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Take a Number B of A
Before the Obama Administration gives Bank of America a damn dime, it needs to lay down the law with all 19 of America's largest banks.
For nearly my entire lifetime, now at 38 years, large banks have gradually become predatory in nature; disguising themselves as being "better for the consumer" through size alone. Over that period they have gobbled up every community bank they could. The ability to actually have "a banker" you knew personally, and who knew you personally (i.e. a real relationship) evaporated.
In tandem with the attack on the personal bank, came the all-out assault on customer service. Personal service from your bank was replaced with McDonald's-like service, complete with bank employees who didn't give a shit whether your information was safe, whether you needed help or not, or even a motivation to fix a problem without spending thousands of hours on the phone. Hell, even when a fly-by-night ripoff operation violated your bank account through fraud, these banks didn't care enough to investigate, let alone pursue the money and get it back for consumers.
I remember back in college and when I was a young adult, being showered with credit card offers, and then unceremoniously being screwed by every credit card company I dealt with in one way or another. When the credit card companies became the banks, and the banks became the most ruthless screwers of all -- using debit card fees as their hook in everyone's spine; I was hardly surprised.
Then came the mouse-and-cheese-laden trap of asset management and consumer lending. These companies sold people mortgages, gave them credit lines, and encouraged small businesses to borrow money; none of which any of the aforementioned borrowers could afford. These victims of course became victims because they never had the financial training necessary to know when the bus was about to hit them, again because the personal relationship with the banker who taught us these things was no longer there. I know, I am one of them.
Finally, to protect themselves and get even more money in their coffers, they created cultures of greed within their organizations that inspired methods and processes for cultivating consumers through lies and deception at all levels. From the front-line teller, to the retail manager, to the investment banker, to the fund broker; all were taught to lie and deny better than a 70's used car salesman.
The effect of all of this greed was to inbreed an expectation of high salaries, inflated bonuses, Congressmen and women on-the-take, and government oversight that was a joke...literally everywhere in the United States.
This all needs to end before Bank of America gets $34 Billion more bucks, or any of the other big 19 get another damn dime. I want that money put towards giving small businesses, start-ups, innovators, students, and the average Jane and John Does of the world a way to fix their damaged credit profiles. This can only be achieved through active consumer education, programmatic financial repair packages for all, and massively-enhanced and strengthened oversight over the entire financial industry from banks to brokers.
President Obama and Members of Congress: Don't screw this up. Don't allow the big 19 or Wall Street to bully you into giving them anything less than a total reform package for the entire financial industry. We voted for change, and we mean it this time. The time for corporate stimulus is over. The time for stimulus and help for the American people takes higher priority.
To B of A and the big 19: Take a number. We are in line in front of you, and your business doesn't deserve our tax money until you clean up your act.
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Exactly what bad event would happen if the big 19 went kaput and the people who deposited money with them got checks to take to their local banks or CREDIT UNIONS to start new accounts? That is what I have not been able to figure out. These guys are listed as "too big to fail," and I keep saying "so what?"
I could care less if B of A continues or not, I switched from B of A to a credit union when they started to totter, and was glad of it when they charged some wacky fees.
Switch to a local bank (as the author suggests) or even better, a credit union.
"Your business does not deserve our money until you clean up your act". Your business does not deserve our money period.
The sad truth is that the banks really didn't deserve your business in the past, either. After all, you kept borrowing more money than you can repay.
:-)
Banks giving loans to people who might not pay it back is bad business. but its not criminal.
People making 40K and saying they make 200K (or even 50K) in a mortgage application are commiting a crime.
look at the morons who lied on their applications to get a loan first. then go after the banks.
I want it all! I want it now! I WANT IT NOW......BBBEEEEEEEHHHEEEEEEEEAAAAAHHHHHHH..
MOMMY! THE UGLY BANKER IS NOT FUNDING MY NEW CAR ANY MORE!
:-)
I dont get it.
We are complaining that banks gave too many loans and caused this mess.
We are now complaining that banks have stopped giving away free credit.
cant have it both ways. Hopefully this mess will teach the banks to start responsible lending again.
for home loans thats MINIMUM 20% downpayment. If a person cant make a 20% downpayment, he DOESNT DESERVE to live in a home. he should be renting.
since when did renting become bad? we have become a nation of entitlement mentality.
Yeah, but look at the handwriting on the paperwork, you will see that the change in income from 40K to 200K was not the same handwriting as the person who signed for the loan, but instead was the same handwriting as the person who underwrote the loan!
OK... so we have one more person who is linking his spiritual quest for happiness to the punishment of a bank. Just why do I not believe that this is a solution to the problem?
Anybody wants to take a guess?
Hmmm...
Where or when did I ever say that? No, I don't require punishment of a bank, nor do I link it to my spiritual quest for happiness.
Clearly you don't take the idea seriously, and you haven't really read exactly what my arguments are in the piece. If you want to take on solutions, name some. If you are just criticizing to be a smart apple, let me give you a piece of advice.
Have a point, and leave out personal judgments when you do it. This isn't about spiritual anything...it is about accountability, and a return to relationships, responsibility, and real customer service and ethics returning to an institution which should be about such things. Business in the global connected economy has become split between personal and impersonal, conscious of humanity vs. absolute void of any conscience.
In the Midwest we have a saying...know your banker, know your preacher, and know your neighbor. If you apply that to the current financial situation, there are problems now that didn't exist 10 years ago; and the saying isn't being followed right now.
Grow up. If you're going to pick a fight; make the argument about the actual subject, not about some need to appear clever by making a Monday Morning QB amateurish personal attack.
Thanks for your comments, but you're way out in the weeds.
Scott Foval
www.scottsbigmouth.com
www.huffingtonpost.com/scott-foval
scott@foval.com Email/IM
"Where or when did I ever say that?"
I was merely reporting on the impression I got from your article. You measure time by your own age. You make claims like "banks have become more predatory" and it immediately appeared to me that you would not have liked to live in the 19th century or the 18th... you keep showing disappointment that banks are not humanitarian organizations who work for the best interest of their customers... as if they ever had done that... do I need to go on?
"Clearly you don't take the idea seriously"
Yes, I thought that was pretty obvious, too.
"Have a point, and leave out personal judgments when you do it"
My point was that many HuffPo articles these days seem to be more psychological profiles of the bloggers than analysis of the topics. I understand that people are frustrated... but frustration becomes neurosis when it develops into repetitive, self-referential patterns. HuffPo, at this point, is becoming expression of a giant national neurosis. I don't think expressing that observations is particularly personal, is it?
"This isn't about spiritual anything...it is about accountability, and a return to relationships, responsibility, and real customer service and ethics"
Actually... banks are about none of that at the best of times. You are projecting personal relationships on a business that's all about numbers. I don't know if you have a banker friend or not. I do and she would be highly amused about your notion of her business.
THE BANKER IS NOT YOUR FRIEND. Never was. Never will be. He or she is the person, though, who can give you a lot more money than you have. Now, I wonder how many of your friends will give you six times your annual salary in cash in return for a signature? Any?
"In the Midwest we have a saying...know your banker, know your preacher, and know your neighbor."
What can I say... "We're not in Kansas any more, Toto!" ... seems fitting.
"If you apply that to the current financial situation, there are problems now that didn't exist 10 years ago"
I would never apply such a romantic notion to anything. More importantly, Japan had exactly the same problem in the early 1990s. Of course, most Americans weren't paying attention and are now genuinely surprised.
"This all needs to end before Bank of America gets $34 Billion more bucks"
Why does this all have to end? Because it hurts? We should have thought about that before we bet the house on "Real estate prices always go up!". Sorry. Reality sometimes hurts. Adults can deal with that and take the pain one day at a time. This is just another day.
"Grow up"
I did, about a decade ago. How about you?
"If you're going to pick a fight; make the argument about the actual subject"
There is nothing to fight about here. You thought you wrote about banks and I pointed out that you really wrote about yourself. You can decide to reflect about my observation or squarely reject the idea. If you do the latter, there is nothing to talk about and I wish you a nice day.
What a horrible idea, having a personal relationship with our banker, instead of the bank being a faceless corperation!!!
I can't help wondering how much B of A stock you own to respond this way KTM.
Unfortunately I am also losing faith in Obama's ability to maintain separation from the moneyed. His administration is thick with folks from the banking, finance, and corporate communities. In my heart I believe he's trying to do the right thing, but the bottom line is that he has way too many people who are connected at the hip to high finance and Wall Street. That doesn't mean we shouldn't keep up the pressure, though. I'm spending every waking moment trying to write more about it, talk about it, and I'll be doing a lot more reporting about it as we move along. Thanks for your comments!
--
Scott Foval
www.scottsbigmouth.com
www.huffingtonpost.com/scott-foval
scott@foval.com Email/IM
1-847-380-9028 / fovalgroup Office/Skype
1-312-519-6466 Mobile
That train left the station.
Obama's actions indicate that he will do whatever it takes to give the banksters any money they need to keep the outrageous compensation packages flowing at the banks.
It seems he'll likely do a little show, and ask for a couple of executives to resign (with their montrous platinum parachutes intact, of course). But, overall, the welfare for millionare banksters will continue.
It's fascinating to read the press and see how the great the recovery is going - only 500,000 more people lost their job this month, less than expected! Unemployment is up to 8.9%. We're not reducing unemployment, only slowing the fall.
The lesson of ValuJet Flight 592 is that even when decent is slow, a crash is a crash.
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