Happy Pnew Year...

North Carolina's answer to
Times Square...

Know many of you have been waiting anxiously for the results of PETA's appeal of the only-in-North Carolina festivities at the Annual Possum Drop in Brasstown, N.C. (see post of 9/27/2013).

Logan, at right.

Well, the verdict is in and the possum will drop.   Clay Logan, the host of the event, said: "We've got the permit right and now we're legal. We're going to have to start looking for a possum."

"Dogs chase the possum up a tree and we either shake it down, or if it gets up too high, climb up after it." (Got that?)

But the possum didn't come without some strings attached. Judge Baddour and the Wildlife Commission required  "upon capture the possum must be evaluated by a licensed veterinarian and its diet should mimic that of a wild possum." Mr. Logan said he would feed it "apples, oranges, and cat food, among other things." ("… among other things" sounds like the only thing a wild possum would regularly eat from that list!)

The Possum Inn...

The Judge also said that the possum "must be kept in a box 6 feet long, 3 feet wide, and 3 feet tall, which must be properly ventilated and cleaned regularly."  "That's  a motel mansion for a possum," Mr Logan said.

And, Clay Logan really summed up this entire situation well when he said….

From The Field...

Hick-up ??

"There was a hick-up in our processing procedure..."

(…. a rural "ruby-throat" running wild 
in the credit union!)

A New Light...

... a new window on the world.

... MERRY CHRISTMAS !!

Time of Your Life...

" Use the good silver."

(Yes, what are you waiting for…?)

Wild Times!

STRESS FULL ??

"We had a recent visit from our Feral Credit Union regulator…"

(Bunch of Smart Alex-andrians?)

Know It All...

Got it?

"Those who think they know it all are always extremely irritating to those of us who really do."

(..don't you robustly* agree!)

*robustly - english adverb, used frequently in officious circles; meaning:"written by an idiot"; synonyms foolish, silly.

"To QM or Non-QM?".... That Is The Question!

QM - Non-QM !!
Mirrors or Mindgames?

Even Machiavelli would be intrigued by the Byzantine political furor unfolding around the CFPB and consumer mortgages.  As Wonderland Alice once exclaimed:  "Things just get curiouser and curiouser!" 

Jabberwocky certainly abounds!




Dressing up a pig?

In case you came in late, there are "a few new rules" on how to make a mortgage, which go into effect in January.  The core, "cut-to-the-heart-of-the-matter"
 change involves when a mortgage is fair and prudential and when perhaps it is not.  The basic test of prudence and fairness now seems to be "well-underwritten with a borrower debt-to-income ratio of < 43%" - or a "qualified mortgage".  Imprudence and perhaps disparate impact begin to threaten when that QM is "well-underwritten but carries a borrower debt-to-income ratio of > 43%" - or a "non-qualified mortgage".

All revolves around a very sound idea in any lending which is the concept of a borrower's "ability to repay".  Most of us, who have been around awhile, do not find determining if a borrower can reasonably repay the loan to be a novel idea!  But this is evidently a new era; one in which common sense is not that common and therefore must, of course, be legislated.

Off with your non-QM !!!!

Making a loan which the borrow can not repay  results from either simple negligence or purposeful fraud.  It will be interesting to see if either can be legislated out of existence. 

Personally, .... 

'Tis The Season...

Giving a community service
 "shout out" through cupped hands...

Been noticing lately all the little "do good" stories 
covering credit union community service?   - ribbon cuttings, naming rights, "big checks" everywhere !!   

And on top of that:  "CEO talks (most likely at great length!) with local boy scout troop about spotted owl"; "Credit Union Board Chair attends elegant, black-tie gala for homeless (at Ritz)"; "5,000 credit union directors attend (three week) Montego Bay conference on affordable housing"; "credit union foundations (after granting year-end bonuses) re-set annual fundraising goals"!  

Great to read that credit unions have finally decided - after all these years - to start getting involved with helping others ….

We're into everything !!

Even NCUA has jumped on the bandwagon.  Everybody wants to be seen as "doing something".  In NCUA's case, that "something" is usually - unnecessarily - bothering people who do. 

(Read it again slowly, it'll come to you….)

From The Field...

About that complaint...

"I am quite sure I came across to the caller as a little crazy and high strung (although I prefer to use the word passionate) ....

(... true passion is always foregiveable - please proceed!)

The Times They Are A Changin...

Mr. Bill Cheney
CEO, CUNA

"Cometh the hour, cometh the man?"

A Wise Word...

Usury?
In Banking:  It's "us-'r-y(ou)" !

"Usury is Murder."

- Hebrew proverb

Wall St. Banking:

In the choice between "us-or-you",

We always pick us!

From The Field...



" Our lead FSR will be going on maternity leave this month due to excessive swelling."

(Was this a surprise?  Isn't that what maternity is all about...???)

Heading Over The Edge With Derivatives...

Taking the plunge...

With the full, complicit encouragement of the NCUA:

Credit unions will shortly join the "big boys" - Wall St. dealers and traders - in the derivatives market. Vying to outwit the best and brightest, who have promised to help credit unions, while also serving as their "investment" counterparties!  Should be a thrilling ride!

Just for the record, thought you might like to take a look at the current derivatives exposures of America's four largest banks...

The Proposal On Stress Testing Credit Unions....

AS TO THE PROPOSAL:

... can't stress this enough !!

Let me have this year's Nobel Laureate in Economics, Lars Peter Hansen of the University of Chicago, tell you why. Here's what he said in a recent NYTimes (11/17/2013) interview:

A True Man...

" I never gave anybody hell.  I just told them the truth and they thought it was hell."

            

- President Harry S. Truman