The Successful Landlord Blog

Usually Friday is a good day. You know, end of the week, impending weekend, rest, relaxation, etc?  I have to say when I saw this lovely headline on Friday, it pretty much blew the previous sentiment about the weekend clear out of the water.

I can not think of a worse occurrence than for Wells Fargo to purchase Wachovia, and here’s why:

A few years back I had a very bad experience with Bank of America where for some years prior their credit card department was completely abusive and refused to provide any semblance of customer service. They were rude, unresponsive and pretty predatory with their credit card policies to the point that I vowed never to use another Bank of America credit card.

At the same time, I had personal and business bank accounts with Bank of America only because there was a branch two blocks from my home. Well, that experience was another “worst.” The tellers would yell (and I’m not exaggerating here) at me through the drive through when the DEPOSIT slip was not “in order.” When I went in to get some extra deposit slips, I was told that, “We don’t do that,” among other rudeness.

Fast forward a couple of years down the road: I sold a property in Singer Island, FL at the start of the big housing bubble run-up, paid off the credit card and transferred about $150K through Bank of America to my new smaller, regional bank.

Read the rest of this entry »

So this one is pretty much a rant but read on….

The other day I received a refund check from our friends at the IRS for some piddly amount of money. I debated sending it back with a note saying, in effect, “You obviously need this more than me” but I deposited it instead.

In with the check was a card (pictured) that partially read,

If you think we may have made an error, please call us. If you are certain that the refund check is too large, please return the check with a letter to the service center where you filed your return and we will send you the correct amount. If the refund is too large and you don’t return the check, you may owe us interest.

Now, what in the hell is THAT about? So let me get this straight. If we screw up, we get penalized. If YOU screw up, WE get penalized? WTF?!

Oh but wait, this is America and we can appeal an IRS decision. So we have to go to tax court to do this, but at what cost?

Why is it that nobody wants to take responsibility for their actions? Even the government? Even the IRS who can not be sued, still will not take responsibility for their own actions. Nice!

Ok folks, here’s a nice Friday story. New tradition maybe? This post is kind of a follow-up to one of my posts called Why We Are Expected To Be Lazy.

So, I’m on hold the other day and the hold music is a local West Palm Beach, FL radio station. This cheesy “credit repair” commercial comes on saying how we can fix your credit, blah blah blah.
At the end of the commercial, the announcer says, “We take care of unlucky people.”

What?!

U-N-L-U-C-K-Y?

WTF!? Read the rest of this entry »