LIVING OFF DIVIDENDS & PASSIVE INCOME

Foreclosure is not a fun process.

Losing your house for any reason is a stressful, disheartening experience. And banks are notoriously difficult to deal with. Mainly because they’re not really interested in working out a deal with you. Especially if you have equity in your house.

That being said, I’m greatly amused by people who get the better end of the foreclosure process, especially when it comes to Bank of America. (I’m not a big fan of Bank of America – I have my reasons…)

Bank of America filed for foreclosure on a house in Florida, about six months ago. The strange thing was that the homeowners, Mr & Mrs. Nyergers, owned their home free and clear. They had bought their house with cash. They had never had a mortgage on it.  Read more... (370 words, 8 images, estimated 1:29 mins reading time)

Angelo Mozilo, former CEO of CountryWide Financial was fined $67.5 million to settle charges of insider trading and civil fraud. Of this, $45 million or 66% will be paid by Bank of America, who acquired the toxic asset and must now indemnify the former head. As I mentioned back in early 2007, CountryWide insiders were dumping stock as fast as they while simultaneously publicly pumping it. Mozillo made about $134 million from insider trading and then another $100 million on the sale of the company to Bank of America. Having profited over $200 million, being fined a mere $22.5 million doesn’t seem like much of a punishment.

Of course, being a CEO of a major US financial institution seems to provide immunity against any wrongdoing.  Now and then, the SEC will prosecute someone to make an example of them, but the most part you can get away with far more than the average white collar criminal.  Read more... (201 words, 9 images, estimated 48 secs reading time)

I recently got an email from a reader that I think I should share with you. It involves a new kind of scam and you need to be aware of it.

Hi: I have a question regarding real estate fraud. I have an ad on a website selling my property (for OVER $550K) online. The web co. forwards me an email from someone named Dr. Earl Spencer inquiring if the property is still available. It is.

He then wants maps and info about the area. I send them to dr_earl_spencer1995@yahoo.com . Then he says I should consider the property sold and he wants my HELOC account number to send a wire transfer for the funds to purchase.  Read more... (882 words, 8 images, estimated 3:32 mins reading time)