Perennial Consumerist favorite banker and insurance company USAA announced yesterday that they’re expanding eligible membership to all honorably discharged vets, regardless of dates or lengths of service.
banks
Update: Capital One: Waive Your Rights, Get $10 Off Your Next Overlimit Fee!
By 11.4.09
Here’s the straight scoop on what’s up with the story in that “Capital One: Waive Your Rights, Get $10 Off Your Next Overlimit Fee!” post.
Goldman Secretly Bet On Housing Crash
By 11.2.09
A 5-month investigation by McClatchy Newspapers has found that Goldman secretly bet on the housing crash, went out and pimped the dickens out of assets it knew were junk, and may have broken securities laws in doing so. McClatchy found that Goldman…
Giant Lender CIT Goes Bankrupt And 9 Banks Go Under
By 11.2.09
Ghosts were not only cruising sidewalks looking for candy this weekend, they had also infested some banking balance sheets.
Capital One: Waive Your Rights, Get $10 Off Your Next Overlimit Fee!
By 11.2.09
Everett says Capital One called him up and made him an offer. If he opted out of at least one of the consumer credit protections enacted by the CARD act, Capital One would drop the overlimit fees from $39 to $29! Woo!
Citibank Shocks Reader With Consumer-Friendly Policy
By 10.28.09
Anthony received a Newegg rebate in the form of a prepaid debit card. When he went to use the $15 card for a $15.93 purchase, he received an unexpected and wonderful surprise.
Al Franken: How Many Medical Bankruptcies Are There In Switzerland?
By 10.26.09
We stray into politics often at our peril but I had to share this clip of Sen. Franken kneecapping a senior fellow at the Hudson Institute conservative think tank. In what was supposed to be a hearing on the Medical Bankruptcy Fairness Act, Diana Furchtgott-Roth instead used her testimony to pillory against health care reform proposals not even being discussed. After Sen. Whitehouse asks her if she even read the bill at hand, Sen. Franken goes: “You said the way we’re going will increase bankruptcies…How many bankruptcies because of medical crises were there last year in Switzerland?”
Government Orders Pay Cuts For Bailed-Out Firms
By 10.22.09
The huge salaries and bonuses paid to executives of banks and other firms that received government bailout funds have been the subject of a lot of taxpayer rage. The Obama administration listened, and will order pay cuts.
Citi Mysteriously Closes Scads Of Mastercard Accounts Nationwide
By 10.20.09
Without warning, Citi decided to close a swath of gas-station co-branded Mastercard accounts nationwide. The trouble seems to have started October 15. Quan was one of the affected customers and the credit card company was pretty disingenuous about it when called.
Salary Czar To Ex-BoA CEO: No Pay For You!
By 10.19.09
Departing Bank of America CEO Ken Lewis will get no 2009 pay or bonus. But won’t this serve as a disincentive to future executives who are thinking about totally cocking up their company and bringing down the US economy? [WSJ] (Thanks to Snarkysnake!)
HSBC Really, Really Doesn't Want Reader To Cancel Best Buy Credit Card
By 10.18.09
James applied for a Best Buy Mastercard from HSBC. The initial application was easy enough, but the three separate confusing calls from outsourced customer service reps, and the low limit and annual fee on the card he eventually received led him to cancel his account. This should have been a straightforward transaction, but company representatives tried to bully James into keeping the credit card.
Bank Of America Posts $1 Billion Loss In Third Quarter
By 10.16.09
Do you hate Bank of America? Well take today’s earnings report and wallow around in it like Ann-Margret in beans, becuse the bank has posted a loss of $1 billion before dividends to preferred shareholders—”When those dividend payments are included, the loss was $2.24 billion,” reports the New York Times.
TD Bank: Man's $100,000 Misplaced
By 10.15.09
Zach’s $100,000 CD with TD Bank he took out on 10/5 was mysteriously showing a $0 balance and no one seemed able to fix it until we told him what to do. TD Bank PR says it wasn’t related to their clusterfunk of delays that started Sep 28. Zach’s experience says otherwise.
Consumerist: Better Than Your Dad (At Fighting Bank Of America)
By 10.8.09
Sometimes, your dad’s advice doesn’t apply anymore. Companies have realized that giving a damn is too expensive. That’s when it’s time to kick ass, Consumerist style. Craig writes:
How The Banking Industry Wants You To Think About Overdraft Fees
By 10.7.09
Earlier today, a public relations person sent in the following suggested “follow up” story about the explosion in overdraft fees. She was quite friendly and complimentary and made it clear she just wants to help educate consumers about banking fees. The only problem is, the entire story is a jumble of propaganda designed to spread FUD about any attempt to change current overdraft policies. We figured it might be fun to see how the banking industry wants you to think.
Overdraft Fees Up 35% In Past Two Years
By 10.6.09
As a nation, we pay more each year in overdraft fees than we do for books, cereal, or fresh vegetables, says the Center for Responsible Lending (CRL)—and considering how outrageously expensive cereal is, they must be talking about a huge sum. They are: “Banks and credit unions collected nearly $24 billion in overdraft fees last year, an increase of 35 percent from just two years earlier.”
UPDATED: TD Bank's Statement On Resolving This Week's Meltdown
By 10.2.09
TD Bank sent us the following statement – UPDATE: and now a new, revised one – about all the transaction and fee snafus that happened this week after they became one with the Commerce Bank customer data:
Inside The TD Bank Meltdown
By 10.2.09
Think it sucks to be a TD Bank customer this week, especially if you were formerly a Commerce Bank customer? Try being a TD Bank employee. One insider tells what it what was like yesterday on the other side of all those (still) unprocessed transactions and new fees.
