Money: Videos & News About Money: Finance News // Current

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2 days ago

Bailed Out Companies Spend $71 million on Lobbying

A year after taxpayers forked over $700 billion to help rescue the biggest names in banking, insurance and the automotive... more

knews121
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Somalis get first-ever debit card

A money-transfer company has made a piece of banking history in Somalia - introducing the first-ever debit card in the breakaway... more

knews121
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Bank of America to Take Over Taylor, Bean and Whitaker Mortgage Co. Loans

Taylor, Bean and Whitaker Mortgage Company filed for bankruptcy earlier this August, and problems for the customers continue. The... more

IlyceGlink
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Do You Qualify for a Loan Modification?

Loan modifications are hard for homeowners to figure out. Many get mixed signals about whether they qualify for a loan... more

IlyceGlink
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This Isn't Hogwarts! A Harry Potter Song

Wow, this is one of the catchiest Harry Potter songs ive ever heard. This is sweet. It really puts me in the mood to fee Harry... more

BoshStudios
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Glitch hits Visa users with more than $23 quadrillion charge

A technical snafu left some Visa prepaid cardholders stunned and horrified Monday to see a $23,148,855,308,184,500 charge on their statements.

That's about 2,007 times the size of the national debt.

Josh Muszynski, 22, of Manchester, New Hampshire, was one Visa customer aghast to find the 17-digit charge on his bill. Adding insult to injury, he had also been hit with a $15 overdraft fee.

He noticed that his debt exceeded the world GDP while making a routine balance inquiry on his online Bank of America account. According to his statement, he had spent the profound sum in one pop at a nearby Mobil gas station -- his regular stop for Camel cigarettes.

"Very, very panicked," he jumped in his car and sped to the station.

Had they perhaps noticed any "outrageous" charges come across their books recently, he inquired of the cashier there. She checked the records. They had not. Watch the story of an astounded customer in Memphis, Tennessee »

Muszynski wondered aloud what he might possibly have asked to purchase for such an astronomical price. "Can I buy Europe on pump 4?"

He next called Bank of America, the issuer of his Visa prepaid debit card. The bank kept him on hold for two hours, during which time he contemplated the impossibly bleak financial future that might await him. He also felt a stab of fear that he had saddled all his unborn grandchildren -- and their grandchildren -- with a lifetime of debt. "Down the generational line, nobody would have any money."

Finally, a bank representative told him that the $23 quadrillion charge -- and the $15 overdraft fee -- would be stricken from his account.

Muszynski compared the giant debt reprieve to receiving "an amazing Monopoly card that says, 'Bank error in your favor.' "

In a statement, Visa said the rogue charges affected "fewer than 13,000 prepaid transactions" and resulted from a "temporary programming error at Visa Debit Processing Services ... [which] caused some transactions to be inaccurately posted to a small number of Visa prepaid accounts."

The company assured customers that the problem has been fixed and that all falsely issued fees have been voided. "Erroneous postings have been removed ... this incident had no financial impact on Visa prepaid cardholders."A technical snafu left some Visa prepaid cardholders stunned and horrified Monday to see a $23,148,855,308,184,500 charge on their... more

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4 months ago

Mega melted wax out of a Carpet !!

Lift up the carpet. Put a roasting pan under the wax mess. Pour boiling water slowly on the wax. The wax will drip into the... more

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4 months ago

Mold, Lead, and Leftover Meth Causing Heartache for Homeowners

If you’re allergic to black mold, living in a house that has black mold hidden in the walls could actually kill you. Lead... more

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4 months ago

Lawyer gets 20 years in $700 million fraud

Marc S. Dreier, once a high-flying New York lawyer who orchestrated an elaborate fraud scheme that bilked hedge funds and other investors of $700 million, was sentenced on Monday to 20 years in prison by a judge who rejected the government’s request for a much longer sentence.

Prosecutors had recommended a sentence of 145 years, just five years less than was successfully sought last month in the case of Bernard L. Madoff for his multibillion-dollar Ponzi scheme.

But the judge, Jed S. Rakoff of Federal District Court in Manhattan, distinguished Mr. Dreier’s case from Mr. Madoff’s, in which prosecutors have said there were thousands of victims and billions of dollars in losses.

By contrast, the judge referred to Mr. Dreier’s victims, including a small group of hedge funds and other investors — who lost about $400 million — as well as hundreds of employees who lost their jobs when his law firm collapsed.

“Mr. Dreier is not going to get much sympathy from this court,” Judge Rakoff said, “but he is not Mr. Madoff from any analysis, and that’s why I can’t understand why the government is asking for 145 years.”

In carrying out his scheme, Mr. Dreier sold fake promissory notes to the hedge funds and other investors. He created phony financial statements and accounting documents, and paid people to impersonate others to trick prospective investors into believing the notes were genuine.

Mr. Dreier’s case exploded into public view in December, when he was arrested in Toronto after trying to impersonate an employee of the Ontario Teachers’ Pension Plan in an attempt to sell a fake note for millions of dollars.

Prosecutors have also said that Mr. Dreier, 59, a graduate of Yale University and Harvard Law School, stole more than $46 million from his clients.

Mr. Dreier pleaded guilty in May to all eight charges in the indictment against him, which included conspiracy, securities and wire fraud and money laundering. When Judge Rakoff asked on Monday whether the government’s request for 145 years was serious, a federal prosecutor, Jonathan R. Streeter, replied, “We’re serious about asking for a sentence of life imprisonment.”

When the judge pressed him, Mr. Streeter said that any term of more than 30 years would accomplish that goal.

Mr. Streeter cited what he called “the unbelievable abuse of trust that occurred in this case.”

He also cited the judge’s own comments when Mr. Dreier pleaded guilty, that Mr. Dreier had “shown that he is to be ranked with those who have committed some of the most egregious frauds in history,” and that he had “disgraced the honorable profession of law.”

Mr. Streeter also reiterated the government’s position that Mr. Dreier had used the proceeds of his scheme to finance a lavish lifestyle. He owned a luxury apartment on the Upper East Side, properties in the Hamptons, a valuable art collection, expensive cars and an $18 million yacht, documents show.Marc S. Dreier, once a high-flying New York lawyer who orchestrated an elaborate fraud scheme that bilked hedge funds and other... more