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“Big Banking’s $20.8 Trillion Secret” Pick from David Gardner

Sniffing out the "Bricks and Mortar are Dead" tease from Motley Fool Rule Breakers

About a month ago I wrote a Friday File for the Irregulars that was based on a pitch the Motley Fool was making for an Internet banking company — it was all about how bricks and mortar are dead, and about how a prescient “mysterious investor” at the Motley Fool had a history of picking great stocks during transition periods like this.

They were selling their Hidden Gems newsletter at the time, and pitching a stock that has indeed risen nicely over the last month or so since they started teasing it … and that “mysterious investor” touted was the Fool’s Chief Investment Officer, Andy Cross.

But now, interestingly enough, we’re seeing almost exactly the same ad … with the same headline, same “$20.8 Trillion Secret” … but the “mysterious investor” is now Motley Fool co-founder David Gardner, and the newsletter they’re selling is his growth-focused Rule Breakers newsletter.

So does that mean this has moved from being a “hidden” value stock to a “rule breaking” growth stock in four weeks? Or does it just mean the ad didn’t work that well with Andy Cross’ name attached, and they wanted to put Dave Gardner in there instead? I don’t know — Hidden Gems has done dramatically worse than the S&P according to the Motley Fool’s own performance tracking numbers (it did have some years when it did dramatically better, particularly when founding brother Tom Gardner was at the helm, but that was a while ago), and Rule Breakers has done dramatically better than the broad market, so maybe they’re just touting the winner. Who happens to be the boss.

So in case you’re interested in this one, I’ve excerpted some of what I shared with the Irregulars on May 24 below:

….

“Subprime mortgage crisis… credit defaults… interest rate fixes. Even combined, they’re nothing compared to this hush-hush conspiracy only whispered about in big banking’s lavish private suites.

But here’s the kicker — buried in this cover-up is a unique $20.8 trillion moneymaking opportunity. And early in-the-know investors are already using it to turn the tables on big banking. While making some immediate, real profits in the process….

“At one point in your life, even if only for a moment, you regretted NOT investing in one of the three following companies. Or if you did invest, you wish you’d done it earlier…

A) Retail giant Amazon.com (+17,255% since IPO)
B) DVD renter and movie streamer Netflix (+1,851% since IPO)
C) iTunes juggernaut Apple (+14,101% since IPO)

“The one thing those companies all have in common is they found a traditional industry, took it online, and started knocking their stone-age competitors off like dominos….

“Life is all about second chances (and sometimes fourth chances).

“And as I’m sure you know, those chances don’t come along very often. In fact, they may NEVER come along. But when they do, you better grab them. Quickly. Because they’ll be gone in the blink of an eye.

“Luckily, a second chance is exactly what I’m offering you today. Because a company following in the footsteps of Amazon, Netflix, and Apple has finally emerged.

“And it stands to be a bigger story than all of them. Combined.

“The next market sector about to get turned upside-down is tops in the world in profit AND market capitalization….”

OK — so that’s not subtle at all. And I’ve already told you that this is an internet banking story, but we’ll borrow a bit more from the ad to try to draw out the future dramatic returns they expect:

“Meet one the most hated industries in the country…

“Americans are so fed up with these commercial banks right now…

“Savings account rates are at near-historical lows, while banks are charging more fees than ever. The dreaded ATM fees, remote deposit fees, and even paper account statement fees are all now a growing part of the income strategy for most banks.

“Yes, you read that right. You’re probably getting charged THIS MONTH for the bank to send you a paper version of your own billing statement.

“In fact, what many Americans don’t know is that nearly 33% of bank income is now made up of “non-interest income” — or penalty-fee income. A number almost double what it was back in 1970…”

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OK, so that’s all stuff we know — banks are ratcheting up fees, partly because they can’t steal from us in other ways and partly because they can’t make money with interest rates low, especially if they’re not lending very aggressively … and the little fees every month are certainly aggravating.

So the Fool’s pitch is that people are waking up to the fact that they don’t need traditional banks anymore. Now, there’s a flip side to this, too — local banks have been doing much better in some areas, particularly for folks who still like the physical building and the friendly teller and the local philanthropy that comes from neighborhood banks. I can echo that there’s still a lot of anger about the big banks here in the wilds of Western Massachusetts, and I expect the local Bank of America branch isn’t exactly bursting with new customers … but the handful of genuinely local banks and credit unions are all building new branches like crazy. It seems that the only building going on around here, truth be told, is bank branches and new auto dealerships. Makes me wonder why the bank branches haven’t taken over the closed Blockbuster video store locations, actually.

But anyway, that’s the basic idea — we’re moving not just to online banking, which pretty much every bank offers, but to internet-only banking, with no need for a branch at all. Here’s some more from the ad:

“I’m not just talking about using your current bank’s online service. A lot of people are already doing that… you’re probably even one of us… while still putting up with all of big banking’s tiny to not-so-tiny annoyances.

“But I’m talking about something far more radical… the end of brick and mortar banks entirely.

“Look, whether we like it or not, everybody knows the world is moving online. Retail with Amazon. Job hunting with LinkedIn Travel planning with Priceline. Heck, Facebook is taking the entire concept of social interaction and relationships away from face-to-face interaction and putting it at your fingertips.

And with a 4% average annual decline in branch traffic over the past 16 years, banking is the natural next domino to fall. That exact domino is currently wobbling on the edge of the table… just waiting for eager investors like you to lap up the sky-high profits when it finally hits the ground…”

And there are good reasons, as investors, why internet banks look appealing …

“every time a brick and mortar bank executes a transaction, it costs roughly SEVEN times more than the same transaction done through an ATM or mobile device….

“Internet banks… put that cash directly BACK in your pocket through vastly increased interest rates on your savings accounts.”

So that’s the big picture “why internet banking is growing” spiel — how about some clues about the actual company? Thankfully, they oblige there as well:

“The ONE STOCK to get rich from Internet banking…

“Of course, just finding the right trend isn’t always enough to make you filthy rich. You also have to know which company to invest in within that trend….

“I already know the exact stock you should be investing in to take advantage of the Internet banking revolution.

“And, of course, that very stock also happens to be David Gardner’s next rock star company.

“Financial analyst Mike Pate says it’s… ‘A Better Bet Than JP Morgan and Bank of America’

“So you can invest without the usual fear that you may be picking the exact wrong stock….

“As you probably surmised, this company is actually an Internet bank itself.

“And even with all the competition in the industry, Market Watch calls it… ‘The Best Bank of the Year’

“It’s also what David Gardner refers to as a top dog and a first mover.”

And all that chatter from the teaser pitch “presentation” is essentially unchanged, other than the fact that it used to be …

“It’s also what Andy Cross refers to as a Hidden Gem.”

And then we get into a few details that help us nail down the specific internet bank they’re pitching:

“… members from all 50 states have already made the upgrade to this new-age bank headquartered in San Diego. And were so satisfied that a recent award touted this bank as the 2012 Top Service Provider for ‘providing service above and beyond already high standards.’

“How’s that for likeability?

“… those same members quickly bumped its total assets to $2.9 billion. Not to mention deposits and loans have nearly tripled over the past five years… with no end in sight to the massive growth we’re currently seeing.”

We get a few more details — they cite the efficiency ratio of this “Mystery Bank”, which is better than 40% — the big guys they cite are all in the 60-80%+ range (and yes, lower is better). It has also more than doubled over the last year, which is another hallmark of David Gardner picks — he likes to buy stocks that are growing and considered overvalued by analysts, and he doesn’t worry much about whether he’s caught all the growth on the way.

That $20.8 Trillion number is a reference to the size of the US banking market, so we’re not going to hit that anytime soon — but the tease says this is a stock with a market cap of just over $500 million, so the aggressive growth potential is absolutely there — they haven’t even made a dent in the consumer banking market.

So yes, this is Bank of Internet, trading under the holding company BOFI Holdings (BOFI). Bank of Internet has been around for many years, it went public in 2005 and it’s been calling itself the oldest and most trusted internet bank. The stock is at all-time highs now, thank to persistent and steady growth in lending, deposits, and earnings … and for the first time in its history it’s been trading at a meaningful premium to the book value of the company (it’s now more than 2X book value — for most of its early years it traded like a small, weak or unprofitable bank, at a discount to book).

But — also unlike most banks — BOFI turns it’s deposit growth and loan growth into earnings pretty quickly. They’ve expanded into more commercial and residential lending over the past couple years, and their earnings per share have climbed substantially. If you don’t have tons of employees or bank branches and are counting simply on offering lower rates and paying commission leads to sites like Bankrate.com, you can turn revenue into earnings pretty easily.

I don’t know how long that will continue, I think the competition among online banks, particularly from names like Ally Bank and ING and Everbank, is likely to cut into margins — but Bank of Internet does have admirably high Return on Equity (ROE) and a high earnings growth rate compared to all of the more traditional banks I looked at (their ROE is around 16%, even great banks like Wells Fargo are down around 13% and most are closer to 10% or less, sometimes far less).

The big picture for BOFI Holdings is not their valuation as a bank right now, but the growth. Their efficiency and net interest income are good, but not so good that you’d want to pay such a high multiple of book value relative to other banks if they weren’t growing so fast.

The issues to think about are probably loan quality and growth going forward — can they keep growing at this pace, and can they avoid the bad loans (or concentrated loans) that hurt the whole banking sector last time around? Banks are seen as dowdy and convervative for a reason — because they know that if they change too fast or grow too fast they might lose the effectiveness of their risk management. I don’t know of any reason to be worried about that in this specific case, but it’s a concern in general for banks that grow quickly — and it doesn’t really show up on the books until loan losses show up.

But of course, all banks are more worried now than they were a decade ago … the higher scrutiny they all started to apply following the 2008 crash has not gone away (yet, at least).

BOFI Holdings is a David Gardner pick as well as being a teaser pick for Hidden Gems, and Gardner’s connection is not surprising — he loves companies that are growing fast and can disrupt entire industries and grow far more than analysts are expecting.

….

That’s a shortened version of what I shared with the Irregulars back in May, if you’re in that group you can see our slightly longer original piece here. So what do you think, interested in a play on Internet-only banking? This particular play brings in high growth and a high valuation, typical of a David Gardner stock — it traded at all-time highs both when it was originally teased a month ago, and today is at still-higher highs … will it keep going? Let us know what you think with a comment below.

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Alastair Rutherford
Member
Alastair Rutherford
June 19, 2013 4:33 pm

I use both types, local and Internet depending on my needs. I also like talking to someone for which I have developed a relationship face to face when I have an issue that is complex and needs to be resolved. Dealing strictly with an internet bank is rather scary if the power goes out, the computer crashes, I forget my latest password change, the web site gets hacked, etc. etc.

Alastair Rutherford
Member
Alastair Rutherford
June 19, 2013 4:46 pm

Oops! Forgot to add. If I need cash, say a nice crisp $100 bill for a young relative’s gift, need a document notorized, want a roll of coins, etc. The Internet Bank just doesn’t seem to hack it. Sorry about the pun.

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Ben
Member
Ben
June 19, 2013 4:40 pm

Yeah, I’ve got a large, for me, position in BOFI. When I heard about their 1.25% rewards checking, I opened an account, talked to the people that worked there and checked out their fundamentals. And bought BOFI. The stocks paying better than the checking account right now, fwiw

Dusty
Guest
Dusty
June 19, 2013 5:45 pm

Yep! Have accounts in a local/regional credit union and in a local bank. Each account serves different needs and helps keep daily expenses and long-term stuff separated. Both banks have brick & mortar operations nearby which I could not easily do without. There is the need for nice crisp large bills sometimes for those gifts, as above, or when I need to deposit a check which is much easier and quicker and feels a lot safer than mailing a signed check to some distant address. When there is some big problem like needing to deal with attempted identity theft (twice, so far), face-to-face help is wonderful. Otherwise, I have on-line banking with both my accounts and mobile (cell phone?) banking if I wanted it, ATM services with links to other ATM networks so I can get cash money almost anywhere in the nation I need. If I want to invest in a bank or banks, there are several in Canada, Australia, New Zealand– and a couple of regional US banks that are mentioned from time to time by the analysts and investors whose missives are on my regular reading list. BOFI is not a name that rings any bells for me?

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tim
Member
June 19, 2013 6:51 pm

Stay with Cash, dont Bank on line you are giving them the upper hand and 666 will be here sooner then you want. DO YOU WANT THEM TO CONTROLL EVERYTHING.

Allan Robinson
Member
June 19, 2013 9:36 pm

have to agree: internet banking may be useful at times, but more quickly than we would like, we are drifting in to an anonymous lifestyle with less and less people interaction, and life revolvng around machines. No wonder so many people commit suicide or pick up a weapon and kill people. Ther’s no one to talk to!

Ben
Member
Ben
June 20, 2013 10:42 am

Internet banking is not that tough and it’s fiscally more rewarding. If you need money for a gift, going to any atm is free. And, if you need to deposit a check, it’s as simple as taking a picture on your phone which is much easier than going to a bank. Their fees/rates vary from astronomically better (1.25% yield on a checking account compared to 0.1% or nothing) to just a little bit better than my local banks (conversion rate on foreign currency of 3% compared to 2%). There’s no face to face interaction, but they’re easy to talk to on the phone. And, they offer all the same protection from identity theft as any other brick and mortar bank. The main problem is depositing cash. You can’t. You have to get a money order to yourself and deposit via check (which is easy, as I mentioned, but a pain to get a money order).

Having a brick and mortar bank may make people feel more comfortable, but the risks are exactly the same (I think this was Tim’s point above), and the fees are higher. I understood/understand the angst, but there’s really no reason to stick with a local bank, imo……obviously I’m biased though!

Dusty
Guest
Dusty
June 20, 2013 2:18 pm

Thanks, Ben.

Really.

It is about what works for the individual more than the actual facts.

A couple of years back my car broke down. An old car; cost of repair equaled street value. I had closed my credit union accounts a few months before. My bank refused to even discuss a loan because I had been on a cash/debit-card basis for years and had no credit record. I did not want to repair a car that was not worth the cost of repair from the perspective of insurance company rules. I went back, physically, to the credit union. The officer of the credit union re-opened my accounts and gave me a loan to cover 100% of the cost of the car. At the dealership I signed my name and drove away in a brand-new middle-price-range car. Same day. Never mind that the interest rate was exorbitant: it was the only loan I could get and it was handed to me because of face-to-face interaction. I am not a loser or poor, exactly. In a few days I had taken money from my brokerage account (cash waiting for an investment opportunity) and paid half the loan. In 88 days from the day of the loan and taking possession of the new car I had paid off the loan (saved $14K in what would have been interest charges over the full term of the loan). All of this because it was a physical presence and not over-the-phone; not dependent on a fits-all set of rules. (I had an eager buyer for the car that broke down. He paid the diff between ‘trade value’ and estimated repair cost. Not much, but it went to help pay off the loan and I feel that I ‘broke even’ on the old car. More face-to-face interaction.)

I do not intend any of this as bragging. It is an example of what can be done sometimes if circumstances work out. I consider that by putting this little story on the internet I am making myself a target to scammers and others. However, I want to make the point that I have no doubt that if I had not been working with both a credit union and a financial company that had a local brick & mortar facility, I would still be driving a car that was worth less than the price of a broken headlight. That is, continuing to reside inside a financial disaster hovering and waiting to pounce.

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Ben
Member
Ben
June 21, 2013 12:09 pm
Reply to  Dusty

Hey Dusty,

Thanks for sharing your story. And, I’m glad everything worked out. But, I am confused, I guess, as to what benefit a brick and mortar bank or credit union was. They gave you a loan, which is nice, but by your own admission they did it at an exorbitant rate.

And, if you paid half the loan off in a couple days and the full loan off in 88 days, I’m not understanding why you had trouble getting a loan at all. Credit score or not, if you have cash available (or available in a couple days) to cover half the loan, you’re a pretty low risk applicant and the dealership should have been willing to work with you even if the banks weren’t. And on top of that, no one should have gouged you for a high rate as you weren’t a high risk….

It sounds like they took advantage of you.

Rosalind Rogoff
Member
June 20, 2013 2:47 pm

All of the major banks have internet banking, or at least online banking. I use Wells Fargo for my business account and Bank of the West for my personal account. Most of the time I use their websites to pay bills and transfer money. I don’t see what else an Internet bank can provide that these don’t do already and when I need some real, hard cash in my hand, I can go into the local branch (Wells Fargo has one in my local supermarket), and make a withdrawal or cash a check.

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Ben
Member
Ben
June 21, 2013 11:59 am

Hey Rosalind. I just wanted to take a second to answer your question about what bank of internet can provide that wells fargo or regions or BofA or whoever doesn’t.

Simply put, they pay you to bank with them. The current APY on a checking account is 1.25%. That’s a checking account. In contrast, Wells Fargo ranges from 0.03% to 0.1% (if you have more than 100K in there) on their High Yield Savings accounts. That’s what BofI provides that Wells Fargo doesn’t.

Also, you can go to your local bank and make a withdrawal. True that! But, that’s not really an upgrade over Bank of Internet, where you can make a withdrawal at any ATM free of charge as they pick up the ATM fees. And, you don’t need to go to the Bank to deposit a check with Bank of Internet as you can do it on your phone.

So, I guess my question after doing all this research was more what does a brick and mortar bank provide that Bank of Internet didn’t? And, other than a person in a building, I couldn’t really come up with an answer. And, it’s silly to ignore the price you pay for that person in a building, in my opinion 😉

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Rosalind Rogoff
Member
June 21, 2013 2:42 pm
Reply to  Ben

Ben,

As Dusty said, it’s different strokes for different folks. 1.25% interest doesn’t interest me on a deposit of a few thousand dollars.

Most of my investments are in blue chip dividend stocks. I’d rather get 6% from AT&T or 3% from General Mills. Jimmy Fallon did a commercial for a credit card that pays back a percent of the fee. The baby in the ad threw Cheerios at him, as if to say I get more back from General Mills.

The Wells Fargo branch is in my neighborhood supermarket. So I’m not going out of my way to deposit a check there and I can pick up a box of Cheerios at the same time. I see no upside for me to switch to the Bank of the Internet. Sorry if some of us stuck-in-the-muds have no interest in running up the book value of the stock for you, but I just don’t care.

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Don Carter
Member
Don Carter
May 27, 2014 7:58 pm

There is a Senate Bill that will start Americas cash-less system starting in July 1, 2014. At first blush it is going after offshore banking and ending with direct deposits and withdrawls making cash sales a thing of the past.

who noze
Member
June 20, 2013 8:38 pm

REMEMBERpeople are out of work the nternet is not very helpfulwhen it comes to jobs

Ben
Member
Ben
June 21, 2013 12:49 pm
Reply to  who noze

Also, true story, who noze. But, let’s not pretend we’re trying to form a utopia here where we support jobs that have no function. We all read this board, presumably, to try to pick up on stocks that will over perform the market (or underperform). Paying people to smile and play grab tooshie all day (or deposit checks, whatever) isn’t a great business model when there is a much more efficient way of doing things and when doing so puts a business at a financial disadvantage. Agree?

Dusty
Guest
Dusty
June 21, 2013 1:42 pm

For Ben: (again)-

In my world, everybody is very conservative. I always feel like I am being taken advantage of. No biggie. Learn the law and the rules and insist that they be followed, both ways. I felt that the loan I got was the only loan I could get: it covered the immediate problem. I was driving a rental car at full price per day. A few more days of that would make up for a lot of other money/fees. I expected the brokerage to take a week or more to get me a check; it turned out to be 26 or 28 hours and I was able to deposit the check to my credit union account and transfer the money to pay part of the loan a few minutes before closing on a Friday. Saved that much on daily interest.

I have asked about dealership loans before (other cars) when there were no issues. An inquiry was made, the loan turned down, a significant fee was added to my bill for the credit/loan inquiry. The fee is lawful in this State. Now, when asked if I would like to ask about a loan from the dealership/car company affiliates, the answer is a solid “No!”

The interest rate on my loan was the “conservative” standard rate for no credit history, actually the highest credit card balance rate where there are no excuses for raising it even more. The bank where I have my other accounts looked at my credit history, found nothing , said “Sorry; can’t do anything for you.”

Brick & Mortar v.s. Internet in my own life experience: paying credit cards online has been that the cut-offs are early in the day, they will insist on not crediting payment until the amount has cleared my bank or CU account. Always several days to more than a week when those companies/financial institutions are taking my money (daily interest) by the day. Face-to-face reduces their ability to play those games, at least a little. Some of the gamesmanship is reduced by the mere fact that they know I will be back soon and will be staring every person there straight in the eyes. And we both know that in most cases a check like the one in this story from my brokerage can be instantly validated and is as good as cash. (A personal check can be different.)

Without the loan I would have needed to pay for the rental car for another week, pay for the repair of the old car, continue to drive that old car with the full realization that if there were a wreck, however minor, no insurance coverage and maybe be on foot because any insurance company would hand me some money and scrap the car. I had that happen to me a long while back. Then I get to start over on finding transportation. I take very good mechanical care of my cars. Cosmetics are passable; my cars do not often give me any trouble. Reliability is important to me. A car that might not start or that can be expected to need fixing often is no longer acceptable.

With the loan in hand, I did take possession of a new car with no mechanical, financial, or legal problems; turned in the rental car and ended that continuing expense; collected personal belongings from the broken car at the shop where it had been left. Some legal loose ends to cover, but I was in a much better situation with the entire reversal of circumstances taking only a few hours.

It is mostly about money and the flow of money and maybe how one kind of banking was easier (for me) to use than another. The rest is to not end in a personal bind where personal safety and well-being are unnecessarily at risk.

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Ben
Member
Ben
June 21, 2013 3:02 pm
Reply to  Dusty

Gotcha, Dusty. Yes, in your situation that makes sense. Needing a large sum of money immediately is one situation where having a physical bank location would be better.

However, if you’ll allow me to play devil’s advocate a little longer – I quite enjoy a good conversation – I’d question rather or not you still wouldn’t have been better off with your checking account earning interest in an online bank in this scenario. You didn’t have an account with the credit union at the time you asked for a loan and your local bank was uncooperative. It seemingly didn’t matter that you had closed the credit union account as they still gave you a loan. So, all things being equal, wouldn’t your money have been better off making money for you? Further, you could have set up a way to directly and immediately deposit funds from your brokerage to your online bank account (can do this with most banks now, not just online banks, I believe) as opposed to waiting for a check, saving you even more on the interest.

I’m not trying to make a push for anyone to switch banks, or to come off that way. I apologize if it does. I do however enjoy running through all the scenarios and whatnot and talking these things out. Especially on a Friday afternoon when I’m ready to get out of here and head home for the weekend 😉

Dusty
Guest
Dusty
June 21, 2013 4:53 pm

For Ben:

Third time is- – — enough? Hope you and all readers have a great weekend!!

If the interest from a bank holding my money matters, the brokerage places all cash funds into a bank holding account and that bank pays interest on the money held. Mostly and generally I make it a point to not keep more than small sums in my bank accounts. Extra or left-over money gets moved to the brokerage account and invested. I would like to refer to the post made above by Rosalind. 1.25 % is a tease. If the return in terms of interest/dividend matters at all, there are many better places to invest.

That I had the cash in the brokerage was an accident. I had closed a left-behind retirement account about 6 weeks prior, moved that cash from a deposit at my bank to the brokerage account, and was waiting for a market dip. I consider a return of the amount not lost to interest payments as an excellent short-term action.

Taxes are irrelevant for me. I just take my lumps. I am too old to be allowed to open or make deposits to tax-advantaged accounts. If it is of any interest, all this investing is “something to do” and an attempt to create a partial scholarship fund for my grandchildren. Worst case, backup against inflation.

And, just as an expression of delight: yesterday an open order executed. 30 shares is all, less than $1K. The stock is stable, 3.75% dividend, has risen steadily over the last couple of years and increased by about 75 cents in that time while never falling more than a nickle or dime. (Never quivered in 2008!) Yesterday the share price dropped by a buck-and-a-half, triggering my impossible lo-ball! The banks can’t touch a thing like that!

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doring2000
doring2000
June 23, 2013 12:39 pm

Hi,
I have my internet bank since 1991 (ING) in Germany. The free ATM-withdrawal
worldwide was a fantastic bonus. I kept my local bank, but when I realized one day
that I had not been there for more than three years, I cancelled those accounts. They
were just deducting monthly fees.
Since then I opened 3 more internet bank accounts and am really happy with all
of them.
I can always use ATM machines when I need cash, and one even allows to deposit
cash by ATM. Amazing…
I believe that Paypal (stock EBAY) and BOFI will grow substantially over the years.
Good investing,
Richard

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Dusty
Guest
Dusty
June 23, 2013 1:28 pm

Multiple bank accounts and many credit cards can be a trap.

In the United States there is a Federal Law that any bank account with no activity in five years can be closed by the bank. The money in that account will be taken by the Federal Government. Every State has a law now in effect so that the State will take that money before the Feds get it. Every bank will begin to charge exorbitant fees in the last year or so, and confiscate the money under other laws before the State (or Feds) can seize it. If the account owner is alive and aware, the money can be redeemed. It is a difficult (time consuming and complicated) process.

I am not sure about credit cards, but my understanding is that a card not used will be inactivated by the issuer after one year. This can affect your credit rating. Closing out a credit card voluntarily on your own often/usually results in a credit downgrade, depending on the nit-picky exact way the close-out is done. For more and better information, contact your banks and credit card issuers.

Be sure that every account and credit card has activity on a regular basis. Or pay off the card you want to stop using and close the bank accounts you do not use. Unneeded and unused bank accounts, unused credit cards, left-behind 401K’s and other financial accounts are all a hazard to your financial well-being.

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doggy
Guest
doggy
June 24, 2013 9:26 pm
Reply to  Dusty

One time I dropped a $20 bill after leaving the bank.

Eric
Guest
Eric
July 24, 2013 11:23 am

Hey Dusty — If you don’t mind, what was the name of that stock you got a good buy on when it dropped $1.50/share? Thanks —

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c193
c193
May 27, 2014 10:15 pm
Reply to  Eric

Dusty gave us some very Gum- like clues, didn’t he! He’s in the spirit of things around here!

I will say, I am too nervous to invest all my cash. I don’t feel comfortable risking a loss on my “security” money. How many blowups have we had in the last 15 years? 3? Who’s to say when or if there will be a 4th.

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Ben
Member
Ben
August 12, 2013 9:30 am

Knock. Knock.

I don’t know how there can be any question left about the legitimacy of BOFI after last weeks conference call. Their stock may be too expensive right now for some, (they’ll definitely have to keep increasing revenue) but there’s so much room for growth, I still think it’s a great stock.

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