Archive for November 2008

alwaysmoose asked: Would you call it pimping out or whoring out? Lets say my brother is really good at fixing stereos and I have a friend who really needs one fixed so he says he’ll give me something if I convince my brother to fix the stereo.
Am I pimping out my brother [...]

Ivan Mantelli asked: Social lending is growing as a popular mainstream-lending platform. Where banks have failed – social lending hubs like Zopa & Prosper have successfully launched their lending services and are becoming effective community borrowing networks. One of the primary reasons being that banks charge a hefty interest rates on loans plus service charges, [...]

Dominic Mazzone asked: Distressed Debt is starting to make a lot of noise in the alternative investment arena, and with everyone jumping on the boat it might be ready to tip. I have seen numerous announcements of new distressed debt funds and I think we will keep seeing more down the line. Here are questions [...]

Silly Yak’s Wife (D-FL) asked: while i do agree that greedy banks loaning to people who can’t pay the loans is a major contributor… but where is the personal responsibility to know when one can and can not afford a loan? why is it the media is not addressing the irresponsible borrower?

Jaysh asked: I would like to borrow a large sum ($100,000) to build a house. Is there any lender that would accept a payment scheme based on yearly payments rather than monthly payments? For example, I could pay $10,000. every April 15th until the loan and interest were paid. Does anyone know [...]

Mike S asked: I read the following in an article by George Will:
There has been too much risky lending to unqualified (”subprime”) borrowers, who were living riskily.
Corrections are necessary: When too much housing has been built, the market must clear the inventory. Corrections can be painful: Housing prices have declined.
Can someone elaborate on this for [...]

gangai asked: How do the losses for Citi due to subprime lending compare to some of the other industry giants; Goldman Sachs, Morgan Stanley, and even Bear Sterns? Do Citi more consumer based offerings diversify them enough to compete with these banks?

Rony Walker asked: Home loan lending used to be relatively simple. Lenders were so hungry for business they readily accepted no-down mortgages, interest-only loans, and E-Z refinancing for borrowers with bruised credit. Recently, however, a wave of bad loans wiped out small independent mortgage brokers, devastated bad-credit lenders, and prompted the industry itself to tighten [...]

Ryan T asked: Sell at the market rate? Auction? Go into the property management business?

Babyface asked: Some guy wins the Nobel prize for microfinance lending in Indonesia. What he described sounded just like the villified subprime lending in the U.S. Is there a difference between the two? One sounds humanitarian, the other rapacious, but the rates & products sounded exactly the same to me.