Even though he thought he paid on his credit card’s due date, Russel still got dinged with a late fee. Turns out that he needed to make his payment before 5pm Eastern, otherwise it would get counted as being the next day. Rarg! [More]
banks
Dad's Stuck With Me On His Sovereign Bank Account Unless I Die
By 8.10.11
Chris’s dad gave him access to his personal and business accounts at Sovereign Bank a few years ago. Now that he’s remarried, the dad wants to take Chris off and replace him with his new wife. This seems like it would be simple enough, but Sovereign says, not so fast. They can’t remove Chris’s access to the accounts unless he dies. [More]
Bank Of America CEO's Pep-Talk Email To Workers
By 8.9.11
Bank of America’s CEO Brian Moynihan posted an email to the company’s intranet telling the rank and file to keep their chins up amidst their sinking stock price and news that they would be sued by AIG for selling crap mortgages. [More]
Wells Fargo And Wachovia Merger Is Bad News For Divorced Couple
By 8.5.11
When Wells Fargo and Wachovia got married, it was bad news for this divorced couple. Merging the two bank’s databases resulted in the husband getting bills and statements for his ex-wife. After trying to fix it and deal with some Wells Fargo customer service reps who clearly needed counseling, the man is ready to break it off with his bank too. [More]
BofA Bulldozing Foreclosed Homes
By 7.29.11
Now here’s one to reduce the oversupply in the housing market. As the reluctant owners of vast amounts of foreclosed and abandoned houses it can’t sell, Bank of America is going to start bulldozing patches of them. [More]
Get $15, $30, Or $60 In Chase Credit Card "Payment Protection" Class Action
By 7.28.11
You’re eligible to claim cash if you had a Chase credit card and got charged for a payment protection product between Sept 2, 2004 and Nov 11, 2010, thanks to a recent class action settlement. [More]
Bank Of America Opens, Closes Credit Card Customer Never Applied For
By 7.28.11
As a wee baby consumer, Kodi’s parents taught her that credit cards are terrible things that she should avoid. She did her best, avoiding credit cards, but wasn’t able to stay away completely. Not because of any failure of her willpower, but because somehow Bank of America applied for and obtained a credit card on her behalf without her asking for it–or even knowing about it. [More]
If The Debt Ceiling Isn't Raised, You'll Pay For It On Your Credit Card
By 7.27.11
The game of political brinkmanship over the debt ceiling isn’t just an abstract battle of wills. If it isn’t raised, you can expect that your credit card interest rate surely will be. [More]
Wells Fargo Denies Mortgage 1 Day Before Closing To 800 Credit Score Buyer With 20% Down
By 7.26.11
After years of anything goes loans-writing, the pendulum has swung far, far, in the other direction. Patrick tells the story of how his loan with Wells Fargo was denied, 1 day before he was set to close on a new condo. Even though he has an 800 credit score and was putting 20% down, this hiccup was enough to make Wells Fargo back up. And because of it, he and his five-month pregnant wife now have one week to find a new place to live. [More]
How A Wall Street Lobbyist Is "Reforming The Reform"
By 7.25.11
Banks are none too happy about how the passage of Dodd-Frank has been crimping their style. So they hired a Wall Street lobbyist, former Congressman Steve Bartlett, to lead the well-funded rearguard action by the ” Financial Services Roundtable” to neuter the laws. And darned if those cocktail parties aren’t working. [More]
Stores Partnering With Banks To Give New Kind Of Debit Rewards
By 7.20.11
Most debit rewards programs are gone or largely neutered, a retaliation by the banking industry in response to pending caps on transaction swipe fees. Now merchants are coming to fill the void. Stores are partnering with banks to experiment with “merchant debit rewards” which give shoppers discounts for shopping at their establishments. Here’s how it will work. [More]
Bank Of America Loses $9.1 Billion In Quarter, Thanks To Investors Settlement
By 7.20.11
Bank of America had a rough second quarter, winding up $9.1 billion in the red, mostly caused by the $8.5 billion settlement it had to pay out to 22 investment groups over mucked up securities. The bank has paid out $12.7 billion in settlements this year. [More]
Bank Of America Paying Out $410 Million For Reordering Your Transactions To Maximize Overdraft Fees
By 7.14.11
What makes this Bank of America $410 million class action settlement special is that it’s over a basic consumer banking business practice. For years, banks have been processing your daily transactions in order from highest to lowest, rather than real-time. They say they’re doing us a favor so that if we have a check bounce, it’s the one for the babysitter and not the mortgage payment. But this class action suit claims that Bank of America did this to unjustly enrich itself. It’s one of over 60 lawsuits against various banks for similar practices, and it could reshape the entire industry. [More]
Banks Impose Surcharge For Using The Word 'Bank'
By 7.14.11
As usual, parody news site The Onion has managed to produce fake news that tells the truth better than actual facts can. This week’s radio newsflash: not satisfied with charging us fees to receive statements, use tellers, use ATMs, have accounts, and transfer funds, banks will now automatically charge us seventy-flve cents to use the word “bank.” That sentence cost me $1.50. [More]
Chase Gets Man Thrown In Jail For Fraudulent Check. Except The Check Is Legit.
By 7.7.11
UPDATE: Chase and the customer tell Consumerist the situation has been resolved. [More]
Chase And BoA Quietly Cutting Balances For Option-Arm Mortgagors
By 7.5.11
It’s a lovely surprise to get in the mail from your bank, a letter telling you they’re going to cut your mortgage balance in half while increasing your interest rate slightly. NYT reports that tens of thousands of option-arm mortgagors, homebuyers with a loan that had a low introductory interest rate that shot up after a set period, have been getting such letters from Chase and Bank of America over the past year. [More]
Chase Drops Thousands Of Debt Collection Cases Against Borrowers
By 7.1.11
Chase is dropping thousands of pending debt collection cases against defaulted credit card borrowers, WSJ reports. Remember the big deal over robo-signing foreclosure cases a few months ago? The problem of bulk signing sloppy paperwork, and, in some case, filing fraudulent documents, could be even bigger when it comes to credit cards. It looks like JP Morgan Chase is trying to get its house in order before they’re forced to by government and legal forces. [More]
Long-Awaited Fed Ruling Caps Swipe Fees At 21 Cents
By 6.29.11
The Federal Reserve unveiled its ruling today on the fees banks can charge merchants for processing debit cards at 21 cents a swipe. The cap is far less restrictive than the 12 cent ceiling set by the Dodd-Frank bill, but is still less than the current 44 cent average. It’s uncertain how this will affect the consumer. [More]
