Bank of America

For the Sanchez family, their house represents more than just a home for their family. It is a ten year investment in the well-being of their daughter, Jessica. Jessica was born with a defect called Spina Bifida, which renders her unable to walk. But now, after all of their work, the family is about to lose their home to foreclosure.

When the economy collapsed, father Gustavo Sanchez lost his job and has struggled ever since to find work in construction. The family fell behind on their mortgage payments and now Bank of America is refusing to work with the family to allow them to keep their home.

“For our daughter’s sake, we need to keep our home,” said Silvia Sanchez, “We can’t just move anywhere; our daughter needs special accommodations.”

The seedy underbelly of the derivatives market:

The charges filed Thursday are related to a wide-ranging government investigation of the U.S. municipal bond market. In December 2010, four federal agencies and 20 states announced a sweeping $137 million settlement with Bank of America for its role in a scam authorities said defrauded state agencies, cities and nonprofits that sought to invest with banks the millions they borrowed through bond offerings for hospitals, apartment complexes and other projects.

I know I've harped on this before, and I'm going to keep on harping until the cash cow comes home: As long as banks and other financial institutions continue to favor derivatives and other "exotic products" over sound (direct) investment in business, our economy will continue to struggle.

There's more than one way to skin a (Citizens United) cat:

“Citizens United conferred expanded freedom to corporations and unions to make political donations, but exercising that freedom exposes companies and their shareholders to significant risk,” said Shelley Alpern of Trillium, which filed the proposals at 3M and Bank of America. “Better means exist for those in the business community to express their political and policy preferences that do not divert shareholder resources toward political ends that they may not support and which may cause public controversy.”

This article is somewhat dated, but if I heard the rep from Trillium on the radio a few minutes ago correctly, the proposal to discontinue BofA's political contributions will be voted on today. And it would be a public relations coup for the embattled mega-bank.

This probably won't win me any friends here, but truth is truth, and my intention is sincere constructive criticism.

There's a short piece posted this afternoon at NC Policy Watch that disappoints me. You see, I expect accuracy from those claiming to report on such important matters as my state legislature, etc., but on this one they seem to have dropped the ball in a pretty big way. Here's what was reported.

Another way for banks to get your money

Just when you thought you have seen it all with the big banks, they come up with even more obnoxious ways to make money, in this case with the full cooperation of the State of South Carolina.

The Charlotte Observer reports that taxpayers in South Carolina who are due a refund on their state taxes and don’t specifically request a check from the state will receive a Bank of America debit card instead.

In the couple of weeks since we switched from Bank of America to the North Carolina State Employees Credit Union, my family has moved from cautiously optimistic to very, very happy. Update below the fold.

Seven business days later.

If I had any hair on my head, I would have pulled it out today. Bank of America's website has been slow as molasses.

After more than 30 years as a customer of NCNB, Nationsbank, and now Bank of America, I began the arduous process of closing my accounts today. I say "arduous" because I have a host of automatic transfers and payments, plus a fully loaded online banking profile with more than 50 companies, individuals, and non-profit organizations listed in bill-pay. Switching banks is a total pain in the ass.

To put this change in perspective, I have generally not been unhappy with the service I've received from Bank of America over the years. In fact, it's been surprisingly good. I almost never pay fees, owing to a very high average balance in interest checking. And my local branch always responds to my calls, probably for the same reason. I am one of their private banking customers, and they have treated me well. But my being treated well as an individual comes nowhere near counter-balancing the assaults this institution has made on average Americans and on society in general. Whether it is through their incompetence or malice, I have come to see Bank of America as a predator, led in the marketplace by one of the most obnoxious CEOs I have ever encountered. Every time I read a report about him, it's clear that Brian Moynihan is a jerk, pure and simple. I will no longer tolerate even a distant association with him.

I know Mr. Moynihan and his C-suite colleagues won't care that they lost another valued customer. But maybe if a million other valued customers close their accounts, they'll finally get the point that the free market cuts both ways. Behave like an arrogant asshole and you'll eventually pay the price.

Over the weeks ahead, I will document the trials and tribulations of switching from Bank of America to the NC State Employees Credit Union, where I opened new accounts this very day. Wish me luck.

Dr. Ribar 'splains the snakiness.

The loss of customers is undoubtedly bad news for BofA and surely must have been anticipated by its management. Nevertheless, the new fee might still improve BofA's bottom line and leave BofA laughing all the way to, well, um, itself.

From the Financial Times :

Big US banks in talks with state prosecutors to settle claims of improper mortgage practices have been offered a deal that is proposed to limit part of their legal liability in return for a multibillion dollar payment.

The talks aim to settle allegations that the companies – Bank of America, JPMorgan Chase, Wells Fargo, Citigroup and Ally Financial – illegally seized the homes of delinquent borrowers and broke state laws by employing so-called “robosigners”, workers who signed off on foreclosure documents en masse without reviewing the paperwork.