Financial Horror Stories

The scariest stories are true, as you will soon see. In this dark corner of the world exorbitant interest rates lurk around every corner and refinancing a mortgage isn't always what it seems.

Though the names have been changed, these tales of true-life horror were sent in by Bankrate readers. Cringe in terror at the customer service department designed for disservice. Shriek in fright at the lies told by salesmen to sell their nefarious wares. The Bankrate chamber of financial horrors is waiting for you, if you dare.

Just in time for Halloween, Bankrate.com has some financial horror stories. Read about monstrous mortgages, fraud alerts being placed on an out-of-town shopper, universal default clauses, and other tales of woe.

Another scary story is about SAR, Suspicious Activity Reports. It's a program designed to attack the finances of terrorists, by requiring banks to report suspicious activity to the Treasury department. The problem is that the guidelines are so vague that a lot of innocuous activity is reported, making real terrorist transactions into the proverbial needle in the haystack. Over 900,000 SARs were filed in 2005, and about a million will be filed this year.

What can trigger a Suspicious Activity Report? Any out of the ordinary transaction or group of transactions totaling over $5,000 can trigger a SAR.