Right now, bankers nationwide are seeing a surge of the “You can’t trust your bank” scam. It’s everywhere. The other day on the Bogleheads.org forums, a gentleman posted about a family friend who fell for that scam. He was asking if there was any way to help the victim get their money back. (There wasn’t.) […]
For a while now, people have been encouraged to be practically obsessed with their credit score. Getting a high score. Keeping it high. Monitoring it on a regular basis. Even signing up for add-on credit score boosting services that want access to more and more of your personal information for the possibility of maybe manipulating […]
People expect that the money they keep in a bank will be safe. That is certainly a reasonable expectation. Bad news and frightening news always seem to get the most attention. But the good news — the reassuring news — is that today, in 2023, the American banking system is very strong and American banks […]
So much that gets reported these days seems to be clickbait … or nonsense. Take the “great resignation,” for one. Supposedly large numbers of people are resigning from their jobs because they’re tired of working, or something like that. It’s supposed to be a big, important trend. It gets a lot of media and social […]
The following article appears in the Canton Citizen’s 2023 Financial Fitness Guide. See this week’s edition for information and tips from local professionals on a wide range of financial topics, including asset protection, real estate, tax preparation, and much more. *** It was another tragic story about a local person who was talked into letting […]
A fellow local banker and I got talking about how local banks can often help borrowers who get into mortgage repayment difficulty if only the borrowers will come in and talk to us. That’s true. Many struggling borrowers do come in. Some don’t. But ignoring problems usually makes things worse. Or things can get dramatically […]
A fellow banker recently told me about a gentleman who stopped by his local bank to tell them he’d just realized that a person he thought he was doing business with was actually a scammer. As it so happens, the man was in shock. He was angry at the scammer and very upset with himself. […]
According to the Boston Globe, “An increasing number of people desperate to secure a place to rent are being duped out of thousands of dollars by online scammers.” The article caught my attention. The word “desperate” really jumped out. Scammers usually specialize in generating desperation. In fact, the bottom line of most scams is that […]
The Wall Street Journal recently reported on the “trial by fire” of Mike Novogratz, a Wall Street “star” who has been one of the biggest promoters of cryptocurrencies and, as the Journal said, “a cult figure for thousands of amateur investors who followed his appearances on television, social media and the conference circuit.” Mr. Novogratz […]
Anyone who is going to be buying a house right now should absolutely consider an adjustable rate mortgage. The key word in that sentence is “consider.” Until recently, fixed mortgage rates were so low that, for most buyers, locking in a fixed rate was going to be the way to go. The math would have […]
