Detective Krum

Many readers asked why the bank bailouts do not work, simple, they can’t. The bank bailouts or TARP was put into motion, as Congress said, to stimulate lending by banks to customers.  When President Bush started the bank bailouts and President Obama continued and expanded them to include auto companies, AIG, and now trying to take over health care shows elected officials out of control while we have taxation without representation.  When Congress is cowardly to stand up for freedom and our Constitution we see the need for Americans to downsize a bloated centralized power structure that does as they please.

The reason the bank bailouts cannot work is simple. Let’s suppose you are a bank and a customer comes to you for a loan, you have risk in lending to the person or company. As a bank, you notice the federal reserve is keeping interest rates near zero. Would you rather lend with risk to a customer or business or borrow money from the federal reserve (central bank) at zero percent interest and invest your loan hedging the stock market where you can make millions for yourself and others?  Banks have chosen the latter – don’t loan too much but use the TARP money to drive up the stock market as you (bank)  make a fortune. How do the banks look at customers then? As you can see, they cut credit limits on credit cards and up their interest into the 20% interest plus range.  Is that fair and the right thing to do?

Banks will say they have paid the TARP funds back – where’s my dividend check? Where did the banks get the money to pay the TARP funds back? From new lending? Or investing taxpayer dollars into the stock market creating another bubble. If you think this sounds off – then you will enjoy the new book The Dollar Meltdown. Charles explains in plain English what is going on and in an interview, Charles thinks it is too late to stop the downward spiral but shows you how to prepare to protect your assets and family.

Four things you’ll learn from The Dollar Meltdown:

WHERE WE ARE TODAY

You’ll get the whole story on America’s debt, both visible and hidden. You’ll learn how bailout bills and stimulus spending have dug us in an even deeper hole and what it means for the future.

HOW WE GOT INTO THIS MESS

You’ll learn to see old familiar patterns in some of the newest economic developments. This will help you judge the future by the past. The Dollar Meltdown lays out the real fundamentals about money and shows you exactly how the monetary system in the United States today has been corrupted so that you can avoid being victimized by it.

WHAT HAPPENS NEXT

You’ll discover how the dollar meltdown happens, the most likely scenarios, and the role of foreign creditors like China. You’ll be prepared as the authorities react to economic problems of their own making, lurching from one “solution” to the next, deepening the crisis with their every move.  The dollar meltdown will change America and you’ll want to be ready for it when it comes.

WHAT YOU NEED TO DO

There is opportunity in every crisis and there are ways protect yourself and your family and to profit in the turbulent times ahead.

You see why the old rules don’t work anymore and you’ll get easy-to-understand investment advice for the new rules, specific investment recommendations that you can put to use right away to protect yourself and your family from the dollar meltdown.

Don’t wait until it’s too late! Order your copy of THE DOLLAR MELTDOWN HERE – Do it TODAY!

About Charles Goyette

Charles Goyette has long been known in Phoenix as “America’s Most Independent Talk Show Host!” With years of hands-on experience as an investment professional, he brings a welcome dimension of foresight and clarity to his political and economic commentary.  Goyette has been called on often to share his views with television audiences nationally on CNN, Fox News, MSNBC, and PBS, including on “The O’Reilly Factor,” the popular PBS program “NOW with Bill Moyers,” and as a frequent guest on “Lou Dobbs Tonight” on CNN, repeatedly warning before the current economic turmoil of the “economic calamity the Republicans and Democrats” were creating.

Detective Krum

There is an Alarion Bank spoof going on and our readers need to be warned of this spoof.  You may receive an email stating the following:

“Dear Alarion Bank Customer,

As part of our security measures, we regularly screen activity in the system.
We recently contacted you after noticing an issue on your account.
We requested information from you for the following reason:

- We have observed activity in this account that is unusual or potentially high risk.

Please download the form attached to this email and open it in a web browser.
Once opened, you will be provided with steps to restore your account access.
We appreciate your understanding as we work to ensure account safety.

Sincerely,

©2009 Alarion Bank. All rights reserved.”

Included in this email is a file for you to download the “form”. I suggest if you receive one of these emails you should contact Alarion Bank at   1.888.900.9785 and inform them of the email. There is a high probability, the “form” the email wants you to download will hijack your computer and could infect your computer with a virus, rootkit or key logger. Alarion Bank is aware of the problem and has issued a Fraud Alert, see below:

Fraud Alert
Alarion Bank has received reports of a fraudulent “phishing” scam involving fake e-mail messages delivered on or about 11/06/2009 that appear to come from Alarion Bank, often with the subject line “Official Notification” or “Notification ID.” DO NOT RESPOND TO OR CLICK ANY LINKS IN THESE MESSAGES. Simply delete them.

One other point – Alarion Bank is located in Ocala, Florida and has a (D+) bank rating.

Detective Krum

Ten more banks were closed on Friday October 30, 2009.

October 2009 saw 20 banks fail. That makes the total failed banks for 2009 – 116.  Consider, 27 banks failed from the year 2000 through 2007  making an average of 3.9 bank failures per year. When TARP was passed by Congress and arm twisting began in Congress to pass massive bank bailout money to selected banks, bank failures skyrocketed in 2008 and 2009.

Was the bank bailout money designed to squeeze out smaller banks by bailing out  bigger banks whose CEO just happened to be politically connected?  Large bank stock is inching upwards and profits to upper-management through bonuses is becoming a trend. Consider 26 banks failed in 2008 and now 116 in 2009. Makes you wonder if the large banks were allowed to fail, maybe the smaller banks would not have failed, doesn’t it?

Add the following banks to the list of bank failures for 2009:

If you have investment products, in a bank, your investments are not insured by FDIC according to FDIC.  As usual, FDIC waits until Friday to close ten more banks.  One might ask, in whose best interest is it to wait until late on a Friday to close a bank?

Detective Krum

Total bank failures so far for 2009? 106  Three of the latest bank failures – Florida.  Partners Bank located in Naples, Florida  Hillcrest Bank, also in Naples, Florida and Flagship National Bank of Sarasota, Florida.  Minnesota and Wisconsin felt the bank failure sting as well. Riverview Community Bank located in Otsego, Minnesota and Bank of Elmwood in Racine, Wisconsin failed.

The bank failure list continues to grow in spite of Congress’ claim of saving banks through bailouts.  One might ask, ‘What banks did the American taxpayer bailout?  Is there a connection between the banks bailed out and Congress representatives? ‘  106 bank failures in ten months – AFTER – bank bailouts leads our readers to ask – What was the purpose of the bailout money?

Here is a copy of the press release.

First Federal Bank of Florida, Lake City, Florida, Assumes All of the Deposits of Flagship National Bank, Bradenton, Florida

Flagship National Bank, Bradenton, Florida, was closed today by the Office of the Comptroller of the Currency, which appointed the Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation (FDIC) as receiver. To protect the depositors, the FDIC entered into a purchase and assumption agreement with First Federal Bank of Florida, Lake City, Florida, to assume all of the deposits of Flagship National Bank.

The four branches of Flagship National Bank will reopen on Monday as branches of First Federal Bank of Florida. Depositors of Flagship National Bank will automatically become depositors of First Federal Bank of Florida. Deposits will continue to be insured by the FDIC, so there is no need for customers to change their banking relationship to retain their deposit insurance coverage. Customers should continue to use their existing branch until they receive notice from First Federal Bank of Florida that it has completed systems changes to allow other First Federal Bank of Florida branches to process their accounts as well.

This evening and over the weekend, depositors of Flagship National Bank can access their money by writing checks or using ATM or debit cards. Checks drawn on the bank will continue to be processed. Loan customers should continue to make their payments as usual.

As of August 31, 2009, Flagship National Bank had total assets of $190 million and total deposits of approximately $175 million. First Federal Bank of Florida did not pay the FDIC a premium for the deposits of Flagship National Bank. In addition to assuming all of the deposits of the failed bank, First Federal Bank of Florida agreed to purchase essentially all of the assets.

Detective Krum

San Joaquin Bank in Bakersfield, California failed October 16th and makes the 99th bank failure in 2009.  FDIC, in need of its own bailout, posted the following information:

San Joaquin Bank, Bakersfield, California, was closed today by the California Department of Financial Institutions, which appointed the Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation (FDIC) as receiver. FDIC entered into a purchase and assumption agreement with Citizens Business Bank, Ontario, California, to assume all of the deposits of San Joaquin Bank.

The five branches of San Joaquin Bank will reopen on Monday as branches of Citizens Business Bank. Depositors of San Joaquin Bank will automatically become depositors of Citizens Business Bank. Deposits will continue to be insured by the FDIC, so there is no need for customers to change their banking relationship to retain their deposit insurance coverage. Customers should continue to use their existing branch until they receive notice from Citizens Business Bank that it has completed systems changes to allow other Citizens Business Bank branches to process their accounts as well.

This evening and over the weekend, depositors of San Joaquin Bank can access their money by writing checks or using ATM or debit cards. Checks drawn on the bank will continue to be processed. Loan customers should continue to make their payments as usual.

As of September 29, 2009, San Joaquin Bank had total assets of $775 million and total deposits of approximately $631 million. Citizens Business Bank did not pay the FDIC a premium for the deposits of San Joaquin Bank. In addition to assuming all of the deposits of the failed bank, Citizens Business Bank agreed to purchase essentially all of the assets.

The FDIC and Citizens Business Bank entered into a loss-share transaction on approximately $683 million of San Joaquin Bank’s assets. Citizens Business Bank will share in the losses on the asset pools covered under the loss-share agreement. The loss-share arrangement is projected to maximize returns on the assets covered by keeping them in the private sector.

Detective Krum

I know this may be a bit off topic from my normal posts however, I have looked at the treaty and some other information and felt it necessary to save our Republic, this needed to be posted. The following information has been provided to me and is not my original work but the source is credible.

Below is a picture of President Barrack Hussein Obama appearing in Copenhagen and follow the story and download a copy of the treaty. Remember, a treaty can be signed by a president and America would be bound to the treaty. Reuters reports 3 scenarios here.

President Obama's 1st Copenhagen Trip

Obama’s last visit to Copenhagen didn’t work out so well for the USA.

The Minnesota Free Market Institute hosted an event at Bethel University in St. Paul on Wednesday evening. Keynote speaker Lord Christopher Monckton, former science adviser to British Prime Minister Margaret Thatcher, gave a scathing and lengthy presentation, complete with detailed charts, graphs, facts, and figures which culminated in the utter decimation of both the pop culture concept of global warming and the credible threat of any significant anthropomorphic climate change.

A detailed summary of Monckton’s presentation will be available here once compiled. However, a segment of his remarks justify immediate publication. If credible, the concern Monckton speaks to may well prove the single most important issue facing the American nation, bigger than health care, bigger than cap and trade, and worth every citizen’s focused attention.

Here were Monckton’s closing remarks, as dictated from my audio recording:

At [the 2009 United Nations Climate Change Conference in] Copenhagen, this December, weeks away, a treaty will be signed. Your president will sign it. Most of the third world countries will sign it, because they think they’re going to get money out of it. Most of the left-wing regime from the European Union will rubber stamp it. Virtually nobody won’t sign it.

I read that treaty. And what it says is this, that a world government is going to be created. The word “government” actually appears as the first of three purposes of the new entity. The second purpose is the transfer of wealth from the countries of the West to third world countries, in satisfication of what is called, coyly, “climate debt” – because we’ve been burning CO2 and they haven’t. We’ve been screwing up the climate and they haven’t. And the third purpose of this new entity, this government, is enforcement.

How many of you think that the word “election” or “democracy” or “vote” or “ballot” occurs anywhere in the 200 pages of that treaty? Quite right, it doesn’t appear once. So, at last, the communists who piled out of the Berlin Wall and into the environmental movement, who took over Greenpeace so that my friends who funded it left within a year, because [the communists] captured it – Now the apotheosis as at hand. They are about to impose a communist world government on the world. You have a president who has very strong sympathies with that point of view. He’s going to sign it. He’ll sign anything. He’s a Nobel Peace Prize [winner]; of course he’ll sign it.

[laughter]

And the trouble is this; if that treaty is signed, if your Constitution says that it takes precedence over your Constitution (sic), and you can’t resign from that treaty unless you get agreement from all the other state parties – And because you’ll be the biggest paying country, they’re not going to let you out of it.

So, thank you, America. You were the beacon of freedom to the world. It is a privilege merely to stand on this soil of freedom while it is still free. But, in the next few weeks, unless you stop it, your president will sign your freedom, your democracy, and your humanity away forever. And neither you nor any subsequent government you may elect will have any power whatsoever to take it back. That is how serious it is. I’ve read the treaty. I’ve seen this stuff about [world] government and climate debt and enforcement. They are going to do this to you whether you like it or not.

But I think it is here, here in your great nation, which I so love and I so admire – it is here that perhaps, at this eleventh hour, at the fifty-ninth minute and fifty-ninth second, you will rise up and you will stop your president from signing that dreadful treaty, that purposeless treaty. For there is no problem with climate and, even if there were, an economic treaty does nothing to [help] it.

So I end by saying to you the words that Winston Churchill addressed to your president in the darkest hour before the dawn of freedom in the Second World War. He quoted from your great poet Longfellow:

Sail on, O Ship of State!
Sail on, O Union, strong and great!
Humanity with all its fears,
With all the hopes of future years,
Is hanging breathless on thy fate!

Skimming through the treaty, I came across verification of Monckton’s assessment of the new entity’s purpose:

38. The scheme for the new institutional arrangement under the Convention will be based on three basic pillars: government; facilitative mechanism; and financial mechanism, and the basic organization of which will include the following:

World Government (heading added)
a) The government will be ruled by the COP with the support of a new subsidiary body on adaptation, and of an Executive Board responsible for the management of the new funds and the related facilitative processes and bodies. The current Convention secretariat will operate as such, as appropriate.

To Redistribute Wealth (heading added)
b) The Convention’s financial mechanism will include a multilateral climate change fund including five windows: (a) an Adaptation window, (b) a Compensation window, to address loss and damage from climate change impacts [read: the "climate debt" Monckton refers to], including insurance, rehabilitation and compensatory components, © a Technology window; (d) a Mitigation window; and (e) a REDD window, to support a multi-phases process for positive forest incentives relating to REDD actions.

With Enforcement Authority (heading added)
c) The Convention’s facilitative mechanism will include: (a) work programmes for adaptation and mitigation; (b) a long-term REDD process; © a short-term technology action plan; (d) an expert group on adaptation established by the subsidiary body on adaptation, and expert groups on mitigation, technologies and on monitoring, reporting and verification; and (e) an international registry for the monitoring, reporting and verification of compliance of emission reduction commitments, and the transfer of technical and financial resources from developed countries to developing countries. The secretariat will provide technical and administrative support, including a new centre for information exchange [read; enforcement].

Detective Krum

Florida’s best banks aren’t based on service or location but on banking strength ratings.  When I looked at all (A) rated banks throughout the whole state of Florida, I found only five (A) rated banks and here they are:

Drummond Community Bank in Chiefland, Florida Rated (A+)

First Federal Bank in Lake City, Florida Rated (A)

Hillsboro Bank in Plant City, Florida Rated (A-)

First National in Mount Dora, Florida Rated (A-)

City National in Miami, Florida (A-)

Peoples Bank in Graceville, Florida Rated (A)

There are 22 banks in Florida rated in the (B) ratings. If you need more information on Florida banks, send a message.

Detective Krum

Could your bank safety deposit box be seized without reason?  It appears, according to Steve Quayle, one reason for the devaluation of the dollar and bank failures has an anterior motive – the introduction of a new currency, the North American Union new money and according to Steve Quayle, some larger Midwestern banks have sent  Steve a copy of the forms.

The New York Post reported the dollar loses reserve status to the yen and euro. This is not good news for Americans as the United States Congress continues to fleece America and Americans. Read the article here.

What will you do if you walk into your bank and ask to have access to your safety deposit box or account information and you are handed a letter like the Midwestern Banks have provided that says;

Dear (Bank deleted) Customer:

As you may have heard through the news media or learned via a recent visit to (bank deleted), regulations have been imposed limiting access to your financial accounts with our institution. Please understand the withdrawal limits imposed yesterday by governmental organizations including the Internal Revenue Service, F.D.I.C., Federal Reserve, as well as Executive Order (number withheld) signed by President Barack Obama on (date withheld) require us to limit you to a total combined weekly withdrawal of five hundred (500) dollars from one or a combination of all accounts held at (bank name deleted) every seven (7) business days until authorization is received from proper authorities to eliminate this restriction. Again, we apologize for this inconvenience and ask you to realize this situation is totally beyond our control. We regret the difficulty the withdrawal limits imposed on your checking, savings, IRA, and credit-line accounts at (bank deleted) have caused. We hope to continue to serve your banking needs as we truly value your patronage and ask for your understanding in this matter. Please contact us at our toll-free number, (number deleted), if we can provide further assistance.

Sincere yours,

(Name of bank president withheld)

There are several pictures for proposed “new” money available here. But a sample is below.

Detective Krum

With 98 bank failures this year you would think the United States Congress knew what they were doing.  Passing trillions of dollars in bank bailouts and sending US working people the bill in spite of about 86% of Americans opposing the bank bailouts you can understand Rush Limbaugh’s comments.

Rush said, “We can’t pay everybody’s mortgage forever. Besides, we’re deepening the problem because we’re delaying the market correction that will happen automatically if we just get out of the way and let it. But these are central planners. They know better than you.” Rush isn’t the only one making the claim bailouts aren’t fixing the problems. See here.

Nick Carey of Reuters (see here) writes , “Eight months later, the plan is plagued by delays, red tape and, some critics say, a reluctance by banks to do their part. Just 17 percent of eligible borrowers have had their loans modified and monthly payments cut. Hardly any have been given a cut in the amount they owe on homes which are now worth less.

That means many successful applicants are left with loans that they still will not be able to afford in the long run. So instead of resolving the housing crisis that pushed the U.S. economy into recession, America may be prolonging it and, in the process, stunting the global recovery.

“Every single policy we’ve seen has merely kicked the problem down the road,” said Laurie Goodman, a veteran analyst at broker-dealer Amherst Securities Group LP, which specializes in residential mortgage-backed securities.

Rush said “We’re now at 50% youth unemployment. If these kids can’t find jobs now, when they’re young, when they’ll learn all about working, what’s going to happen to them when they hit their twenties and thirties? We’re looking at a permanent welfare state being created on purpose by this president and his administration.” see here.

One must ask why then, is Congress moving to willfully destroy America?  The answer may be as World Net Daily reported here, “A plan to replace the dollar with a world currency originated with Columbia University economics professor Robert Mundell, who won a Nobel Prize in economics in 1999 for creating the euro and is now widely regarded as “the father of the euro.”

Robert Mundell

Mundell, currently an economic consultant to China, is the originator of the suggestion that the International Monetary Fund should utilize Special Drawing Rights, or SDRs, to replace the dollar as a new standard for holding foreign exchange reserves in international trade transactions.

SDRs are international reserve assets calculated by the IMF in a basket of major currencies allocated to the IMF’s 185 member nation-states in relation to the capital. The assets are largely in gold or widely accepted foreign currencies the members have on deposit with the IMF.

The current trend is to mail every Congressman/woman a pink

slip and fire them next election cycle.

Detective Krum

Discussions of merging banks with credit unions, at least from a Congressional standpoint, appears being considered.

“It’s not necessary or reasonable for Congress to lump credit unions with the banking industry in seeking to shorten the compliance deadline for remaining Credit CARD Act requirements to this Dec. 1,” according to the National Association For Credit Unions.

Download a copy of the Credit Card Accountability Act here. The Amendments are here and here. If Congress claims to be helping consumers with their banking issues, they may want to reconsider. It appears the Credit Card Act has had a negative impact in part according to Anthony Demangone, senior compliance counsel.

Anthony Demangone said, ” The provision will likely lead to the end of credit unions issuing consolidated statements, the elimination of members’ ability to pick payment-due dates and an end of weekly and biweekly payment-due dates, Demangone noted. “Simply put, the 21-day issue is the largest single compliance burden the credit union industry has faced in the last decade”.

Demangone also testified that H.R. 2382, the Credit Card Interchange Fees Act of 2009, would have the net effect of severely limiting a revenue stream for credit unions that helps pay for the costs associated with data security breaches and compliance associated with increased regulation. “Arbitrarily limiting these fees will come at the expense of the consumer, the 90 million credit union members in America, and our nation’s smaller financial institutions,” he said.

H.R. 3639 and H.R. 2382 come at a time when many credit unions are already struggling with an ever-increasing regulatory burden, he noted. New amendments to Regulation Z, additional regulation on unfair or deceptive acts, and two Federal Reserve proposals on closed-end real estate lending and home equity lines of credit are just a few.

During Q&A, Demangone said credit unions are dealing with myriad operational issues in their efforts to meet current compliance deadlines. He added that many which rely on third-party providers for operational support are already hearing that those providers would be unable to comply with the rest of the Credit CARD Act by Dec. 1.

The proposed Consumer Financial Protection Agency also came up briefly, as Rep. Emanuel Cleaver, D-Mo., asked witnesses how CFPA could make life more difficult for institutions that are already complying with federal consumer protection laws.

Demangone responded that the CFPA would mean one more layer of regulation that will carry additional compliance costs, and those costs will ultimately be shouldered by the member-owners of each credit union.

H.R. 3639 is slated for mark-up Oct. 14 by the committee, according to a revised noticed published this morning.

Detective Krum

Questions have been sent that I must get out of the way first. American Founders Bank based in Lexington Kentucky – their rating is an (E) and the Bank of Bonifay in Bonifay Florida is rated (E-).  It appears the Bank of Bonifay may fail and soon so I would caution depositors, FDIC insurance will not cover deposits over $100,000 and the temporary increase of insured deposits at $250,000 could be a problem because FDIC reported it needs a bailout. For Bank of Bonifay customers, you might want to remove your money from that bank as soon as possible.

The projected outlook for Florida banks according to FDIC through the second quarter of 2009 is as follows:

Past-Due and Nonaccrual Loans / Total Loans (median %) 6.58

Noncurrent Loans / Total Loans (median %) 4.43

Net Loans to Assets (median %) 70.9

Largest Deposit Markets (from 2008 Summary of Deposits)

Miami-Fort Lauderdale-Miami Beach, FL
Tampa-St. Petersburg-Clearwater, FL
Jacksonville, FL
Orlando, FL
Sarasota-Bradenton-Venice, FL

Detective Krum

SunTrust Bank – banking blues. As financial reports come through and TARP funds examined you can begin to  understand the SunTrust Bank blues.  SunTrust Bank appears to have over extended their reach in mortgage areas, particularly in the south. This over reach affects their borrowing power with other banks and lenders.

Let me ask you a question.  If you had a bank and your bank lost a lot of money on foreclosures, how would you compensate your bottom line?  What does SunTrust Bank do? It appears they raise their fees on their good customers. Someone needs to show them how to win friends and influence people. You would think SunTrust would lower their fees, offer perks, do anything for the public to get their business and get out of the mess they created for themselves. Here is a closer look (from a financial source) at SunTrust Bank’s problems:

“The downgrade was triggered by continued deterioration in SunTrust’s asset quality. Until fourth-quarter 2008, asset quality problems had been largely contained to home equity and Alt-A loans with high loan-to-value ratios, but are now beginning to spread to SunTrust’s large portfolio of first mortgage loans on residential properties,” said Standard & Poor’s credit analyst Charles D. Rauch. In addition, the portfolio of loans to regional home builders is weakening. SunTrust has been particularly vulnerable during this credit cycle because of its large real estate exposure in Florida, one of the most overbuilt markets in the country.

The deterioration in credit quality caused the bank to report a large pretax operating loss of $656.5 million in fourth-quarter 2008. The quarter was marked by another spike in loan-loss provisions, as well as higher credit costs (mortgage application fraud and insurance denial claims). Net charge-offs, delinquencies, and nonperforming assets continued to climb from already high levels. We expect loan-loss provisions and other credit costs to remain elevated, causing more pressure on profitability in 2009.

Current ratings on SunTrust reflect its well-established banking franchise and extensive deposit-gathering branch network across the Southeast U.S. SunTrust’s issuance of $4.85 billion of preferred stock under the U.S. Treasury’s Troubled Asset Relief Program bolstered capital levels, increasing the Tier 1 risk-adjusted capital ratio to approximately 10.8% at year-end 2008. We expect SunTrust, which reduced its quarterly common dividend to $0.10 per share, to continue to build capital ratios through the credit downturn. During the fourth quarter, SunTrust raised core deposits and issued FDIC-guaranteed debt to bolster its liquidity profile. As of year-end 2008, the bank was a net supplier of overnight funds, a position we deem prudent in this volatile banking market.

The negative outlook incorporates our baseline scenario that SunTrust’s financial performance will remain weak in 2009. We expect asset quality problems to worsen throughout the year. If credit losses rise materially above our expectations or if core profitability is not poised for a recovery next year, we could lower the ratings.

In addition, complaints have piled up against SunTrust. Allegations of holding deposits for days before crediting them to accounts, overdraft fees charged to accounts because deposits weren’t cleared, mailing bank cards to the wrong address and many others.  These issues are not the way to get your bank in good graces with your customers. One must ask, does SunTrust Bank want customers or just their money?

Detective Krum

There are  many SunTrust Bank articles in this blog, just check the archives.  SunTrust Bank has the highest fee schedule compared to similar institutions.  The following complaint alleges SunTrust Bank fraud.  Couple this complaint, if true, to the factual report showing SunTrust Bank partnering with Florida Trend Magazine to mislead the public regarding SunTrust Bank strength shows a pattern of what appears to be deceitful practices.

I have removed the name of the person filing this complaint. Here is a complete copy of the complaint:

I went online to find out if I had lost my mind… only to find out that there are millions of people just like me out there that have been defrauded by Suntrust Bank.

I have a small Internet business and use my bank card for all of my transactions. This way I always have a record of them. and un like a credit card I have no interest and can not spend beyond the cash on hand.

One night, about 11:00pm when checking my account I noticed that there was a $500.00 hundred dollar charge pending on the account. Mind you my balance at the time was $223.00. a couple of small “legitimate” charges for about $15.00 and 28.00 so this caused the account to be overdrawn. I quickly called the 800 number to find out what the charge was for. I was placed in an endless loop of about 35 minutes and then the call was dropped. I decided I would wait until morning since it was late.

When I contacted customer service the following morning I was told there was nothing I could do until the transaction posted to the account. However, I was given the name of the company that was making the charge. As i suspected the the charge was not from any of my vendors and was indeed fraudulent… Still they insisted there was nothing they could do until it posted to the account.. I checked my account daily to see if the transaction had posted (still not sure why we would wait for a fraudulent charge to post) each night I noticed that not only had the charge not posted but suntrust was now charging me nsf fees for the “unposted fraudulent charge” 32.00 first then 64.00 then 96.00 from the 17th to the 20th when it finally posted they had racked up over $200.00 in fees. Mind you my business is at a stand still because I can not purchase material or process orders.

When it finally posted I called customer service, who transferred me to the fraud department, who told me that I would have to sign and affidavit, have it signed and notarized, return it, and then wait 7-10 days for them to sort this out. I decided not to leave this to fax machines and customer service, I would go directly to the branch an speak with a manager. I did what they asked and was told the 7-10 days is perfectly acceptable for me to wait for this kind of thing to be cleared up . However, again my business is still on hold for another 7-10 days!

My question to any one is this….. why would they pay a “check card” transaction (not a credit card) that was more then the balance IF THE FUNDS ARE UNAVAILABLE RETURN THE CHECK OR DECLINE THE CHARG! The only logical reason is because they want to collect the fees so they allowed a fraudulent charge to be posted to my account even though there was only $200.00 in the account when the fraudulent 500.00 charge came through. Now my account is on hold because they decided to pay it against monies the were not available.

So now my company is on hold while they investigate a charge that they should never have paid in the fist place… and charging me overdraft fees for the privilege. my overdraft fees now have fees (extended overdraft fees)

I am finding an attorney and changing banks as soon as they finish their investigation!

SunTrust Bank has the highest fees and makes a great deal annually from fees as you will notice in their financial report.  SunTrust Bank also participated in the bank bailout scheme and received TARP funds. Taxpayers paid to help bailout SunTrust Bank.

Detective Krum

Some report the “recession” is almost over while others say the pattern today is similar to the 1929/1930 Great Depression.  Those supporting the latter scenario say in 1929 the stock market rallied for 6 months after the first fall.  They claim the rally lasted about six months and then the stock market free fell.  What scenario will play out now? Only God knows for sure but I looked at various reports and here are clips.

Government reports now point to fiscal doomsday for America; and one of the reports, issued by the Congressional Budget Office (CBO), says so explicitly:

• The CBO paints two future scenarios for the U.S. budget deficit and the national debt. But it plainly declares that fiscal disaster will strike in EITHER scenario. Furthermore …

• The CBO states that its fiscal disaster scenarios could cause severe economic declines for decades to come, including hyperinflation and destruction of retirement savings.

• The CBO then proceeds to admit that even its worse-case scenario could be understated by a wide margin due to panic in the financial markets or vicious cycles that are beyond control.

See the complete report here. If the link doesn’t work for you then go here. The links show the financial and budget outlooks for America for Fiscal Years 2009 – 2019.  How’s that hope and change working for you now? Retirement accounts were a pad for baby-boomers because social security would not be there for baby-boomers. This report reflects the years baby-boomers saved for retirement in retirement accounts will be wiped out.

The Federal Reserve released the Flow of Funds Report in a pdf file format. You can view the entire report here. This report reflects credit will be cut off to business and consumers. One must ask, what was the purpose of the bank bailouts if it was not for liquidity.

Detective Krum

Mentioning the abandonment of the dollar by foreign governments brought quite a few inquires.  The original article was posted here. In fact, it was former Federal Reserve Chairman Alan Greenspan who suggested to the Arab Gulf States they not peg themselves to the dollar. The original comment was made February 25, 2008 and reported by Ahmed A. Elewa, Senior Reporter of Gulf News.

The article is located here and says in part, “Abu Dhabi Floating the Gulf currencies is the best means to relieving the region’s rising inflationary pressures, former Federal Reserve Chairman Alan Greenspan said in Abu Dhabi on Monday.

The dollar peg forces the Gulf states to follow US monetary policy at a time when the Fed is cutting rates to ward off recession and Gulf economies are experiencing an unprecedented boom from oil revenues.

“It [de-pegging] is probably the most useful thing that can be done to stop the increasing influence of foreign assets on the monetary system and therefore the monetary base which is basically the major force in inflationary pressures,” Greenspan told the Abu Dhabi Corporate Leadership Forum.

Is it a wonder the news this week has shown the dollar may be on the way out for world currency pegging?