Detective Krum In plain English, a derivative in real estate means a value on real estate property that was decided upon various factors.  When the banks have a percentage of their portfolio in derivatives it means the banks have loans on real estate where the loan value is based upon various factors.  What are the various factors? Tranches are one example. A Tranche is a package of loans. The bottom line? Loans were made on real property not based on fair market appraisals but on how many lo... Read Full Story

Detective Krum I read a question regarding the bank bailouts and thought it appropriate to use this opportunity as a teaching experience. The question is, “If the bank bailouts did not go through, who would have taken on the bad debt?” When banks make loans to business (say auto dealers – they pay floor plan charges on each auto on their lot) If the car company went bankrupt, the bank would get pennies on the dollar in bankruptcy court. Same with banks making bad mortgage lo... Read Full Story

Detective Krum S & T Bank, based in Indiana, Pennsylvania has been downgraded by analysts and recommended a sell according to Bloomberg. S & T Bank rating is a ( D+ ) but it appears analysts see the need to sell and watch this blog to see if the bank indeed, fails.  Consider SunTrust Bank, their rating is a ( D- ) considering SunTrust Bank received about $2.2 billion.Ten major bank holding companies received bank bailouts Among the 10 bank holding companies, Bank of America Corp. was ... Read Full Story

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 f... Read Full Story

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 th... Read Full Story

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... Read Full Story

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 th... Read Full Story

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 ... Read Full Story

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 ... Read Full Story

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... Read Full Story