"not every bank is trying to pay for the Countrywide acquisition"
I like this.
James Kwak again:
I like this.
James Kwak again:
-
"The only function of economic forecasting is to make astrology look respectful" - John Kenneth Galbraith -
I believe you are correct
this is a result of Walmart lobbyists.Originally posted by Snaggletooth View Post
So who is the villain? Certainly not Walmart, they are looking to increase their earnings and keep prices low. It's not the banks, they are in business to make money and the Durbin bill cut billions from their bottom line.
So who is the villain?
By the way BoFa's website is still not functoning correctly today.Comment
-
It is puzzling to watch how terribly they are handling their web site problems from a PR standpoint. They are in their 3rd or 4th business day of slow service/no service. They continue to say they are not experiencing a "denial of service" attack, and at the same time they say they aren't experiencing any unusually high customer activity.
Most of the articles I've read by tech types say that they can easily handle very high customer volume, so it's clear there is some sort of denial of service attack taking place. Usually, when a company admits that, the attack eventually subsides as the people carrying it out get their attention, lose interest, and turn their sights somewhere else.
So why won't BOA admit the obvious and move on? Is it arrogance or something more sinister?"The only function of economic forecasting is to make astrology look respectful" - John Kenneth GalbraithComment
-
Perhaps those "too big to fail" bankers are barricaded behind their desks, reduced to shooting paper clips from rubber band slingshots at federal regulators after expending their drone staplers and hellfire letter openers against the "occupy wall street" cannon fodder sent to soften defenses and cut off supply lines to the expresso machine in the cafeteria.
Prelimary negotiations are said to be underway:
Comment
-
What's Wrong With
I've got a brilliant idea how the banks can replace the profits that they made by ripping people off on plastic cards:
Make interest bearing loans and collect them!!!
God forbid! What a novel idea! None of their geniuses have come up with idea in at least 40 years!Comment
-
I thought about this thread when I ran across the attached article. I suspect that even though BOA has now rescinded the $5/month fee, they really don't care whether they lose certain customers. We will see as time goes on.
The key sentence is at the middle of the article:
"Executives at large banks have shown few signs of worry that depositors might walk out the door. One reason: People who gravitate to credit unions tend to be unprofitable for giant banks..."Last edited by JohnH; 11-07-2011, 11:34 AM."The only function of economic forecasting is to make astrology look respectful" - John Kenneth GalbraithComment
-
I must be missing something. Most people I know who use debit cards use them in lieu of writing checks. Before there were debit cards, did most people object to fees on checking accounts which did not have certain balances? Banks make no money on checking accounts since they are demand deposits. Isn't this the same thing? PS: I have no debit card, but I do have an ATM card to obtain cash from time to time (from my own accounts.) Enlighten me. I can handle it.
And there is a move afoot to survey people on the street about where they bank. If not local, why not? This may gain momentum. All the credit unions in my town and the local hometown banks say their new accounts are up huge percentages for the month of October.Last edited by Burke; 11-07-2011, 04:55 PM.Comment
-
Out of Touch
Bank of America and the other greedy big banking institutions found out the hard way.
I believe in large institutions those who accede to the top are plain and simple OUT OF TOUCH with what's going on down in the bowels of the organization.
In this case, the banks simply thought they could bang the cardholders with yet another source of revenue. People who deal with reality actually know that a debit card customer is different from a credit card customer.
Most credit card customers depend on their plastic for cash flow, and are so deeply in debt that they must live on credit in order to deal with their debt service requirements. They can't just pick up and "walk away" from their credit card, even if they have multiple cards with multiple banks. For these people, fortunately, many of them are seeing the economic folly associated with this and are paying down their debt in order to eventually bail out.
Debit card customers are pay-as-you-go type people, who prefer NOT using credit. These folks carry significant depositor balances in their bank accounts, and when they "walk" the bank really feels the hurt if they do it in large numbers.
For my part in it, I was glad to see the impact of thousands of people leaving these large institutions. The well-advertised notion that a large company uses its vast resources to serve its customers better is a myth. Their "vast resources" carry with them the seeds of inefficiency, unaccountability, and plenty of smokescreens to hide their misintentions.Comment
-
I'm a pay-as-you-go type but I do it by charging everything I can on my credit cards, then paying the bill in-full on time so I avoid writing a lot of checks or having a lot of debit card charges to keep up with. The only way I use a debit card is at an ATM.Originally posted by Nashville View PostComment
-
Ditto. Credit cards have historically had better consumer protection on purchases and false charges. I'd rather be in a position of refusing to pay bogus charges than trying to recover funds swiped from my account using a stolen debit card.Originally posted by taxxcpa View PostComment
-
Too Big To Fail...Still More Wisdom from Simon & James
This discussion has taken lots of twists and turns, but it seems the overarching issue is the problem of behemoth banks which have insulated themselves from normal market forces. The way they accomplish this is by becoming "Too Big To Fail" by utilizing "Regulatory Capture" to remove obstacles to their growth. Allowing them to fail just becomes too painful to the economy. But there is another solution, as James Kwak and Simon Johnson explain...
"The only function of economic forecasting is to make astrology look respectful" - John Kenneth GalbraithComment
Comment