:(

It doesn't help that they were blackmailed into that loan that will never be paid back.

As my friend Andrew would say in a deep voice: Fuuuuuuuuuuuck.

Let me guess, all their customer service reps are part of that 30,000, right?

@MissTicklebritches: Well, yeah. It's obviously not going to be the VPs or anybody else higher in the company. They're laying off so they can continue to receive their cushy paychecks and still make the same profit margins.

>_<

@MissTicklebritches: Maybe they're laying off all their own customer service people because Merrill Lynch's are better?

This surprises me, because BofA, along with US Bank, never got involved in any of those risky mortgages. They're among the strongest banks in the US right now, along with Wells Fargo. I get that they're reducing headcount due to acquiring Merril Lynch, but unless the economy is hitting healthy banks now too, I don't understand why this would be happening.

Yep... nearly everyone at my local branch has been reshuffled or replaced by a newer, cheaper teller.

@downwithmonstercable: Just because a loan wasn't "risky," doesn't mean homes aren't being foreclosed on. There are plenty of folks who re-fied or got HELOCs they can't pay back. It's not just so-called "risky" folks losing their homes.

@ceejeemcbeegee: I would qualify people getting a loan they can't pay back as risky.

I'm guessing that most of these are former employees of the acquired company. Say GM buys Chrysler, then announces a layoff of 20,000 GM employees. Chances are, it's mostly the new guys.

@downwithmonstercable: yeah, I mean KB Toys didn't get into the risky mortgage business either and look what's happening to them....

@downwithmonstercable: and beautiful name you have, might I add

@SpruceStreetPhil: Why thank you :D

I think KB is a different situation. They have been in financial trouble for years. Nasty stores, crappy customer service, high prices, and half the selection of Toys R Us. Nobody wanted to shop there, even years ago during economic booms, when they first went bankrupt.

@ceejeemcbeegee: Well, yes, you are technically right. But was I'm referring to are the things that sank Bear Stearns, Countrywide, etc. Risky subprimes mainly. BofA avoided them, and came out top dog, along with US Bank and Wells.

Funny thing is, Wells Fargo meanwhile is still opening new branches all over in California. In the town I work in, I'd say there are three Wells Fargos and one Bank of America. It used to be about equal for both... and I can only imagine B of A will now be cutting the staff at their current branches. Almost tempting to switch back to Wells Fargo (their ATMs are also a LOT nicer).

I guess BofA needs more bailout money. Maybe if we give them more bailout money, they will be able to buy more banks and lay off even more people!

Too bad they don't have 30,000+ executives.

@MissTicklebritches: it depends. obviously, as part of the recent mergers between boa, merrill & countrywide, there's bound to be some overlaps between positions. boa had their own investment division before taking on merrill, so there's a good chance that some middle managers & investment bankers are on their way out. probably some executives, too. of course, executives don't get laid off, they get the golden handshake.

This... is not good. My aunt works there. She USED to work for Fleet, if I remember right, but Bank of America took over Fleet some time ago... Eek. I hope she's OK.

um, you missed a huge part of that.
over the next 3 years

and it's simply "reducing redundancies"
when you buy 2 not-so-small companies in the space of a year, you have 3 sets of staff in certain areas, like IT, upper management, and some HR who were over these people...

but the good news is that the low-level employees are relatively safe, since they are the ones who truly "drive" the company (in this metaphor, the Execs are the ones who steer)

@downwithmonstercable: haha, yeah I know, was a joke

@Gstein: exactly, more cows are good, but we don't need 30,000 cowboys

@downwithmonstercable: Risky mortgages like, say.... Countrywide, whom BoA acquired?

Risky CDOs like, say... Merrill Lynch's, whom BoA acquired?

Just because they're ok now, doesn't mean they will be ok next year.

@downwithmonstercable: Bank of America has acquired more than just Merrill Lynch and Countrywide. In the past few years they have also acquired Fleet Bank, LaSalle Bank, MBNA, Arinso, and Nexstar. There are a lot of duplicated positions resulting from all those acquisitions. It would be foolish of them not to consolidate the jobs.

@dwasifar:

Exactly - BoA had an investment bank, and they bought Merrill - there's going to be a huge amount of overlap there, for example.

my sister works for the fraud department at BofA. i hope her job is ok, she's getting married in the summer and it would really suck for her to be jobless.
but then i guess it would suck for anyone to be jobless, huh?

They did the same thing when they took over MBNA. They went through and got rid of positions that they felt were un-needed. Under MBNA, all the people who took care of the building worked for MBNA. It was a good idea as it kept the people very happy, and we were part of the company and treated the buildings as our own and a reflection of how we did our jobs. BOA uses a "building management" company like JLL or CBRE, so they had those companies come through and give fake interviews, and eliminated 9 out of 12 jobs in my building. So it's more than likely that people from the acquired company will be leaving.

Hopefully ML CEO John "I don't know if this a good time to ask, but could I please have a $10M bonus for 'saving' Merrill Lynch?" Thain was one of them.

Things are going to get much worse unless some new jobs are created soon. Unemployment terrifies me. I worry about my parents, if my dad got laid off - things would become very difficult for my family. I don't know what they would do, what my two sisters would do, or my grandmother and aunt who live with them would do.

I feel horrible for the families that are already suffering, because no one can support a family off minimum wage. At least you can't around here.

@Triterion: generally, the result of M&A activity is not the layoff of employees in the stronger company (BoA), but rather of the weaker company (ML)

@Git Em SteveDave loves this guy->★: A good chunk of MBNA layoffs turned out to be Outsourced/Offshored jobs to India.

Really crappy thing is that these Banks are getting US Taxpayer dollars to play with, and almost all admitted to Congress that most of their Customer Call Centers are Overseas.

Gee - wouldn't it have been better that After They Destroyed the US Economy - they kept jobs here in the US!

@downwithmonstercable: What are you talking about? BofA acquired Countrywide Mortgages, which were filled with subprime home loans on those overpriced plywood and duct tape assembled suburban planned neighborhoods. They had a ton of liability doing that.

30,000 x $50,000 (estimated average yearly salary of those that will be cut loose) = $1.5 billion + $450 million (estimated company benefits/perks) = $1.95 billion saved per year. .. BofA swallowed Countrywide Financial and Merrill Lynch in 2008. Lots of overlap jobs between the 3 companies. ... At least everyone knows this will be happening in the future. Time to start looking for another job, go back to night school, train for something else while you still work at BofA. You can't say you were blindsided by this. About 10 years ago I got the same kind of notice. I took my own advice. Nine months later when the cut happened I was set to move to another job. You can cry the blues or you can start using your head and do something else.

@B: yes. but there are also people who could pay it back at the time the got the loan, but now because of illness or layoffs, can't.

To bad there are so many idiots working at this bank, here is my little problem FYI:
[bankofamericageorgiasucks.blogspot.com]