B of A Heiress Says Bank Is "Repulsive", Run By "Idiots"
Virginia Hammerness, the 75-year-old heiress to A.P. Giannini's family fortune and a significant stockholder in Bank of America, the bank her grandfather founded in San Francisco in 1904, has harsh words for the people in charge.
In an interview with CBS 5 in San Francisco, Hammerness let loose on the current regime.
"I think its totally repulsive," Hammerness said when asked what she thinks of Bank of America now. "What idiots, what kind of idiots are running that bank?"
She's especially annoyed that the bank bought Merrill Lynch.
"They bought it and then, you know, they found out before the deal was consummated that the head of Merrill Lynch paid all those bonuses to people. Bank of America should have said forget it," she said. "I just think what's happening is just nauseating really. I feel so sorry for my children, my grandchildren, my great grandchildren and everybody else's."
When asked if she still put her money in Bank of America, she said that she did, but not because she has loyalty for the bank — but because she was too lazy to find somewhere else to put it. "That's the honest to God truth, just too lazy to move it somewhere else," she said.
Feisty!
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When someone who is a significant stockholder calls the people running the bank idiots, that is never good.
She's just angry because the stock price is down and it's cutting into her lavish lifestyle, for which she's never had to raise a finger.
At least she knows Merrill Lynch was a bad idea. John Thain sucks at life and needs a physical beatdown to put his ego in check.
I LIKE this woman. I think they should put all the heads of BoA in a room and make her answer to them.
And then I'd pay somebody I trusted (although I'm sure that's difficult for her) to move my money to another bank as a final show of how I felt.
I suppose that's probably the most cinical way of looking at it. I personally think she's, as she said, disgusted with the way the bank, that her father founded, is being run into the ground and she's more than likely helpless to "lift a finger". If she was concerned with the stock price I highly doubt she would make such a harsh, public statement.
But hey, I guess I'm just lucky enough to be able to see the obvious.
I like her...
OMG, It's Sophia from the Golden Girls.
Yes, she was always the feisty one.
She's just angry because the stock price is down and it's cutting into her lavish lifestyle, for which she's never had to raise a finger.
BofA was originally started as a bank for the "little guy", countering the practice then of requiring large deposits to start a bank account. The founder's heirs have long been annoyed at how the management after him twisted the bank into the exact opposite of what it was founded as.
I wonder how educated she is on the current financial system (especially how much it has changed in the last 30 years) and how qualified she is to call others "idiots." She could be right, but I don't think she's right for the correct reasons.
Feisty indeed!
I'd be pissed too if MY company (for all intents and purposes) was being run into the ground and there was nothing I could do.
@Sheogorath: I agree. Damn feisty too. I love seeing older people like this. Makes me smile.
Of course, she does bring up some very good points too. People at BoA are morons, idiots, and other mean words that I can't think of at the moment.
But now that she has said this out to the public, I wonder if BoA is going to do anything to fix their problems...
meh, probably not.
She's just bitter than her grandfather's bank was bought out by a North Carolina bank.
Ok, NOW I see the link. *hedsmax*
@gqcarrick: Much less a family member of the person who started said bank. And a Heiresses none the less.
Same idiots running the company, that saw their stock shoot up and gave themselves lavish bonuses until the house of cards fell down and left the taxpayers to foot the bill. Who's the idiot now?
Among other things, Bank of America was born in a crisis and helped forge personal credit lines in this country. She has every right to be livid with the fact that its managers are idiots compared to her grandfather. Who among us would have launched personal credit lines in the wake of a major disaster? (the 1906 SF Fires/earthquake)
@TheMonkII: It's nice to be disgusted with the bank that allowed her to never have to work a day in her life. If she really wanted to make a statement she would have pulled all her money out of BoA stock and took the losses.
boo hoo. she's mad that the fortune she inherited for doing nothing other than having lucky bloodlines is worth less than it used to. now she's even too lazy to even move her money and i'm supposed to feel bad for her? i'm surprised so many posters are on her side. how come she didn't complain until it hit her financially?
@TheMonkII: lucky enough to see the obvious? more like ignorant enough to buy her line of BS. if she was really disgusted she'd have taken her money out of BofA. too lazy is a lame excuse if she really feels strongly about this
Where was this outcry 10 years ago when B of A's customer service/attitude started going down the crapper??
@gqcarrick: If she is such a significant shareholder, why don't she just vote them all out and hire new people?
Considering the ORIGINAL's bank's roots in San Fran, she should be rightfully pissed at BoA.
@JustThatGuy3: Once again, the "I hate anybody with money" crowd at the Consumerist hits the submit button.
@WBrink: you must be psychic cause the only reason she gives is purchasing Merrill Lynch and the bonus scandal and that sounds like a great reason to me to call them idiots.
also, seeing as how her stock lost over 80% in about year, I think she's entitled to call the management whatever she likes.
@craptastico: What are you talking about? She's upset that the bank has been mismanaged, which is a pretty difficult point to argue against. She seemed almost flippant about the amount of money she's lost. Also, she doesn't exactly look like she's living it up, she wasn't even wearing a monocle!
Agreed...
I wonder what she had to say about the bank when it's shares were >$50/share within the past 24 months?
Diversity yo bonds /wu-tang financial
well i would gladly assist her in starting a new bank called THE BANK OF THE PEOPLE and we could use her fortune to fund and start this bank. This would apply the same concepts as the original BOFA and perhaps help to gain peoples trust in a bank again. Hell, I might give myself a big fat bonus too.
No other articles under the 'fiesty banking heiresses' tag? What a shame....
WTF are you talking about? Nobody wants you to feel bad for her. She's saying the bank is run by idiots, which, is seems, it is. It's not meant to be a pity party for her. Read the article before banging out some half-cooked response.
@craptastico: The cognitive dissonance you feel when you see an upper-middle class person taking an ethical stand rather than voting their short-term pocketbook must cause you untold discomfort. Shame, that.
@WBrink: It's even better than that: their panties are bunched because - dog nab it - monied people are supposed to be grasping, selfish people uncaring of the greater world they live in.
It must deeply trouble them when they encounter well-off people that, y'know, have a soul.
@craptastico: You realize, of course, if they bring back the Estate Tax, Cap Gains and income taxes back to pre-80s levels, then those with "lucky bloodlines" will have less a role in such things?
So... You're in favor of such a move?
@WBrink: I think even uneducated idiots realize the folks running B of A are idiots for buying Merrill.
Doesn't take a rocket scientist, or a financial guru to know this...
I can't judge whether she's feisty or foolish without knowing whether she has any power to make any changes. If she does, then why isn't she doing anything? If she has no power, then I don't see what relevance her opinions have other than as colorful commentary.
Also, something about her comment about "being too lazy" to move to another bank sounds disingenuous to me, unless she actually oversees her accounts herself, which she might. Otherwise, though, she could instruct her money managers to move her funds to another bank with very little work required on her part.
@TerribleDecade: The ORIGINAL Bank of America nearly went broke between buying out Security Pacific, Continental Illinois and funding D.E. Shaw (a hedge fund that went bust in the late 1980's). The remaining, nearly defunct entity was purchased by NationsBank in South Carolina (where BofA is still headquartered today) and NationsBank assumed the name Bank of America.
There's almost no connection between the pre-1998 BofA and the current one. Except for the hapless stockholders who still hold BofA stock.
She's mad cause if a chicken was in charge it'd be doing just as well for $100s of millions less than the clown convention currently running things.
"Also, something about her comment about "being too lazy" to move to another bank sounds disingenuous to me, unless she actually oversees her accounts herself, which she might. Otherwise, though, she could instruct her money managers to move her funds to another bank with very little work required on her part."
Are you kidding? That's MY problem but it'd be MOVING to BoA not from it cause ALL banks suck! Once you set up everything for direct debit it's just a big pain in the ass to move everything to a new account without issue. These days ANY REASON for the banks to gouge you fees is a reason to just leave everything alone. Mostlikey the bank you are moving to will suck just as hard.
They all suck.
@Trai_Dep: I don't know how ethical a stand can be that does not motivate you to action. Particularly considering her reasons for not pulling out her money have nothing to do with financial savvy. She wears her laziness like a crown.
And obviously, if she has so much money that lifting a finger to prevent losing some, an admission of laziness combined with the sort of self-satisfied posture she's taking really grates against the lesson of 'work hard, save hard, and earn your way out of this recession' that everyone of lesser means must learn.
**if she has so much money that it's not worth lifting a finger to prevent losing some
Cranky, smack-talking grannies FTW! (RIP, Estelle Getty!)
@WBrink: I have limited financial knowledge, but I don't think it is a stretch for most anyone to realize that the madmen are running the asylum at this point.
If she really wanted to do something, she could use her significant ownership position to vote the current management out.
Damn fine woman, I think.