Here’s some info we dug up that can help you contact some higher ups at Wells Fargo if you’ve tried regular customer service and escalating to supervisors and it’s not working out.First read this post about how to contact and conduct yourself when using executive customer service. [More]
personal finance
FBI Investigating Failed, Bailed, Financial Firms
By 9.24.08
The FBI has launched a fraud probe into Fannie Mae, Freddie Mac, Lehman Brothers and AIG. Sounds kinda like a move to placate the masses. “We’re on it.” No doubt in response to the seething outrage sweeping the nation over the size and audacity of the bailouts, however needed they might be. Sounds like an easy job. Sorta like dipping your hand in a barrel of ink and trying to pull up black stuff.
One Day Left To Register For TransUnion Class Action Lawsuit
By 9.23.08
September 24, tomorrow, is the last day to register for the class action against TransUnion for selling consumer’s private data to businesses without permission. If you held a credit card between January 1, 1987 to May 28, 2008, you’re eligible to receive benefits. You can choose from one of three options:
Reach Wachovia Auto Loan Executive Customer Service
By 9.23.08
The number for Wachovia Auto Loan Executive Customer service is 877-250-2265.
Understanding The Panic Of 2008 In 15 Easy Steps
By 9.23.08
If you’re wondering how we got into the big money mess, Kiplinger has a nice and easy 15 step guide to the market meltdown. They trace the origins back to 2000, when the Federal Reserve made the federal funds rate, the interest rate banks charge each other for short term loans, very low. Then we go through the speculative bullshit of the subprime mortgage market, the various imaginary castles built on top of it, and then just how everything went to pot once the naked emperor was revealed. No blame-casting, just the straight up facts.
Bankofamerica.com Is Down
By 9.22.08
Bank Of America’s site has been down for several hours today. Coincidence? Related to its purchase of Merill Lynch? Outcome of market turmoil? Uncertain, but it is certain that BoA customers can’t do any online banking right now. UPDATE: It’s back up, but so slow as to make it practically nonfuctional. [cNet]
Wall Street Is Dead
By 9.22.08
Wall Street is dead. According to its Journal, it died last night when the Federal Reserve agreed to convert Goldman Sachs and Morgan Stanley, the last remaining mega brokerages on Wall Street, into bank-holding companies. The Wall Street that was, “a coterie of independent brokerage firms that buy and sell securities, advise clients and are less regulated than old-fashioned banks,” is no more. In exchange for access to more Federal loan money, and not having have to mark its assets at market value, the two companies will be subject to tighter capital requirements and more government regulation and oversight about how they do their business. This will blunt profits, but that seems in order considering the run racked by so much reckless profiteering, for so long.
Always Look A Gift Check In The Mouth
By 9.19.08
My brother who is a junior at college sent out a bunch of applications for college grants and other sources of funding to pay for his education. Late this summer he received a check in the mail sent to him from one of the organizations that he sent an application to. The check wasn’t huge, but the $3500 would come in handy, and certainly would have been a huge help in paying for his books, and housing. When the check actually came in the mail it was just a check, nothing else, no letter of congratulations, explanation or anything else telling him why he had received the money…
PRBC Helps You Create A Credit Score From On-Time Rent, Bill Payments
By 9.19.08
Payment Reporting Builds Credit (PRBC) is an alternative credit reporting agency that will record your payment histories for things like rent and utilities bills. PRBC says you can then use this verified credit history to supplement your FICO score and credit history from the big three reporting companies. It’s meant in part as a way to help people who don’t have extensive standard credit histories, or who have always paid monthly expenses on time but have other blots (like medical bills) on their official credit histories.
New Super Agency Proposed To Buy Up All The Very Bad Loans And Save Our Financial System
By 9.18.08
Markets rallied in late trading in the biggest gain in six years, emboldened by news that Washington wants to create a new agency that will buy up ALL the bad loans on these financial companies’ books. The initiative would be an attempt to fashion a holistic solution instead of bailing out each individual bank as it fails. This would cost many more billions of dollars and require Congressional approval. In order for all those CongressCritters to keep their jobs, there is talk that the deal would be packaged with another stimulus package perhaps including more rebates, along with food stamps and unemployment benefits.
How Wall Street Lied To Its Computers
By 9.18.08
The people who ran the financial firms chose to program their risk-management systems with over-optimistic assumptions and to feed them oversimplified data.
Personal Finance Roundup
By 9.18.08
5 Simple Steps to a Successful Cover Letter [Yahoo Hotjobs] “[Here’s] an easy-to-follow, five-step formula for cover letter success”
WaMu Direct Deposit Customers: Print Your Statements
By 9.18.08
For Washington Mutual direct deposit customers, to protect yourself no matter who takes over and how good they are at handling WaMu’s computer systems, Carmen Wong Ulrich, host of CNBC’s personal finance show “On The Money,” wants you to hit Print. When that direct deposit hits your account, she wants you to go to your WaMu online banking account and make a printout of your statement. That way if it somehow gets lost in the shuffle, “go right up to the bank with your paperwork.” It would probably get eventually sorted out anyway, but this way can help expedite things, just in case.
What To Do In These Uncertain Financial Times
By 9.18.08
The housing crisis. The stock market plunge. The banking industry in shambles. What’s a person to do in the midst of all this financial turmoil? We thought we’d offer our suggestions for making it through the rough waters many of us are facing:
BillShrink Launches Free Credit Card Comparison Service
By 9.18.08
BillShrink’s free credit card comparison service launches today, and you should check it out to see whether your current credit card is the best available option for you. The great thing about BillShrink is it doesn’t try to get you to sign up for a particular card—it simply aggregates the information on each one, then helps you quickly navigate your options to find the best choice for your specific needs. (The site makes money when you sign up for a new service.)
Favorite Comment Of The Day
By 9.18.08
laserjobs: The way things are going the FDIC will probably end up with WaMu. So as long as you are under the FDIC limits you will probably be with the safest bank around soon: WaMu Federal.
WaMu Begins To Sell Itself
By 9.17.08
WaMu has begun to try to sell itself. So far, no takers. If no one buys it, one of two things will happen. Either it will be placed into a conservatorship, like IndyMac, or form a bridge bank, a kind of temporary bank. So the question for depositors is: wait to find out who your new masters are, or pull out now and decide for yourself?
But How How Does The Bailout Affect Me?