Posted on 01/25/2006 8:56:54 AM PST by Littlejon
CHARLOTTE (AP) — Regional bank BB&T Corp. will make no loans to developers who plan to build commercial projects on land taken from private citizens by the government through the power of eminent domain, the company said Wednesday.
"The idea that a citizen's property can be taken by the government solely for private use is extremely misguided, in fact it's just plain wrong," John Allison, chairman and chief executive of the Winston-Salem-based bank, said in a statement.
(Excerpt) Read more at news-record.com ...
Those big bad evil Corporations that rule the world have no soul. /Sarcasm
My bank gets it right.
http://www.bbandt.com/contactus.html
Regards to all . . . Penny
As appealing as this sounds,I'll wager that such a law would be struck down,particularly in light of the recent SC decision.
While this individually will have only a minor impact, if the whole banking industry in the US adopts this as a "best practice", then it will significantly reduce such takings.
While this individually will have only a minor impact, if the whole banking industry in the US adopts this as a "best practice", then it will significantly reduce such takings.
Yes we're happy with BB&T..........I utterly despise Wachovia, I had nothing but trouble with them after "inheriting" them through the mergers, etc.
Hmm. I have an account there with a very few dollars in it that I'd been intending to close, but I may have to start using it again.
Not necessarily. If I lived and banked in that area, this announcement would prompt me to demand whatever institution I currently banked at to announce the same policy, or lose my business. Lose all the business of people who feel strongly about eminent domain abuse, and you'll have to get an awful lot of developer business to make up for it. And it's virtually impossible for banks or S&Ls to be competitive in the loan market if they don't hae a strong deposit base.
Your most likely 100% correct. But, it is far more preferable for folks to take a stand against bad things than it is for everyone to do nothing and become apathetic (I'm not accusing you of apathy - your statement is merely a statement of the most obvious truth). Every little bit helps.
Wow, I may have to move my account to BB&T. We'll see how this pans out.
I admire this bank. Some things just "feel" right, without the necessity of justifying at length the legal, ethical and moral justifications for the act.
I LIKE this approach. Need to put pressure on banks all over the country to do the same. I hope this guy has set off a wave of copycat announcements.
An even more effective approach would be federal legislation making banks which lend to private eminent domain users ineligible for FDIC coverage. That would drive the developers to non-bank lenders, who charge quite a bit higher rates, and financially incentivize developers to steer clear of eminent domain projects.
(It's a nice gesture, but is pretty much symbolic. The slack will be taken up by the nation's tenth-largest bank, or fourth-largest bank, or whichever bank is swayed more by potential revenue than by the desire to do what is morally right.)
Actually, this could be very powerful, if people start moving their money and putting it into that bank. The competitors would then have to match their policies to look as "good citizens".
Let's not get too emotional here. There is also a risk for the banks, as they are likely mortgage holders for many of the victims.
It's not entirely altruism and principle, although I agree that they deserve "attaboys", since it's "voluntary".
I have your glass of bitters here, sir, it's half empty.
I predict that BOA will buy BB&T within the next 5 years. I doubt BOA will be as concerned for the individual.
Most of the eminent domain cases I've heard about involve properties whose mortgages have long since been paid off. And in today's super-liquid mortgage market, there's little connection between the location of a property and the location of the company holding its mortgage (which is often not a bank). Besides, there's no way an eminent domain taking won't pay the owner enough to pay off any existing mortgage (or home equity loan) -- the government entity doing the taking always has to at least create the APPEARANCE that a fair market price is being paid..
There are too many 'country club republican' politicians who are getting their bread buttered by the developers.
Are they on the NYStock Exchange? I'd consider buying their stock.
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