Posted on 07/14/2023 8:06:39 AM PDT by SeekAndFind
Not too long ago, Wells Fargo got its head handed to it by regulators, drawing a $3 billion fine for opening fake accounts in real customers' names, to beef up their bonuses as well as fool shareholders into thinking the business was growing, potentially driving up the stock price.
That's no partisan take -- that's just plain dishonesty.
The bank had to pay a $3 billion fine, at least one executive faced prison and a hefty personal fine of $17 million, and if anything, it was too little. A small fry bank that did this would rightly be shut down as some kind of criminal racket.
Still, the punishment should have gotten the other banks' attention. At a minimum, they could focus on not doing those things and saving their banks some humongous fines and jail times.
Not Bank of America, which based on news accounts, was pretty much doing the same thing even after Wells Fargo was raked over the coals.
According to Reuters:
July 11 (Reuters) - Bank of America (BAC.N) on Tuesday agreed to pay $250 million in fines and compensation to settle claims the bank systematically double-charged customers fees, withheld promised credit card perks, and opened accounts without customer authorization.
Bank of America agreed to pay $100 million in restitution to harmed consumers and another $150 million in civil penalties after the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau (CFPB) and Office of the Comptroller of the Currency (OCC) said the bank violated a number of laws beginning in 2012.
Why the fine was just a fraction of what Wells Fargo got is enough to give one pause.
They were, after all, doing the same thing -- as if they'd hired all the crooks who get canned at Wells Fargo to carry on doing the same thing.
(Excerpt) Read more at americanthinker.com ...
Either BOA or the government.
BOA is the worst bank in the USA. AVOID!
This article bases it’s assumption on a non-existent fact that BoA was EVER good. I have a few stories of their crappiness, including the one where they let someone not associated with my account close my debit cards when I was in a foreign country. When I got back and confronted them over it, they basically said “Sorry, it was a mistake”.
The BoA CEO’s constant mantra is “responsible growth.” The type of growth they were just fined for is the opposite of responsible.
While I would agree that BOA is awful, they now hold the mortgage on our house, after we left Wells Fargo over a problem with them over charging fees on our mortgages for years. We were doing a refi and had a dispute with Wells Fargo, that they refused to settle. So, a friend contacted B of A and we had our refi in four days, with a lower payment even though the rate was slightly higher.
We actually hate B of A more than Wells Fargo, but the mortgage isn’t much and they served our purpose this time. Meanwhile we had thousands of dollars refunded from Wells Fargo in the law suit settlement. I have always wondered if the corrupt mortgage agents at Wells Fargo suffered any consequences.
BOA was worse with me. I was so happy when I could pay off my mortgage to them early knowing I would NEVER do business with them again.
The banksters at Wells Fargo never really suffered any real consequence personally. The big wigs always get away.
Did the bankers benefit personally? I picture these women laughing with each other after they got off the phone with me, every time they cheated me,
Their bonuses are based on performance so I suspect so.
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