After more than a week of bloodshed, half of the contenders that dared to dip their toes into the Worst Company wading pool (stocked with laser-equipped piranha and some ill-tempered guppies) have been carried out in Consumerist-branded body bags. The 16 fighters that remain are bruised, but not broken, and one of them will soon be crowned with the coveted Golden Poo. [More]
bank of america
Facebook Gets The Thumbs-Up From Haters, Takes Final Spot In Worst Company Not-So-Sweet 16
March 26, 2014
Bank Of America Says It Shouldn’t Have To Pay For School Employee Who Stole $840K
By 3.24.14
For more than four years, an employee of a Catholic school in Connecticut got away with siphoning hundreds of thousands of dollars from the school’s account at Bank of America. In 2012, a court ordered BofA to pay $840,000 to the diocese for its failure to catch on to the swindle. Today, the bank was scheduled to appear in court to make its case for why it shouldn’t have to pay that tab. [More]
Bank Of America, Monsanto, Verizon Move On To Next Round Of Worst Company Competition
March 21, 2014
After three days of Worst Company In America voting, nine big businesses lie battered and bloody on the sandpaper mat of the WCIA Dodecahedron of Doom. But we are not here to mourn the fallen, but to hurl rotting fruit at the victors who survive to fight another day. [More]
Have Fun Breaking Down This Year’s Worst Company In America Bracket
March 18, 2014
The above bracket will be updated at the end of each day of WCIA competition to reflect that day’s results.
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After going through all of your nominations, then having y’all rank the contenders and eliminate the chaff from the wheat, we’re proud to present the first round match-ups for this year’s Worst Company in America tournament! [More]
Here Are Your Worst Company Contenders For 2014 — Help Us Seed The Brackets!
March 17, 2014
After sorting through a mountain of nomination e-mails, we’ve whittled down the field of competitors for this year’s Worst Company In America tournament to 40 bad businesses. Here’s your chance to have your say on how these players will square off in the bracket, and which bubble teams will get left out in the cold. [More]
Only A Third Of Bank ATMs Using Windows XP Have Upgraded Ahead Of April 8 Deadline
By 3.14.14
Banks all over the world have known since 2007 that Microsoft would stop support for ATMs running Windows XP on April 8 of this year, but with that deadline looming, only one-third of those 2.2 million machines have upgraded their outdated software. [More]
Prosecutors May Seek Larger Penalty For Countrywide Exec Behind “Hustle” Scam
By 3.13.14
Last fall, Bank of America and former Countrywide executive Rebecca Mairone were found liable in federal court over a Countrywide scam that had bilked bailed-out mortgage-backers Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac out of piles of cash by selling them worthless mortgages. Mairone was originally expected to face a $1.1 million penalty, but that was before she got a big bonus from her new gig. [More]
Bank Of America’s New Debit Card Charges $5/Month For Something That Is Free On All Accounts
By 3.7.14
Bank of America is in the news because it’s testing a new debit card that won’t let customers overdraft. For that privilege, cardholders will pay a $4.95/month fee and they won’t be able to write paper checks. Thing is, anyone with a bank account can turn off overdraft protection without being required to pay a fee. [More]
Bank Of America’s Compliance With Federal Mortgage Program Being Investigated
By 2.26.14
While it’s still settling multibillion-dollar tabs tied to the mortgage meltdown, Bank of America continues to face new legal and regulatory pressure. Yesterday, the bank revealed that it is being investigated by federal authorities to see whether it has complied with a program aimed to ease the mortgage-lending process. [More]
Bank Of America Customer Battles $245 In Cascading Overdrafts, Wins
By 2.10.14
We don’t want to admit it, but most of us have done it before. We’ve misjudged how much money was in our checking accounts, leading to a cascade of overdraft fees. It happened to Bob: he used his Bank of America debit card for each transaction during a night out and was hit with a total of $245 in fees. Sure, he could have taken the fees as an expensive lesson, but he chose to fight back instead. [More]
Bank Of America Addresses Junk Mail To “Lisa Is A Slut”
By 2.7.14
Only a couple weeks after OfficeMax sent out some junk mail addressed to “Daughter Killed in Car Crash,” a California woman says a mailing from Bank of America showed up at her mother’s home with her name printed as “Lisa Is A Slut” McIntire. [More]
More Than 2 Years Later, Court Finally Signs Off On $8.5 Billion Settlement… Sort Of
By 1.31.14
In June 2011, Bank of America reached an $8.5 billion settlement deal with 22 groups of investors who had been misled into sinking their money into securities that they didn’t know were backed by worthless home mortgages. Today, more than two-and-a-half years later, it appears that this matter may be nearing an end, but maybe not. [More]
U.S. Wants To Add $1.23 Billion To Bank Of America’s Tab For Countrywide Scam
By 1.30.14
Back in October, a federal jury found Bank of America liable for a Countrywide Financial program that deliberately sold piles of worthless loans to Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac before the housing bubble went kaflooey. At the time, prosecutors had only sought $864 million in penalties, but now the Justice Dept. claims that number should be $2.1 billion. [More]
Capital One Is The Most Complained-About Credit Card Company
By 1.15.14
Since the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau opened its credit card complaint portal in Sept. 2010, more than 25,000 complaints have been filed with the CFPB. And while the 10 largest credit card issuers account for 93% of all those complaints, one company is responsible for more than 1-in-5 of all complaints filed with the Bureau: Capital One. [More]
Get Ready For A Flood Of Credit Card Offers From Your Bank
By 1.14.14
The recession years had one pleasant side effect — a drop in the number of credit card offers filling consumers’ mailboxes. But now that all the banks have learned their lessons and will never again lend out money to people who won’t pay it back, they are once again ramping up the credit card offers. [More]
Banks Working With HELOC Borrowers To Prevent Potential Loan-Default Disaster Before It Happens
By 12.30.13
The housing bubble that imploded spectacularly in 2008, taking a big chunk of the U.S. economy with it, has a second wave waiting to strike in the form home equity lines of credit (HELOCs). Having learned from the lesson that preventing a disaster rather than recovering from one might, in fact, be a better way to go, lenders — at the urging of regulators — are now working proactively with borrowers to stave off potential doom before it happens. [More]
The 10 Colleges That Received The Biggest Payouts From Credit Card Issuers Last Year
By 12.20.13
Last year, a group of around 15 credit card issuers paid a total of more than $50 million to various schools and school-affiliated organizations in order to market credit cards to people at those educational institutions. Around 70% of that money came from a single Bank of America-owned credit card company, and though hundreds of schools received some sort of payment for helping introduce cards to college students, just the 10 largest single payments account for nearly 30% of the $50 million. [More]
This Bank Customer Satisfaction Chart Is A Sad Reminder Of Rampant Consolidation
By 12.10.13
Maybe last week’s news that there are now fewer banks in the U.S. than ever before didn’t bother you. But here’s a chart of historic customer satisfaction scores that stands as a reminder of how so many banks have been absorbed into larger banking Voltrons in just the last two decades. [More]
