It is usually after about three missed mortgage payments that the bank will file the foreclosure lawsuit on a home.
Second, homeowners’ efforts to defend their home will also greatly influence how quickly the bank files the foreclosure lawsuit.
Third, the bank’s own resources and competence level will influence how quickly it files the lawsuit.
Bank Secrecy, also referred to as banking or financial secrecy refers to a legal principle which allows banks to keep their client information confidential. There is great potential for fraud and/or money laundering if bank information is kept entirely confidential. The US government was one of the first to introduce legislation to combat fraud with its 1970 bank secrecy act.
The trouble is, governments worldwide have started to treat bank secrecy itself like a crime. Many former tax havens have ‘repented’ and made concessions on their bank secrecy in order to avoid being put on an OECD blacklist of uncooperative tax havens.
While many tax havens will claim to have strong bank secrecy, not all will walk the walk.
Here’s an overview of the more popular tax havens and the effectiveness of their bank secrecy laws:
Panama – Has very strong bank secrecy, breaking it could result in up to 2 years in jail.
Cayman Islands – Although it has very strong bank secrecy laws on paper, these have been waived under US government requests for information.
Although bank secrecy is important when thinking about your private offshore bank account, another important thing to keep in mind is visibility.