A new scandal has caused the Secret Service to fire or “encourage” some agents to retire after prostitutes were brought into a facility the President was staying at in Colombia.

One of the prostitutes demanded payment, the agent wouldn’t pay, and the next thing you know embarrassing international headlines are everywhere.  Not only was it an embarrassment, it was also a severe breach of protocol that could have put the President in danger.

Dumb move!

We all make dumb moves — hopefully none as serious as the above — but they can still be costly. Here are some articles to help you avoid making bad financial moves:

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The deadline to file your taxes is rapidly approaching.

This year you have until April 17th to file your taxes — or have them postmarked and in the mail.

 Even if you aren’t sure your taxes are correct and you need to file for an extension, you need to do it now.  And remember, when you file for an extension you still must pay any tax due.  Failure to pay your tax due by the filing deadline can lead to penalties and fees in the future when you finally get your taxes sorted out.

I filed my taxes last weekend because I owed some money and didn’t feel like dealing with all of the paperwork until then.  What about you?

Expecting a big tax refund?  Keep your finances straight and use it wisely with the help of these articles:

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The recent rally of the stock market stumbled at the end of the week with a release of a “negative” jobs report.

I say “negative” because the headlines you saw were things like “Negative jobs report dampens markets” and “Silver lining in poor jobs report”.

This left me confused and somewhat annoying with business and economy reporting.

The “negative” jobs report that is being referred to is one that says only 120,000 additional people were employed in the economy in March than there were in February.  That sounds like good news to me — it’s a positive number!

The “negative” aspect kicks in because the number for February hiring was 240,000.  So the reports read that hiring is slowing, which might be true, but you still added over 100,000 jobs into the economy.  That’s a good thing.  It would be time for a negative report if the number showed that fewer people overall were employed in the economy.

Wall Street can bounce up and down based on reports and spin on those reports. Don’t let that rattle you. Use these articles to keep an even-keeled.

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Facing foreclosure from Bank of America?

BofA has realized they have a problem on their hands: you can foreclose on millions of delinquent homes all you want, but getting rid of them before they fall apart due to disrepair isn’t as easy.

If you’re sitting on thousands of properties it takes a lot of potential upkeep to keep damage through nature, vandalism, or just general maintenance from ruining the home.  It takes time, money, and effort to air the home out, keep mold from growing, and to keep the yard trimmed.

To combat this problem, Bank of America is running a pilot program in Arizona that will let homeowners facing inevitable foreclosure to hand over their properties to the bank.  In return they are forgiven the mortgage debt and allowed to rent the property back from the bank for up to three years.  The bank gets the bad mortgage taken care of, gets to keep the asset, and generates a little bit of return in the monthly rent back to the bank.

Will this solve the foreclosure problem for the big banks?  Probably not, but it is a step in the right direction.

Don’t get foreclosed on. Stay in the loop on your finances with these great articles:

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