As a young lawyer nearly 30 years ago, I went to work in the Private Bank Trust Department of what was then North Carolina National Bank, in Charlotte, NC, for Robert Reynolds, now CEO of Putnam and a 20 year veteran  of Fidelity Funds.   Bob was a West Virginia  University graduate and so was I, of its law school.  I read an article on him in American Banker and with all the confidence that comes with ignorance and a huge desire to do well, I asked if I could come down and interview to work in their new Private Bank area.  Think of my job search as a sort of Neanderthal Version of "Monster.com".

He took a chance on me and after the third interview where I was still chewing with my mouth closed and hadn't asked for 7 glasses of wine at dinner, or a Dickel chaser with my cheesecake ,he offered me a job.  I was to be a Financial Planning Associate and help get the department started with a guy named Charles Nesbitt  and another guy named Charles Smith the 3rd or 4th or something numbered.. Southern families often number their children in case they get lost or don't amount to much.

I liked Nesbitt better because of his perspective on himself and the world and despised Smith because he had no perspective and treated me like I smelled badly.  Nesbitt treated me like I had a future and Smith treated me like I wasn't even there.  Smith had these glasses he looked over down a long nose with a professor's eruditeness and the smoothness of a Ukrainian ski run.  He had that sort of HIlton Head Tan and blonde hair that comes from too much golf and not enough gratitude and doing nothing  (at least from my perspective) most of the day. (Senior VP of Senior VP's or something ridiculous to take up space and money.

 I used to pray that he died during the night.  He never did, but I have to confess that I still hope his death is an uncomfortable one.  It's amazing how someone above you can help destroy your ambitions with just a glance.  It's a sort of cheapness and insensitivity that comes with being born with a silver spoon in your mouth and  a stick up the the other end.....

In those days we loaned money to people who really needed it.and to some who didn't.  It was a time when even the well to do needed some extra dough and since we were a bank, we kind of thought that was the thing we were supposed to be doing.  Our charge off rate wasn't really big because during that time as the bank was growing (it bought everything in Florida and Texas) most of the serious borrowers knew each other and none would've ever borrowed money from NCNB and not thought about paying it back. 

After three years and no small amount of stress, I realized that I made a much better owner/operator than an employee.  (Huge surprise there)  Not only did I march to different drummer, I marched  most days in a  whole different country.  Still, it was a good time and despite not getting good things written in my file, I loved it and the guy who really ran the bank, Hugh MCColl.   Hugh and a handfull of visionaries put Charlotte on the map and me in business.  I know there are still notes in my file that says "Does not work and play well with others."  I was hoping Hugh could've gotten those things out before he retired.

I remember being introduced to a young guy named Ken Lewis who was running Corporate out of New York.  My lasting impression of him was that he was a badger of a guy who you did not want to cross.  The current B of A Board, Paulson, Thain, Lord Gadfly and the other peckerheads who have shoved him out will eventually end up sleeping with the lights on in their rooms the rest of their lives.  His is not a face I want to see out my window  at night..   Think a sort of Brooks Brothers Freddy Kruegar.  I liked him though because of his intensity and because anyone who would fly a GulfStream 5 to Teeterboro and park it in the middle of the runway so Cuomo could see it out of his office, gets my vote  for confidence.

My sense is that he was set up by the same New York Gang that never believed the South would be anything but a collection of shipping ports, swamps, rest stops, and dog lots.  We may be stupid in the South, but we don't have to buy $55 shrimp cocktails to prove it or create loans that have three names, can be divided by five, and can't be found with  DNA analysis of spy satellite imagery..

Banks have behaved dreadfully towards their customers in this recession.  My partners and I have watched friends go bankrupt when a 200k Line of Credit would've saved them, kept jobs alive, and funded the future.  They lost the businesses because of a flawed combination of fate and time and circumstance around capital flows, risk management, and "predatory lending" practices.  When you are trying to feed your family, even 33% money looks reasonable.

The big banks are protected now.  The community banks don't need it. (they actually know their customers) and the middle tier are made up of the cowardly, mediocre and half ambitious who are using Tarp Money to buy Treasuries, bolster their balance sheets, and keep their overpaid middle management jobs while peddling 1% CD's and toaster ovens under the guise of prudence...and diversification.   As I look at them, the middle tier reminds me of a retail organization somewhere between K-Mart and SEARS without ever having the potential of becoming a Target. 

The reason I would invest in a Big Brothel over a Big Bank is that the transaction is more straightforward and consistent.  In War and Prostitution, amateurs are often better than professionals, goes the adage.   The last economic cycle has born this out.  As the bankers are beginning to get out from under their baseboards and call on people to see if they can use capital, the early reports are that they are getting the "Thanks but  'no thanks"' rebuttals.  My hope is really that the door shuts in all of their faces for about two years so they feel what it's like to try and run a business without help or customers.

As someone who has been in his own business for 24 years, won some, lost some, paid taxes, made a profit, and is building a bigger future for myself and my family, I find it somewhat discouraging that in attempting to purchase a new home, (with 50% down) I've gone through a process that makes me feel like I just crawled thought the desert near Juarez. 

The truth is that the FICO scores, the credit bureau reports, the 30 years of tax returns are all attempts at keeping Immigrants, African Americans, entrepreneurs, and anyone who doesn't have a 9-5 job out of the housing market. 

It's just all discrimination, masquerading as a sort of financial Neighborhood Watch.

All this credit stuff, forms filling, and costs are just ways of pricing the untoucheables out of the housing market.  You don't need a gated community when no one can move near it or in it anyway.

I bought the house in a short sale, on our premier lake, with 300k down and a bank appraised equity position of 275K more  than I paid for it.  Don't know how your math works where you are reading this but:  1. If it appraised by the bank for 875K and 2. I have a contract on it with them for 679 and 3. I'm putting 300k down  it sounds like to me this is a pretty good thing for everyone...yes or no?  But then again, I'm an attorney and not one of those high finance guys. Up until a couple of years ago, my most complicated finance transaction was paying off a "one year same as cash' transaction in the first month.  I never did figure out what the interest was.

I thought that Cornell was Cornfield for the longest time.  Most of my real estate finance knowledge has come from reading used "Nothing Down" books. But in this case it worked.

The last thing  I had to fill  out last week was a form stating why I was buying the house.  The tempation to write down:  Because I need a 'M*&^@#$%F*&^%$@!( place to live. was almost unavoidable.  I would've thought that would've been kind of transparent....you sell your own house and move into another one.  Unless your Les Stroud or Bear Grylis, most people do that.

My point today:  As entrepreneurs, let's get banking back to what it should be:  A way of providing oxygen to those trying to hold their breath as they run down a field of fear, uncertainty, and doubt. trying to create value for their clients, community, and themselves.

OH.  One more thing,,,,,,,give them their stadium blankets back if they offer them.  They may have Jerkwater Private Bank on the front but on the underside, it's "made in Bulgaria".

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