Punishing Wells Fargo for alleged mortgage funny business, the Federal Reserve has fined the bank $85 million. Accusations include falsifying mortgage applications to let unqualified borrowers receive mortgages and directing those with good credit into costly subprime mortgages. [More]
banking
Convicted Bank Fraudster Could Get 385-Year Sentence
By 6.24.11
Prosecutors in the case against Lee Farkas, who was convicted of leading a $2.9 billion scheme that wrecked Taylor, Bean & Whitaker Mortgage Corp., have asked the judge in the case to sentence Farkas to at least 50-years in prison, adding that the maximum sentence for his crime is 385 years. [More]
Ohio Woman Has Had Same Bank Account For 98 Years
By 6.3.11
In January of 1913, a man in Ohio opened up a passbook savings account for his baby daughter with $6.11. And in probably the lengthiest example of customer loyalty, that girl — now a 100-year-old woman — has continued to use that same account ever since. [More]
Government May Hit Banks For $17 Billion Over Foreclosures
By 5.26.11
State attorneys general have warned the nation’s top banks that they may face as much as $17 billion in lawsuits over foreclosure practices if they don’t reach a settlement with the government. That number comes on top of billions more that the banks could owe to federal agencies including the Department of Justice. [More]
Maine Supreme Court Reverses HSBC Foreclosure On "Untrustworthy" Paperwork
By 5.25.11
Maine’s Supreme Judicial Court has overturned a foreclosure brought by HSBC against a local homeowner, citing affidavits submitted by the bank as “inherently untrustworthy.” In vacating an earlier decision, the court declared that HSBC’s records “are not of the quality that would be admissible at trial.” [More]
Man Who Says Chase Gave Him Counterfeit Bill Camps Out In Front Of Branch
By 3.22.11
Claiming Chase handed him a counterfeit $100 bill, a Utah man is camping outside of the allegedly offending branch in an effort to get the bank to acknowledge his issue. He’s sporting a huge cardboard sign that says “Chase Bank Passed me A Counterfeit $100 Bill!” with the words “Come and See!!” posted on the side. [More]
Are You Having Trouble With Bank Of America Today?
By 3.1.11
Have you been unable to log in to your Bank of America online account? You’re certainly not alone. The bank told Crain’s that “some customers may experience slowness” and many customers aren’t able to access the bank’s Web site at all. [More]
The 8 Least Evil Banks In America
By 1.27.11
Banks that aren’t evil? Really? CNN Money rounded up eight American banks that might not be consumer paradises, but offer free checking, no ATM fees, and comparatively high interest rates for savings accounts. [More]
Bank Refused Service To My Wife Because We're On Unemployment
By 10.21.10
Robert says three employees at an Oregon U.S. Bank refused to serve his wife, saying they don’t consider unemployment beneficiaries “real customers” on the level of conventional account holders. [More]
Bank Fires Complaining Customer
By 10.18.10
Tim walked into his bank to deposit a check, but the bank told him to get lost. [More]
Chicago Restaurant Owes $118K In Overdraft Fees, May Have To Close
By 10.8.10
If you’ve felt the burn of a $35 overdraft charge, just be thankful you’re not Chicago’s Heartland Cafe, which has had to shell out $118,000 in cascading overdraft charges. [More]
Truth Or Dare With Bank Tellers
By 10.2.10
Bank tellers may handle your transactions with smiles, but don’t think there’s not a lot of judgment going on behind those glazed-over looks. They see suckers come and go all day, and watch people make the same ill-informed mistakes again and again. [More]
Chase Approves Transaction Anyway After Customer Declines Overdraft Protection
By 9.27.10
Paul opted not to sign up for Chase’s overdraft fee trap–oh wait, they call it “protection”–but Chase happily ignored this fact and approved a transaction anyway, which led to a $34 overdraft fee that they refuse to reverse. The loophole they’re using to get around Paul’s opt-out is that the vendor was someone he’d authorized in the past, and therefore this new transaction isn’t protected from the bank’s “protection” fee. [More]
Best Buy Register/Bank Error Leaves You Overdrafted And Cameraless
By 9.24.10
Reader Jeff is now in a situation that we find all too familiar, but most people have never even heard of: Electronic Funds Transfer Error Hell. You see, Jeff bought a camera at Best Buy and something went wrong — causing his debit card to be charged twice. This in turn caused him to overdraft. Now he’s shocked to learn that the process for reversing the charge isn’t as simple as it would be with a credit card. [More]
Bank Won't Deposit My Check Without Calling Writer, Gives Different Reasons Why
By 9.20.10
RJ has confirmed that Wells Fargo won’t clear a $1,200 check from a specific employee of the bank without first calling the person who wrote that check. What he can’t nail down is whether there’s a threshold on a check’s value to prompt the double-check or whether that amount varies from one account holder to another. The reason: Two different branches gave him inconsistent answers. [More]
Bank Of America Wants Customer To Travel 1,500 Miles To Close His Mother's Account
By 9.14.10
It hasn’t even been a month since our last dead Bank of America customer story, but here the bank is at it again, refusing to let a woman’s son close her checking account no matter what he does. Although she lived and banked in Tennessee and he lives in Pennsylvania, the latest nonsense has the bank demanding that he visit Texas in person to get a document notarized. [More]
How To Switch Banks Without Screwing Stuff Up
By 9.7.10
Switching banks is like going through a divorce. Lots of paperwork, hurt feelings, twinges of regret and the shaky knowledge that if you press on you’ll end up in a better situation afterward. [More]
An Easy Way To Get Wells Fargo To Remove A $30 Fee
By 8.17.10
Joe says Wells Fargo stuck him with a $30 fee because his accounts fell below a minimum threshold. A one-sentence email whipped the bank into shape and got it to rescind the charge. [More]
