WHILE ON a recent trip to Japan, I heard a story about an OFW driver who nearly wasted away his earnings. He worked in Japan for close to 30 years, and at one point was earning an equivalent of P400,000 a month with overtime pay. He had a wife and child back home in the Philippines and was able to send his child to school. However, he was always out drinking at bars in expensive Tokyo while having several relationships with other women. “Puro good time,” they say.

Well the guy wasn’t able to hold on to his job due to his drinking problem. His employer asked him to resign, and he was given an equivalent of P2 million as separation pay.

His Filipino friends could only shake their heads in disbelief at how he wasted away the opportunity to have a well-paying job, and how he was not able to save any money to make his life better. Last they heard, he was back home, bought himself a tricycle which he drives for a living, and is staying with his parents since he could not afford to buy a house of his own.

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There’s a new trend in the US of companies calling up the relatives of those who have recently passed away, and believe it or not, those who work the phones are getting more success than collecting from those living!

Perhaps it’s the approach that they use: absolutely no scare tactics. They sound more like understanding friends who grieve with the bereaved, but gently remind them that paying the debt even in small sums every month would be what the dead would want their relatives to do.

Curious whether there is legal accountability among relatives to pay the debts of their dead, I checked with a lawyer and a banker. Answer: none, except a claim on the estate, if there is one.
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Time deposits are very popular among Philippine savers, both small and big ones, because they guarantee earnings from cash you are sure to get back after a certain period (normally 30 days, 90 days, and 180 days). That’s of course assuming that you chose the right bank (hello Rural Bank of Parañaque?).

I once wrote about a Chinese businessman who lived on his P50 million placed in a time deposit account rolled over regularly. He enjoyed it so much that he believed renting a house for P85,000 a month in a posh Quezon City subdivision was better than buying his own home, because doing so would reduce his stash of cash.

In the US, investors maximize time deposits (more commonly known as certificates of deposits) by using a strategy called “laddering.” This simply means spreading your money in CDs with different maturity dates, so that you get regular income from them. By doing this, you make sure that you don’t have to withdraw from your time deposits prematurely and suffer from the steep penalties.
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This just in: the central bank has approved the Philippine National Bank’s high-yielding, long-term deposit product. Offer size is P5 billion, and the offer will be made before June. Read the news item here.

The technical term for the instrument is long-term negotiable certificates of deposit. Yep, the alphabet soup is out again. LTNCDs have become another option for bank depositors wanting more returns for their money.

Aside from the following, there are no details yet about the offer:

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Celso de los Angeles, owner of the Legacy group of companies, appears to be a financial genius. He created a scheme that fell through the regulatory cracks, and stumped both the Securities and Exchange Commission and the Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas.

From the Senate hearings, here is the anatomy of de los Angeles’ perfect scam:

1. His companies sell a pre-need plan to an investor.
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Malaya Laraya, a registered financial planner, called my attention to what his friend recently experienced with a certain bank.

It’s an eye opener, especially since I have often written that if you think you’ll miss payments on your bank loans, it’s better that you call them before they call you.

So Aya’s friend decides to pay the bank a visit in the spirit of being proactive with pay-slips and bank statements showing his financial situation in tow.
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In reaction to my previous post, “Tales of woe from Legacy scam victim,” some of you asked whether Letty’s “lucky” that her pre-need plan has been converted to a time deposit because the Philippine Deposit Insurance Corp. (PDIC) will now be required to pay her back.

I wish, for Letty’s sake and many others who were caught in the same crazy scam that that will be true.

Unfortunately, based on my interviews with sources at the PDIC, it will not be that simple. PDIC is, even as I write, going through the bank’s records with a fine-toothed comb to make sure it pays only “clean” accounts—meaning those that were deposited in good faith, with sufficient documentation (i.e. signature cards), adjusted for all interest due or deducted with loan payments due to the bank. That’s the mandate of the PDIC: pay only real depositors and make sure precious taxpayers’ money is not paid out to fictitious accounts or even to accounts that are the result of fraud.
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You don’t approach a “bank holiday” with anticipation; you think of it with trepidation. There are no party hats, treats and food. There’s confusion. Even anger and frustration.

As bankers and the media use this expression, it refers to a regular banking day when a bank closes its doors and refuses to service depositors, normally because of liquidity (cash) problems.

The Rural Bank of Subangdaku did not open its doors last December 11, leaving depositors “out in the cold” and yet the administrative officer didn’t want to call it a bank holiday. Whatever you want to call it, a bank holiday is a bank holiday is a bank holiday.

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In this day and age of innovation and creativity, I have learned that some criminals have found amazing use for rulers and even the humble Scotch tape. By simply inserting these inside the cash dispenser of old-style ATM machines, a person without scruples can get money from the next unsuspecting bank client.

Here’s how it works: The guy without scruples pretends to use the ATM, but actually inserts a ruler, Scotch tape or some other item to capture the money that comes out of old-style ATM machines. I’m talking about the ones where your bills fall from the dispenser.

Then the next client, you for example, steps in and withdraws money. The machine says transaction is finished successfully, you hear the whirr of the machine as it counts your bills but you don’t see any moolah come out of the machine.
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…gross domestic product grew 4.6% in the third quarter despite all the pessimism, talks of gloom and doom and actual recession in more advanced economies of the US, Japan and European countries.

The figure is in the upper end of the government projection of 4.0% to 4.6%. Still, this is quite a drop from the 31-year peak of 7.2% in 2007. The fourth quarter, although seasonally a good quarter for the economy because of Christmas spending and stuff, might be gloomier if people keep postponing their spending to wait for prices to go lower (like that LCD television that was at P120,000 early this year but is now at P100,000, zero percent interest for 24 months.

So, maybe I should change my tune a little bit and say: hey guys, if you have the money, go shopping to save the economy! Hehe.

***

…some analysts actually believe the bear market is over, stock prices have bottomed out, but that this does not mean the bull is ready to charge. So, as my editor-in-chief JV Rufino asked when I told him about the news, what do you call a market that is neither a bull nor a bear?

***

…if you have investments in the stock market, you belong to less than half of one percent of the total population of the Philippines that are into equities! Citiseconline.com only had 6,000 customers in 2007 and only 15% of them traded at least eight times in a month.

***

…I am starting to believe I am jinxed!

Well, the good news is that a few minutes (yes, minutes) after I blogged about BPI’s online banking service, someone from the bank called me up at home (should I be scared or impressed? honestly, I’m more impressed than worried) and tried to help me with my problems. A few days after, he called me again as promised and told me the account linked to my online banking facility was inactive, hence the error messages. (the phone banker sounded as puzzled as I was by the explanation of their IT guys).  I took note of the instructions he gave and resolved to follow them religiously.

Finally, yesterday, I was ready to look at my account. Lo and behold, I forgot my password and got locked out! (that was totally my fault). So, I called up the 89-100 hotline today and what message did I get? “Ma’am, we are having a problem with our system so can you please call us again in an hour?”

Strangely, I am not really upset. But I think I am so totally jinxed.

***

…when you call an OFW abroad through their phone with roaming capabilities, he pays through the nose just to receive your call and you pay IDD rates on your phone. Ouch!

If you have Globe’s family sim pack, the best way to maximize the entire package is for the OFW to buy another sim with Globe’s telco partner in that country. You can send him a text message for P1, he can reply using text. The two sims used by relatives here can benefit from “unli text plans” but to call home, he should use his co-branded sim.

OneAyala privilege card, by the way, was relaunched today with more benefits! It’s a discount card that’s also an ATM through which Filipino expats abroad (I like the sound of that more than OFW) can use to remit money to the Philippines. Check out some of the noteworthy discounts below (others I did not include were blah):

• “preferential rates” on international and domestic tickets and packages from Fiesta Tours and Travel and discounted rates on passporting and documentation,
• deluxe room at P6,200++ and the Club Room at P8,500++ at Hotel Intercontinental and complimentary one-way transfer from airport to hotel for a minimum of 3 nights stay and 20% discount on all food and beverage outlets
• 10% off on existing rates on Deluxe and Suite rooms at Marriott in Cebu City and 10% discount in all food and beverage outlets
• 5% discount on purchases at Fiesta Mall Duty Free
• Free Hanabishi Rice Cooker for every single-receipt purchase of P15,000 at Abenson
• P200 worth of load for only P160 in Timezone
• one free donut for every dozen bought at Mister Donut
• Free one-year personal accident insurance worth P100,000 for every Ayala Life policy purchased, and
• One free money transfer to the Philippines from anywhere in the world from Xoom.