"What's in your wallet?" is the slogan of one of the big banks but the proper question should be who's in your wallet and how much can you trust them? No, I'm not talking about your ex-wife or your teenage kids I'm referring to the organizations who are lending you money, the financial services industry, in short the banks. You wouldn't buy a new plasma flat screen TV on credit if you had to borrow the money from some guy named Vinny down at your local neighborhood bar. Yet we don't think twice about whipping out the credit cards and taking out instant loans with banks who's business model has become the equivalent of legalized loan sharking. How many ex-home owners were ripped off by their banks using tricks like "Robo Signing" of fraudulent documents during their foreclosure process? How many hundreds of millions of dollars were lost by investors and pension funds who were sold AAA grade mortgage backed derivatives by their investment banks who knew the derivatives were worthless and then bet against them using credit default swaps? I know, banks, credit cards and mortgages are all facts of modern life but I guess what I'm saying is when dealing with bankers one should be very cautious. No matter how warm and fuzzy their commercials are they are not loaning you money to help you out, or build a lasting business relationship, or help the community, or help your business grow or any of the other lines of BS they spout. It's all about the money, the fees, the commissions, the interest payments, your well being never figures into their calculations. So Borrower Beware!
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