All Forum Posts by: Corey Dutton

A smaller banking institution out of Wisconsin, Associated Bank, is closing some of its branch locations in order to fund the growing trend it sees in mobile banking. CFO, Christopher Del Moral-Niles says the bank has plans to close 1/3 of its branches, “If we close four branches,” Del Moral-Niles said, “assuming an annual spend of $2.5 million per branch — that’s now $10 million we can invest in mobile.”

Associated Bank began promoting its mobile banking app in 2012. The app allows banking customers to make deposits, handle payments between customers, text chat, etc. With more and more of the new generations of banking customers preferring to banking online, mobile seems to be a good investment for Associated Bank. But with this investment comes another investment, that is, in mobile security. With hackers always devising new tricks and techniques to defeat firewalls, banks that do go mobile in a big way will also face security challenges in a big way.

Posted by Corey Curwick Dutton, Hard Money Lender

Thanks @James Loisou ! I got this thought from a great book I read recently by a negotiator who used to train people to defeat Wal-Mart negotiators. Book is a must read, titled: 'Start With No.' The author recently passed away I regret to say, but the tactics he teaches in this book will live forever. 

Thanks for your comment. I don't think it's ever necessary to be ruthless in any business or investment dealing. As best said by the late Maya Angelou, with regard to being brutally honest, "One doesn't have to be brutal about anything." This is so true. I think the point is not to try and win popularity contests, but rather, to be effective and thus worthy of respect. I've seen plenty of people in real estate investing who weren't necessarily charming, but I like dealing with them because they are effective in their dealings. On the flip side, I've seen people in real estate investing that were well liked, but people still view them as flaky or unreliable. 

Since I entered the business world, I've always had a strong motivation to be liked by my associates. I think most people in business want to be liked, in fact, sales success has always been linked to strong interpersonal skills. Or is it? I personally believe, after years of business and negotiation experience, that one does not have to be “liked” in business. Instead, one must be respected and effective in business to achieve lasting success.

Relationships develop after years of effective business dealings, not the other way around, as popular belief holds. For example, how many effective business dealings have rooted from a former personal relationship? The most common belief in business is that making friends leads to effective business dealings. My experience is the opposite. I’ve rarely seen effective business dealings come from interpersonal relationships such as golfing buddies or family friends. Instead I’ve seen business associates turn into friends or golfing buddies after many years of effective business dealings.

Don’t continue to focus on being “liked” in business at all costs. You actually may botch up a good business deal as a result of trying so hard to be liked. Focus instead on being respected and effective in your business dealings, and this may eventually lead to being “liked.” But remember, being liked is not the ultimate goal, being respected and effective is.

Posted by Corey Curwick Dutton of Private Money Utah

Borrowers are always searching online for a posted, daily hard money loan interest rates, the same as they would search for today’s rate on a 30-year mortgage. But there is no published, daily interest rate for hard money. Although many people wish that there were, it just doesn't exist. There are many reasons, but a couple explanations include the following. A hard money loan interest rate is often governed by the personal preference of the non-bank, private money lender that is offering the loan interest rate. Also, hard money loan interest rates can be based on supply and demand, the risk associated with the asset or borrower, or even the speed at which the loan must be funded. These factors, but not limited to these, all may affect the interest rates charged by non-bank lenders.

What others reasons would you add for why hard money loan interest rates are always changing? Please comment below.

Posted by Corey Curwick Dutton of Private Money Utah

A dozen bankers committed suicide between January and March of this year, and two more prominent bankers were added to the list this week. William Broeksmit a former executive at Deutsche Bank, commited suicide in January of this year setting off a string of suicides that included Fed officials and several JPMorgan traders. The two most recent suicides were Calogero Gambino and Thierry Leyne. Gambino was a regulatory lawyer for Deutsche Bank and was discovered dead at his New York residence after taking his life last week. Thierry Leyne, who started the investment firm Leyne, Strauss-Kahn & Partnerswith former IMF director, jumped off a building in Israel last week.

With the LIBOR scandal, and so many other scandals that have emerged since the meltdown of 2008, it’s no mystery as to why these string of suicides have occurred in the financial services industry in 2014. However, with the two most recent suicides, it begs the question: What is left to be revealed?

Posted by Corey Curwick Dutton 

Cartels are indeed alive in well in the seemingly legitimate business of international banking. The European Commission, in its investigation of the Libor scandal this year has uncovered two international banking cartels that were used to influence the Libor benchmark interest rate and set bid-ask spreads.

Royal Bank of Scotland (RBS) was given immunity by the Commission for revealing the existence of the first banking cartel. JPMorgan Chase was fined the most by the Commission for its alleged involvement in the cartel, approximately $77 MM, for influencing the Libor benchmark rate.

The second banking cartel that was uncovered by the Commission involved an agreement on the price of derivatives versus a manipulation of the Libor. “This way, the banks involved could flout the market at their competitors’ expense. Cartels in the financial sector, whatever form they take, will not be tolerated,” said Joaquin Almunia, competition chief for the EU.

Is the already bad reputation of global banking not bad enough? The alleged involvement of the said banking institution’s involvement in banking cartels is another reason that banks should continue to be regulated.

(Source: FT.com: http://www.ft.com/intl/cms/s/0/91d92280-58fe-11e4-9546-00144feab7de.html?siteedition=intl#axzz3GtZ0DcL9)

Posted by Corey Curwick Dutton 

If you use a hard money lender on a real estate rehab deal, keep an open door policy, especially when times get tough. Here’s a good story about why this is a good policy. We made a hard money loan on a rehab project that went “south,” as they say. The borrower’s partner ran away with the funds to renovate the property and, rather than let us know there was a problem, the borrower tried to hide it from us. After several late payments on the loan, we contacted the borrower and he finally told us his tale of woe. We were able to help the borrower by using our contacts. One of our contacts in the real estate investor community decided to partner with the troubled borrower on the deal and ended up saving it. The property was completed in less than 3 weeks and on the market, and we didn’t even have to lend the borrower more funds to complete it!

If you encounter major problems in a real estate deal, don’t clam up! If you have a hard money lender that you know and trust, use their resources when times get tough.

Posted by Corey Curwick Dutton 

According to a RealtyTrac foreclosure report released in June, foreclosure numbers are dropping nationwide. In June 2014, ten U.S. States saw the lowest level of foreclosures since August of 2006.

“Over the next six to nine months, nationwide foreclosure numbers should start to flat line at consistent historically normal levels,” said RealyTrac’s VP, Daren Blomquist.

Some additional information that came from June’s report saw an increase in foreclosure activity in nine States in the first half of 2014 (versus 1 year ago). The U.S. States that saw an increase in foreclosure activity included: New Jersey, Maryland, Iowa, Massachusetts, and Connecticut.

Posted by Corey Curwick Dutton 

This was one critic’s response to the recent announcement by the U.S. Department of Justice that it is about to ink a settlement with Bank of America regarding allegations that the bank misrepresented the quality of the mortgage-backed securities it sold to investors. At a staggering $16.7 billion, this is the largest settlement ever paid in U.S. history by a company to U.S. regulators. But this has raised the pending question among critics as to why executives of the bank are not being held accountable, and further, that these individuals should be facing criminal charges. Dennis Kelleher, president of the nonprofit ‘Better Markets,’ was quoted as saying, “We do not know the name of a single individual involved and not a single individual is held accountable. Banks don't commit crimes, bankers do."

Other critics say that only $5 billion of the settlement amount that B of A is set to pay is NOT tax deductible. In other words, B of A is just going to write off the settlement and move on. It’s no surprise then that the response of investors to the pending settlement was that the bank’s stock rose 4.1% last week.

Posted by Corey Curwick Dutton