More Well Spent Bailout Money

Bailout recipients have once again found an interesting way to spend our money. Over $10 million was spent in the first three months of this year on political lobbyists aimed at blocking executive pay limits and tougher financial regulations. Is that really how our taxpayer money should be spent? The poor decisions and arrogance of these companies just continues to amaze.

Just A Sign Of What We Deal With In Detroit

Even the great leaders (cough cough) of Detroit can't meet their mortgage responsibilities. And this guy's running for mayor:

Detroit Councilman packs up and walks away from mortgage

We Bid Farewell To Another Tax Season

Can We Finally Put Winter Behind Us?

Bank Stocks Continue To Rebound

Another strong day for the stock market, again led by Wells Fargo and other lenders. Wells Fargo expects record 1st quarter profits, and Bank of America, JP Morgan Chase, and Citigroup all saw strong gains.

The New York Times also reported that federal officials examining the banking industry believe the industry is in better shape than many people believe. Great. When do we get our bailout money back?

There's No Limit To What The Bottomfeeders Will Do

I suppose it was inevitable. The attorney general has announced that it's investigating thousands of loan modification scams. Many of the cases involve companies that mislead borrowers into thinking they are taking advantage of the government loan modification plans when in actuality they are not.

The FTC has sent warning letters to 71 companies running suspicious advertisements.

My Life, My Card?

Despite recent advertising from credit card companies telling us how helpful they are, many consumers have been blindsided by some of their nasty tactics. This includes:

Arbitrarily raising interest & fees regardless of credit worthiness or standing

Canceling cards without explanation

Reducing customers' credit limits without warning

Canceling cards that haven't been recently used

Penalizing customers who asked for lower interest rates by lowering their credit limits or freezing accounts (how evil is THAT?)

The new credit card law addresses much of this, but the law won't take effect until July of 2010.

Read more: The Credit Card Companies Are Not Your Friend

A Little More Good News

Pending home sales took a surprising jump in February of 2.1%. Though only a modest increase, the positive news was unexpected and was led by a 14.5% increase in the Midwest.