Personal Finance and Investing

Interesting news report that JP Morgan Chase is apparently stopping its collection lawsuits. I have not verified this in Alabama as Chase is not a huge filer of collection lawsuits here but will do so when I have a moment.

Here are some interesting quotes from the excellent article:

A sampling of court records in the major cities in five states shows that Chase collection suits have virtually disappeared. In a sixth state, Illinois, contract attorneys continue to file small-dollar cases, though at a reduced rate.

It is unclear whether Chase has stopped pursuing collection on many claims nationwide, or if intends to pursue the debts in some other fashion.

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There are a lot of ways to parse this story about the alleged video of soldiers urinating on corpses in Afghanistan.  It seems ugly, but desecration of corpses has a long history in Afghan conflicts (often consisting of cutting off male-only body parts).  And its bizarre to see people more upset about peeing on corpses than with corpsifying them in the first place.

But at the end of the day this is what I think is broken about the Afghan conflict.  You dont send warriors into a brutal guerrilla war with no rules and simultaneously expect them to be goodwill ambassadors as well.  Give

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Clariden Leu AG, Switzerland’s oldest private bank, recently informed its American customers that it will begin turning account information over to the United States Department of Justice, providing the names of clients who may be involved in tax evasion. The decision comes in the wake of mounting pressure by the U.S. on foreign financial institutions to disclose the names of customers with suspected offshore tax issues. In 2009, for example, the U.S. settled a dispute with UBS, Switzerland’s largest bank, for $780 million and access to thousands of previously-undisclosed offshore bank accounts.

The Department of Justice’s Tax Division has identified non-compliance with U.S. Read more…

To find the best credit cards you need to compare many offers. This can be a confusing task. The average person is inundated with so many credit card options, but the selection of the best out of it can be facilitated.

Consider that the credit limit is not the most important factor. Read more…