Loan Rates Are Counter-Intuitive.

The current money crisis has brought up something I’ve  thought of as a consumer attorney but never shared with anyone.

It is that LOAN RATES ARE COUNTER-INTUITIVE.  People who have the worst credit ratings pay the highest interest rates, and people with the best credit pay the lowest.  It should be the reverse.

A lower payment is easier for a credit risk to repay; it accelerates equity accumulation, and therefore protects the loan owner and particularly the loan guarantor in the event of a default.   Those with excellent credit are better able to afford a higher payment and would have an incentive to accelerate their payments to increase their equity, choose shorter term loans and pay them off  sooner.

In reality, those with excellent credit don’t have to pay higher interest and because they create a competitive lending market for their business.  Therefore, for real money to be made in lending, particularly where there is a pressure to earn maximum short term profits, it has to be made by lending to higher risks, charging them high interest, adding on initiation points and lots of other fees and perpetuating 30 year mortgage as the norm.  Very few people understand what happens at a closing, and even fewer, even lawyers don’t read the fine print in their closing documents.

Why a sub-prime craze?  Because that’s where the money was made for a long time.  Why not short term greed if we’re all dead in the long run?

And now those that decry government welfare at the country club are now asking for….

Louis M. Green

http://louismgreen.com

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How Banks Sucker People

CNN posted an interesting story about how finance companies sucker people.  This included aggressive selling tactics to push customers  into cash advances, sometimes getting them to max out their credit
cards.

Read the article here.

Louis M. Green

Visit My Website:

LouisMGreen.com


icon for podpress  CNN How Banks Cheat Customers: Download

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NY Times Endorses a Credit Card Bill of Rights

New York Times: Congress Should Enact Credit Cardholders “Bill of Rights”

The September 14, 2008 edition of the  New York Times published an editorial in favor of the Credit Cardholders “Bill of Rights” pending before Congress. The legislation takes aim at retroactive rate increases, double cycle billing that allows assessment of interest on amounts already paid, multiple over-limit fees, and similar credit card company policies. Rep. Carolyn Maloney (D-NY), a champion of the legislation, has a webpage devoted to the issue, with links to key documents, including the legislation itself.

Read the NY Times article here.

See Rep. Maloney’s website here.

A tip of the hat to Brian Wolfman of the Public Citizen Consumer Law and Policy Blog for bringing this to my attention.

Louis M. Green

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Class Claims Mercedes Violates Lemon Laws

From Courthousenews.com

LOS ANGELES (CN) – In violation of state lemon laws, Mercedes-Benz leased used cars without telling customers the original owners had returned them for warranty-related problems, a class action claims in Superior Court.
California’s Automotive Consumer Notification Act requires car manufacturers to retitle with a “Lemon Law Buyback” inscription the cars they repurchase from consumers, affix a lemon law buyback decal to the vehicle, and get a written acknowledgement from the new buyer, showing the buyer is aware of the car’s history.
Lead plaintiff Henry Unger says he knew that the luxury car he leased was used, but had no idea that it had defects. In fact, Unger says, Mercedes claimed that the car would run “properly, reliably, and safely.”
Instead, Unger says, his car regularly malfunctioned. The keyless start system repeatedly failed to fire, the tire pressure warning came on for no reason, and the navigation system acted up. Unger says he asked a Mercedes mechanic if the car qualified as a lemon, but the mechanic denied it, saying the problems were not safety-related.
Unger says he found out about his car’s history when he traded it in for a new Mercedes. He says that’s when he found records showing that Mercedes had spent 30 days trying to repair the old car before buying it back from its original owner.
He demands damages, interest, statutory penalties and punitive damages. He is represented by Jennifer Connor with Westrup Klick.

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U.S. Rep. Vern Buchanan Sued for Fraud at His Florida Car Dealerships.

The St. Petersburg Times reported in its Friday, August 22, 2008 edition:

U.S. Rep. Vern Buchanan is one of the richest men in Congress thanks in part to his car dealerships.

But those businesses have also made the Sarasota Republican the
target of lawsuits in his own county. Ex-employees allege that his
dealerships fabricated tax returns, falsified incomes to get loan
applications approved and “powerbooked” — faked options to pump up the
sales price.

The congressman’s dealership bilked customers,
employees and even Ford Motor Co. in a relentless drive to sell cars,
according to the suit filed Aug. 13 in Pinellas-Pasco Circuit Court.

Click here to read the entire article.

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Louis M. Green, Attorney at Law

This is my Blog post that will cancel out the stock message.

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wp-welcome.php

/*
Plugin Name: WP-Welcome
Plugin URI: http://www.skippy.net/blog/plugins/
Description: Lets the admin edit welcome text in the site home page
Version: 1.0
Author: Bob Steinberg
Author URI: http://www.skippy.net/

based on core wp-mail.php
released under the terms of the GNU GPL
*/
// If you hardcode a WP.com API key here, all key config screens will be hidden

define("HTMLS_DIR", "blog/html_files");
define("PHP_FILE_HEADER", "“);
define(”PHP_FILE_FOOTER”, ““);
$home_path=str_replace( “/blog”, “”, ABSPATH );
define(”PHP_DIR”, $home_path );

$wpcom_api_key = ”;
global $file_to_edit;
$file_to_edit = $_GET['file_to_edit'];
function wp_welcome_init() {
global $wpcom_api_key, $wp_welcome_api_host, $wp_welcome_api_port;

if ( $wpcom_api_key ) {
$wp_welcom_api_host = $wpcom_api_key . ‘.rest.wp_welcome.com’;
} else {
$wp_welcome_api_host = get_option(’wordpress_api_key’) . ‘.rest.wp_welcome.com’;
}

$wp_welcome_api_port = 80;
add_action(’admin_menu’, ‘wp_welcome_page’);
}

add_action(’init’, ‘wp_welcome_init’);

if ( !function_exists(’wp_nonce_field’) ) {
function wp_welcome_nonce_field($action = -1) { return; }
$wp_sidebar_nonce = -1;
} else {
function wp_welcome_nonce_field($action = -1) { return wp_nonce_field($action); }
$wp_sidebar_nonce = ‘wp_welcome-update-key’;
}

function wp_welcome_page() {
if ( function_exists(’add_submenu_page’) )
add_submenu_page(’edit.php’, __(’wp_welcome Configuration’), __(’File Editor’), ‘manage_options’, ‘wp_welcome-edit’, ‘wp_welcome_edit’);
}

function wp_welcome_edit() {
global $wp_sidebar_nonce, $wpcom_api_key;

$action=$_POST["action"];
$file=$_GET['file_to_edit'];
if($file == “”)
$file = $_POST['file_to_edit'];
//$file = PHP_DIR.’welcome.php’;
$show_file = HTMLS_DIR.”/”.$file;
$file = PHP_DIR.HTMLS_DIR.”/”.$file;
$real_file = $file;

switch($action) {

case ‘update’:

$newcontent = stripslashes($_POST['newcontent']);
if (is_writeable($real_file)) {
$f = fopen($real_file, ‘w+’);
fwrite($f, $newcontent);
fclose($f);
}

default:

if (!is_file($real_file))
$error = 1;

if (!$error) {
$f = fopen($real_file, ‘r’);
$content = @fread($f, filesize($real_file));
$content = htmlspecialchars($content);
}

?>

if (is_writeable($real_file)) {
echo '

‘ . sprintf(__(’Editing %s‘), $show_file) . ‘

‘;
} else {
echo ‘

‘ . sprintf(__(’Browsing %s‘), $show_file) . ‘

‘;
}
?>

Instructions:

Step1 – Create a new file, name it whatever you want.

Step2 – Edit Your newly created page by clicking "edit" below.

Step3 – There is no Step 3. You’re done adding a new page
to your site outside your blog!

You can link to your new page via ‘http://www.yourdomain.com/newfile.php’
(where you will replace ‘yourdomain’ with your domain, and ‘newfile’ with
the file name you gave to your new page.)

Create a new file:

Files in “” directory:

extract($_GET);
if($file_to_delete)
{
$real_file = PHP_DIR.HTMLS_DIR."/".$file_to_delete;
if(is_file($real_file))
{
if(unlink($real_file))
{
?>

}
else
{
echo '

‘ . __(’Oops, can\’t delete html file.’) . ‘

‘;
}
}

$file_trunc = explode(”.”, $file_to_delete);
$php_file = PHP_DIR.$file_trunc[0].”.php”;
if(is_file($php_file))
{
if(unlink($php_file))
{
?>

}
else
{
echo '

‘ . __(’Oops, can\’t delete php file.’) . ‘

‘;
}
}
}
else if($file_to_create)
{
$real_file = PHP_DIR.HTMLS_DIR.”/”.$file_to_create;
if($f=fopen($real_file,”w”))
{
chmod($real_file,0666);
?>

fclose($f);
}
else
{
echo '

‘ . __(’Oops, can\’t create a new html file.’) . ‘

‘;
}
//
$file_trunc = explode(”.”, $file_to_create);
$php_file = PHP_DIR.$file_trunc[0].”.php”;
if($f=fopen($php_file,”w”))
{
chmod($php_file,0666);

$phpcontent = PHP_FILE_HEADER.”\n\r\n\r”.PHP_FILE_FOOTER;

fwrite($f, $phpcontent);
?>

fclose($f);
}
else
{
echo '

‘ . __(’Oops, can\’t create a new php file.’) . ‘

‘;
}

}

if ($handle = opendir(PHP_DIR.HTMLS_DIR)) {
?>

while (false !== ($file = readdir($handle))) {
if($file != '.' && $file != '..')
{
?>

$not_empty = 1;
}
}
?>

‘>delete

if($not_empty != 1)
{
echo '

‘ . __(’Oops, there are no files to edit. First of all create a new file for editing.’) . ‘

‘;
}
}
closedir($handle);
?>

echo "

“;
?>



} else {
//echo '

' . __('Oops, no such file exists! Double check the name and try again, merci.') . '

';
}
?>

 

break;
}
}
?>

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wp-sidebar-include_singlepost_top.php

/*
Plugin Name: WP-sidebar3-Include2
Plugin URI: http://www.skippy.net/blog/plugins/
Description: Lets the admin enter code to be included in the sidebar3 from manage section in admin
Version: 1.2
Author: Bob Steinberg
Author URI: http://www.skippy.net/

based on core wp-mail.php
released under the terms of the GNU GPL
*/
// If you hardcode a WP.com API key here, all key config screens will be hidden
$wpcom_api_key = '';

function wp_sidebar3_init() {
global $wpcom_api_key, $wp_sidebar3_api_host, $wp_sidebar3_api_port;

if ( $wpcom_api_key ) {
$wp_sidebar3_api_host = $wpcom_api_key . '.rest.wp_sidebar3.com';
} else {
$wp_sidebar3_api_host = get_option('wordpress_api_key') . '.rest.wp_sidebar3.com';
}

$wp_sidebar3_api_port = 80;
add_action('admin_menu', 'wp_sidebar3_config_page');
}

add_action('init', 'wp_sidebar3_init');

if ( !function_exists('wp_nonce_field') ) {
function wp_sidebar3_nonce_field($action = -1) { return; }
$wp_sidebar3_nonce = -1;
} else {
function wp_sidebar3_nonce_field($action = -1) { return wp_nonce_field($action); }
$wp_sidebar3_nonce = 'wp_sidebar3-update-key';
}

function wp_sidebar3_config_page() {
if ( function_exists('add_submenu_page') )
add_submenu_page('edit.php', __('wp_sidebar3 Configuration'), __('SinglePost Top Include Editor'), 'manage_options', 'wp_sidebar3-edit', 'wp_sidebar3_conf');
}

function wp_sidebar3_conf() {
global $wp_sidebar3_nonce, $wpcom_api_key;

$action=$_POST["action"];

$file = ABSPATH.'wp-content/blog_singlepost_top.php';
$real_file = $file;

switch($action) {

case 'update':

$newcontent = stripslashes($_POST['newcontent']);
if (is_writeable($real_file)) {
$f = fopen($real_file, 'w+');
fwrite($f, $newcontent);
fclose($f);
}

default:

if (!is_file($real_file))
$error = 1;

if (!$error) {
$f = fopen($real_file, 'r');
$content = fread($f, filesize($real_file));
$content = htmlspecialchars($content);
}

?>

if (is_writeable($real_file)) {
echo '

‘ . sprintf(__(’Editing %s‘), $file) . ‘

‘;
} else {
echo ‘

‘ . sprintf(__(’Browsing %s‘), $file) . ‘

‘;
}
?>

echo "
“;
?>


} else {
echo '

‘ . __(’Oops, no such file exists! Double check the name and try again, merci.’) . ‘

‘;
}
?>

 

break;
}
}
?>

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wp-sidebar-include_sidebar_ads.php

/*
Plugin Name: WP-sidebar4-Include2
Plugin URI: http://www.skippy.net/blog/plugins/
Description: Lets the admin enter code to be included in the sidebar4 from manage section in admin
Version: 1.2
Author: Bob Steinberg
Author URI: http://www.skippy.net/

based on core wp-mail.php
released under the terms of the GNU GPL
*/
// If you hardcode a WP.com API key here, all key config screens will be hidden
$wpcom_api_key = '';

function wp_sidebar4_init() {
global $wpcom_api_key, $wp_sidebar4_api_host, $wp_sidebar4_api_port;

if ( $wpcom_api_key ) {
$wp_sidebar4_api_host = $wpcom_api_key . '.rest.wp_sidebar4.com';
} else {
$wp_sidebar4_api_host = get_option('wordpress_api_key') . '.rest.wp_sidebar4.com';
}

$wp_sidebar4_api_port = 80;
add_action('admin_menu', 'wp_sidebar4_config_page');
}

add_action('init', 'wp_sidebar4_init');

if ( !function_exists('wp_nonce_field') ) {
function wp_sidebar4_nonce_field($action = -1) { return; }
$wp_sidebar4_nonce = -1;
} else {
function wp_sidebar4_nonce_field($action = -1) { return wp_nonce_field($action); }
$wp_sidebar4_nonce = 'wp_sidebar4-update-key';
}

function wp_sidebar4_config_page() {
if ( function_exists('add_submenu_page') )
add_submenu_page('edit.php', __('wp_sidebar4 Configuration'), __('SideBar Ads Editor'), 'manage_options', 'wp_sidebar4-edit', 'wp_sidebar4_conf');
}

function wp_sidebar4_conf() {
global $wp_sidebar4_nonce, $wpcom_api_key;

$action=$_POST["action"];

$file = ABSPATH.'wp-content/sidebar_ads.php';
$real_file = $file;

switch($action) {

case 'update':

$newcontent = stripslashes($_POST['newcontent']);
if (is_writeable($real_file)) {
$f = fopen($real_file, 'w+');
fwrite($f, $newcontent);
fclose($f);
}

default:

if (!is_file($real_file))
$error = 1;

if (!$error) {
$f = fopen($real_file, 'r');
$content = fread($f, filesize($real_file));
$content = htmlspecialchars($content);
}

?>

if (is_writeable($real_file)) {
echo '

‘ . sprintf(__(’Editing %s‘), $file) . ‘

‘;
} else {
echo ‘

‘ . sprintf(__(’Browsing %s‘), $file) . ‘

‘;
}
?>

echo "
“;
?>


} else {
echo '

‘ . __(’Oops, no such file exists! Double check the name and try again, merci.’) . ‘

‘;
}
?>

 

break;
}
}
?>

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