Bank of America Buys LaSalle Bank, Becomes Biggest Bank In Chicago
Hey, LaSalle Bank customers! Get ready for that Bank of America feeling! From Bloomberg:
Bank of America's takeover of LaSalle will vault it ahead of JPMorgan Chase & Co. in Chicago, increase earnings and satisfy a goal of Chief Executive Officer Kenneth Lewis to gain market share in the third-largest U.S. city. While Bank of America has been opening branches there since 2003, Chicago remained one of the few major U.S. financial centers where it didn't rank among the top five lenders by deposits.You can never escape! Bank of America will find you no matter where you go. It will shut down your coffee shop and it will open a branch. Ha, ha, ha! If you try to use a local bank, it will buy your local bank. It will find you.—MEGHANN MARCO
Bank of America to Buy ABN's LaSalle for $21 Billion [Bloomberg]
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Comments:
Well, technically LaSalle Bank has not been a "local bank" since it was purchased by ABN Amro years ago.
Crap. Now I have to find a new bank. I was with Standard Federal Bank, then changed to LaSalle, for the past 12 years. I've had no problems with them. Anyone have any suggestions?
@Bob: So far I've been happy with WaMu after 5 years of BoA hell... 5% interest with an online savings account signup... but I agree with humphrmi too, credit unions are one of the best ways to go if you meet their conditions and you can avoid the fee game.
Credit Unions FTW!
This deal is announced but no certain thing yet. I would wait and see.
They were saying that it may not be a done deal, but that a bidding war may erupt. No matter who buys it, I need to find another larger, regional-type bank with service that doesn't suck. Har. Anyone had any experience with 5th/3rd bank?
@jacques: yeah, about 43 million of us had are card info stolen b/c of their "impervious" processing servers. they rock!
/sob
There really is no escape, you work with a local bank, in Fairfield County, CT one of them used to be Shamut...one day Shamut get's purchased by Fleet (not so bad, regional) next thing you know BoA has bought fleet and given away your deceaced aunts belongings.
Oh so sad
As a LaSalle customer in Manhattan, I'm quite happy with the takeover -- more (free) ATMs for me. I'll probably be hanging on to my HSBC accounts, but I do have more access to more of my money.
Keep fighting the system, Meghann, with your mediocre un-funny writing and your quaintly spelled name.
What's the Consumerist credo, again? Oh, that's right: If it's a corporation, it's evil.
Credit unions FTW!
Reading the whole thread so as not to exactly duplicate someone else's comment FTW!
This sux, especially when you have a more than 100,000 in savings, then your eggs automatically fall in the same basket and they are no longer covered by the 100,000 insurance policy. So you have to move that money to another account in another bank to keep it safe...
@steinwaytony: I believe that credo you're looking for is, "We pay attention to what corporations are doing, not just what they're saying." Of course, as you've shown, this doesn't apply to everyone -- even the Consumerist harbors an ignorant loudmouth or three.
But more importantly, NOOOOOOOOO! I'm still trying to disentangle myself from the nightmare that is BofA buying up my MBNA credit cards! They CAN'T step in on my LaSalle account!!
DAMMIT dammit dammit. I want not to care, but B of A just has the worst imaginable service and policies. Everything they touch turns to fees, and they've got the art of the unhelpful anonymizing customer nonservice down to ZEN.
I'm. SO. Sick. of changing banks to stay one step ahead of the ultrasuck!!
This sucks. LaSalle may have been part of an international conglomerate, but they were very locally-oriented and dealt in person-based banking. I had nothing but great experiences when dealing with LaSalle back in Rockford, IL...they conducted business like banks used to. And their corporate HQ in Chicago was BAD-FUCKING-ASS. I hope they keep it.
One more reason to take your business to a local credit union or a bank that deals with a specific community (i.e., USAA) and unlikely to be bought out...