The banks are bruised and bleeding….but fighting back.
And they’ve targeted a demographic that promises to be very lucrative:
College Students
For background on this new trend, check out “The New Card on Campus: Prepaid Debit” in the Wall Street Journal (9/11/08, page D1) by Mary Pilon.
We all know the horror stories on how students were inundated […]

When in doubt, watch what the big dogs do.
And feel free to shamelessly copy their behavior.
In business, the rule is simplicity itself: Maximize every opportunity to accelerate receivables, while lagging accounts payable to the outer limits of sloth and late payment penalty.
When we submit payment to financial institutions, they deposit the funds on the same […]

Nominations are now available for the stupid human trick of the year award.
It would be hard to beat the multi-taskers who are texting while driving, but since this is a wealth management blog, we need to narrow the category accordingly, or we will be inundated with candidates. (If your humor runs to the dark side, […]

Like many observers, I predicted that the major reforms in bankruptcy law in 2005 would make it difficult, if not impossible, for most consumers to walk away from their credit card debt.
Wrong.
The intent of the new law was to force consumers into debt restructuring and repayment, and not wanton and wholesale charge-offs…behavior exacerbated by prior […]

Today’s topic is….free money.
Yup. The banks are literally giving it away these days. Not to mention the credit card companies. Don’t feel bad about helping yourself. These are the same banks that are gouging their credit card customers at rates now approaching 30%. Time to dose them back with their […]