after Katrina were this way. As part of the “profiling” we were supposed to do (to sell them as many bank products as we could), we were supposed to ask about their job. Many (being the vast majority) of them said they had no job. I asked, “Well, I know you don’t have a job now, but what did you do back in New Orleans?”
They replied. “Nothing.”
This piqued my curiosity. “Well, how did you afford to live? You had to make money somehow, right?”
And they would respond, “I don’t know. When I turned 18, the government started sending me a check, so I never needed to get a job”
Unbelievable.
Similarly, there was a guy who comes in, wearing clothes that look like they came from Gangstaz R-Us (read–shorts that cost about $150, and three pairs of underwear all showing), lots of ice in his ear, and I had no idea what he was driving. He asks me, “I need to borrow some money. I need to buy diapers and food for my kids.” Of course, I said, “No problem! Sit down and fill out an application!!!” Turns out he has no job, no income, no assets, and no desire to get a job or acquire assets. I’m kinda curious as to how he planned to pay back the loan.
^ ah the stories of where portions of my tax dollars go. I’m not sure who to hate more, the leeches living off the system or the morons who built the system.
Then there was a guy who came in once, asking me how we could defray the late payment on his mortgage. It turns out that his $1600/month mortgage is due on the first, and he pays it every single month on the 30th, some 30 days late. It never goes on his credit report as being late, because it has to be OVER 30 days late, and he always pays it before then. However, it still incurs a $50/month late fee.
Well, I “profile” this guy, and figure out that he and his wife make $200k per year (which is good money in San Antonio), and he doesn’t have enough money to make ONE extra $1800 payment to get caught up. I pretend to call our mortgage company, then tell him, “Sorry sir, there’s nothing we can do. You’ll just have to make an extra payment to get caught up, if you want to avoid the late fee.” He says “Thank you,” and walks out.
A few months later, he comes in (very excited) because his wife had just inherited about $12,000 from an uncle (or something like that). However, it’s in the form of paper certificates, and he needs us to send it to our back office so it can get converted into “electronic” shares, so he can trade it. I tell him, “It’s gonna take 6-8 weeks before it gets converted into shares and reflected in your account.”
He responds, “Is there any way to expedite it? We’re planning on going on vacation in about three weeks and we could really use that money to defray expenses.” [I don’t remember what I told him, but I probably feigned interested and pretended to call someone.]
As he was getting ready to leave, I asked him if he ever made the extra $1800 payment, so he didn’t incur $600 worth of late fees every year. He says, “Nope. I just pay the fee. I’ll get caught up on it someday.”
Unbelievable.
I knew there was nobody on the other end of the phone you d1ck. Just so you know, I came in the next day while you were at lunch and pissed in your coffee cup.
Then there was the lady who came in, saying, “I need to send my daughter to school.” Her daughter wanted to major in physical therapy, and had gotten accepted to Florida State (or was it Florida? I can’t remember).
I advised her that her best option was the federal Stafford loans, because they’re subsidized, and I was fiduciarilly-bound to try to get her to apply for those before a private loan. She said that she had already applied for those and was denied. (Really? Denied for Stafford?)
So I told her that she could apply for a private education loan. We filled out the application, and sure enough–it was denied (didn’t tell me why). So I told her that she could apply for a home-equity loan. (This was 2006–everybody was encouraged to apply for a second mortgage or home equity loan or something.)
She went on and on about her home. It was 5,000+ square feet, in one of the “old-money” neighborhoods. Granite countertops. Hard wood floors. Hot tub+pool+outdoor kitchen. Four car garage. Etc, etc. And she could afford it–between her and her husband they made about $350k per year. And apparently her credit was so bad, the bank wouldn’t even loan her money for a home equity loan. (Her credit score was about 520.)
I told her, “Maybe you can rethink sending your daughter to school in Florida. I mean, Texas A&M has a really good physical therapy program, and it will costs about a quarter of what it costs to go to Florida (since you’ll have to pay out-of-state tuition).” The woman was completely intransigent. She said, “My daughter wants to go to Florida, so that’s where she’s going to go!” and stormed out.
Unbelievable. It’s not as if she had 18+ years to save money for an education–and was making $350k+. Zero savings. 520 credit score. And drove a $70,000 Lexus.
Believe it or not–stories like that were fairly common at the bank. People who made really good money and lived in really nice houses, and had absolutely no money. They had to borrow just to survive.
However, they usually had really nice cars and trucks and jet skis and stuff.
There was a guy who bought a $750,000 house (on credit), bought himself an Audi A8 (on credit), bought his wife a BMW 760IL (on credit), bought $200,000 worth of furniture (all on credit).
Then he put the rest of his $7 million in an irrevocable trust and declared bankruptcy, thereby defaulting on all his loans.
Unbelievable.
Don’t worry, your 401K will pay for their lifestyle soon enough.
I’d bet a crisp hundred he didn’t get away with it. Bankruptcy laws are pretty strict on the value of assets one can have.
Yah good point.
Even if he did “get away with it”, what’s the point? The house would be lost in foreclosure and the cars repo’ed. I suspect they repo furniture too if it was financed by the store. If he put on credit cards, I guess he would have a chance to keep it.
I don’t know all the bankruptcy laws. And I’m not sure if the court would “pierce the corporate veil” on this one. All I know is what I saw.
I think when you declare bankruptcy, you get to keep the house and one car for each driver. You probably also get to keep any furnitre deemed “necessary to survive”. .
http://www.thebankruptcysite.org/exemptions/texas.html
I just googled and found that. Seems there is a cap on the personal property you get to keep (makes sense). You’re capped at 12 head of cattle though. That part sucks.
Anyway back when I was a kid I went to school with a couple guys whose parents got into huge trouble with the Canadian version of the IRS. 7 figure back taxes, tons of seized property, the whole deal. They were part of a pretty wealthy extended family though and the grandparents and other family members went and bought back most of their possessions at the government auction. Interesting thing to watch happen, can’t say I’d ever want to deal with a situation like that though.
^ Holy Christ! I had no idea you got to keep so much stuff in bankruptcy, but it does appear that you actually have to keep making your mortgage payments to keep your house.
How the hell am I supposed to live on that?
I’m part of the one percent, but you wouldnt realize it by looking at me:
-I wear a $20 digital watch
-I have long hair that covers my eyes
-I recently bought a $20 pair of dress pants from TJ Maxx bc my @ss looks good in it
-My last pair of dress shoes cost $28. I bought it 2 years ago at Burlington and still wear it.
-I rarely take non-public transportation
-My winter coat has purple womens lipstick all over one sleeve
It’s the last one that gives you away…
Back in the day when I worked at the bank, I had this little old lady come in with her grandson who himself was probably in his late 20’s. Anyways she was totally broke and wanted to take a cash advance on her Visa. As an ethical stand I would always encourage customers to re-consider that decision unless it was an absolute emergency. She then let me know that she needed the cash to purchase a lottery ticket!!! My eyes started to darken as I could feel my brain exploding inside my head.
I followed by letting her know the interest rate she would be paying, not that she had any understanding of the matter. That was followed by me completing the transaction and being berated by both patrons beacuse the banks policies were sucking them dry…
Bi&%es be crazy…
As for iheartiheartmath, live a little would ya. god damn…
750K is a two bedroom apartment or a 2500sq ft house in a mediocre neighbourhood in the suburbs of the city where I live (suburban real estate is cheaper then the city) thats what I find unbelievable about this story.
The stupidity and short sightedness of human beings never surprises me.