By now we have all heard a story of a family dealing with a foreclosure on their house by their bank. Due to economic conditions and the over extension of many people's credit, thousands of families lost their homes when they could not afford to pay for them anymore either due to rising interest rates, lost jobs, or some other reason. Well, at least in one case in Florida, and I am hoping elsewhere, a couple was in essence able to foreclose on the mighty Bank of America who received a bail out from the American public when they almost tanked. The couple bought a foreclosed house for cash in 2009 from Bank of America, no mortgage, no headaches, just a house they could retire in with no monetary burden. At least that's what they thought until they were greeted by a bank employee a year later informing them that their home was being foreclosed on. When they told the person that they didn't even have a mortgage and that the home was paid for in full, he told them to get a lawyer. Well, a lawyer they got, went to court, and the issue was cleared up. That is, until they went to collect the money from the bank to compensate them for their lawyer and other fees necessary to clear up the whole ordeal. The court said the bank should pay, the couple tried to collect, but went months and months without receiving any response or any sort of payment.
This past week, the couple had had enough and went with their lawyer, the media, the police, and a court order from the judge basically informing Bank of America that they were there either to get a check or they were going to leave with furniture, copiers, and whatever else was necessary to make up the cost of the money owed them. Funny, after about an hour with police officers in the bank, they got a check. Now, Bank of America tried to pass the buck to their defunct attorney who they claim is no longer in business, yet the couple had called, written, and spoken to employees of the bank to no avail. My question is, why the hell did we bail out this bank when they feel they can go around and screw with people's livelihoods? In addition, for them to claim they got it "wrong", is bull. When was the last time any bank was late in sending out "legitimate" collection notices for overdraft fees or even a mortgage payment? It seems that when it comes to bringing in the money to the bank, there are no errors or mistakes or for that matter delays. Yet when it comes to paying a couple who had a legitimate collection concern with the bank, there are mistakes and delays. The bank reportedly wrote a check for larger than the original amount to cover additional fees. I only hope that it included interest on the five months it took them to pay the couple. (Probably not however).
How can we protect corporations such as Bank of America from bankruptcy when they can go around and still screw things up? Personally, (although I know it is too late), that any bank that was on the verge of going bankrupt, should have gone bankrupt. If they were not capable of running a corporation and were involved in shady mortgage deals, sucks for them. Maybe we can learn from this for the future and prevent any unneeded bail outs of failing corporations. Some may claim that they bail out was necessary to prevent an even worse recession that we are dealing with, but what about all the small businesses across the country that went under due to pressure from the banks or due to the recession itself. I maintain that it would have been much more lucrative to shore up the small businesses that run this country than the few goliaths of banking that screwed things up. If we had spread that bail out money (billions of it) across small businesses and given them a boost to keep their businesses running, maybe we wouldn't be facing such high unemployment numbers as we are now. Also, maybe if these banks were allowed to fail, less people would have been foreclosed on because they wouldn't have to deal with a bank breathing down their necks. (OK, so this last part may have produced a little more havoc, but still, it might have been better.)
What everyone needs to do is be more fiscally responsible. We are still recovering from a recession and money is still tight. Now is the time to look at finances and get on a good track for the future. If people could figure out how to spend less now, make do with less and still survive, then maybe when the economy recovers even more and people start making more money, they will be able to save more money for retirement and the future. The future is in our own hands. We can not rely solely on our government to sustain us in retirement through Social Security and other programs. What the American public needs to do is plan for their own future, set money aside now, live within their means, and not just spend all their money away. I know, this may sound like I am speaking to a stone wall seeing as many people still overextend themselves and have no future in mind whatsoever, but someone needs to say it and hopefully people will start realizing the reality of the situation. In any case, its Friday, the start of the might weekend and few days of rest and reprieve from our hectic lives. Lets all take some time, enjoy ourselves, and actually start planning for the future. We all must seize the day and live each moment to its fullest, but if we have no financial plan for the future, how can we expect to seize the day later on?
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