How To Foreclose On A Bank
Patrick Rodgers, the Philly Vampire who foreclosed on a Wells Fargo Bank branch, has started a revolution against the banksters, it seems. Ann Carrns reports for the New York Times:
Now, a couple in Naples, Fla., have “foreclosed” on a Bank of America branch after the bank managed to foreclose on their home — even though they never had a mortgage on it. According to reports in The Naples News, Time and elsewhere, Warren Nyerges and his wife paid $165,000 in cash to buy the house from the bank, and never borrowed against it. But last February, in an apparent case of mistaken home identity, the bank began foreclosure proceedings against them.
The couple hired a lawyer and the bank action was eventually abandoned, but the couple then went to court and got a judgment for about $2,500 in attorney’s fees. When the bank didn’t pay, their lawyer, Todd Allen, showed up at a local bank branch last week with sheriff’s deputies and a moving truck…
Bank Of America Pays $410 Million To Settle Accusations Of Charging Illegal Overdraft Fees
Can we charge Bank of America an overdraft fee? The San Francisco Gate writes:
Bank of America has agreed to pay $410 million to settle a lawsuit in which the lender is accused of manipulating debit transactions to maximize overdraft fees. The agreement is believed to be the first financial settlement by a large bank in a case alleging deceptive overdraft practices. It may presage the outcome of related claims against 30 other lending institutions, including Wells Fargo, Citibank, Chase, Union Bank and U.S. Bank.
San Francisco’s Wells Fargo is embroiled in a separate lawsuit in federal court in San Francisco brought by California customers. That case started before the multistate legal action, but has not concluded because Wells has filed an appeal.
In August, U.S. District Judge William Alsup issued a scathing ruling ordering Wells Fargo to pay its California clients $203 million. He said the bank’s goal was to “maximize the number…
Are Banksters Too Big To Jail?
Why are we banking on banks to a promote economic recovery? HBO’s “Too Big To Fail” should have been about banksters “too big to jail.”
This week the financial crisis finally went prime time in the form of a big budget HBO docudrama called “Too Big To Fail.”
It was a well-acted docudrama focused on the BIG Men and some women in the banks and in government who tried to put Humpty Dumpty back together again up on that wall to prevent a total economic collapse when panic dried up credit and financial institutions faced failure.
Based on the work of a New York Times reporter, it offered a skillfully-made but conventional narrative which, like most TV shows, showcase events but miss their deeper context and background.
We heard all the explanations, save one.
There was greed, ambition, ego and money lust. There were personal rivalries and ideological battles, parochial agendas and narrow self-interest. There…
Brazil’s Biggest Bank Sued For Funding Amazon Deforestation
Brazil’s biggest bank — the state-run Banco do Brasil — is being sued for allegedly funding deforestation in the Amazon.
Public prosecutors say the bank lent money to companies that illegally cleared the rainforest and used labour practices bordering on slavery. The smaller state-owned Banco da Amazonia is also being sued.
Brazil says it has drastically reduced the rate of deforestation in the Amazon in recent years.
Prosecutors in the state of Para said they had uncovered 55 loans worth nearly $5m (£3m) that the Banco do Brasil approved to farms that had broken environmental and employment laws. They also said they had uncovered 37 loans worth $11m given to farms with similar violations by the Banco da Amazonia.
The loans violated Brazil’s constitution, environmental laws, banking regulations and international agreements signed by Brazil, the independent prosecutors at the Public Ministry said.
The Case Against Goldman Sachs
In his usual clear, profane manner, Matt Taibbi lays out why Goldman Sachs’s executives must face criminal charges as soon as possible. Via Rolling Stone:
America has been waiting for a case to bring against Wall Street. Here it is, and the evidence has been gift-wrapped and left at the doorstep of federal prosecutors, evidence that doesn’t leave much doubt: Goldman Sachs should stand trial.
To date, there has been only one successful prosecution of a financial big fish from the mortgage bubble, and that was Lee Farkas, a Florida lender who was just convicted on a smorgasbord of fraud charges and now faces life in prison. But Farkas, sadly, is just an exception proving the rule: Like Bernie Madoff, his comically excessive crime spree (which involved such lunacies as kiting checks to his own bank and selling loans that didn’t exist) was almost completely unconnected to the systematic corruption that led…
Ten Years From Now, Facebook Will Be Your Bank
“Why is its important to have a Facebook profile? They are going to start using that to determine what your credit worthiness is.”
The tin-foil-hatted nuts at BusinessWeek explain how and why Facebook will become the largest bank in the United States. (Perhaps most disturbing is the thought of a universal currency called ‘the zuckerberg’.)
Becoming a financial powerhouse would help Facebook avoid the fate of many once-popular networks. AOL, Friendster, Second Life, and MySpace all dreamed of growing forever, too. To survive, Facebook must become more than glorified e-mail. Sharing photos and gossip with friends might make Facebook hard to leave. But upload your checking account and Facebook may just be forever.
Nongamers may have missed Facebook’s clever foray into the world of “virtual currency,” where Facebook Credits cost 10 cents each and can be exchanged for game points or cartoony gifts. Those dimes are adding up—the U.S. market for virtual goods will…
Termites Eat Millions Of Indian Rupees In Bank
Via Yahoo News:
LUCKNOW, India – It was an all you can eat buffet at the bank.
An army of termites munched through 10 million rupees ($222,000) in currency notes stored in a steel chest at a bank, police in northern India said Friday.
The bank manager discovered the damage when he opened the reinforced room in an old bank building on Wednesday, police officer Navneet Rana told The Associated Press.
“It’s a matter of investigation how termites attacked bundles of currency notes stacked in a steel chest,” he said. The money was put in the chest in January.
The termites had damaged bank furniture and documents in the past.
The police have registered a case of negligence against bank officials in Barabanki, a town 20 miles (30 kilometers) southwest of Lucknow, the Uttar Pradesh state capital. In India, police register a case before opening an investigation.
It’s Friday? Time To Rob A Bank
Aftermath of a Bank of America robbery. Photo: Colin Brown (CC)
Who knew? From Reuters:
Bank robberies in the United States take place most often in mid-morning, on Fridays and in southern and western states, according to government statistics released on Tuesday.
Robbers stole slightly more than $43 million last year nationwide in 5,546 robberies of banks, credit unions and other financial institutions, statistics released by the FBI showed.
The South led the way with 1,790 bank robberies, followed by the West with 1,691. California had the most robberies at 805, followed by Texas with 464. North Dakota, where there were two bank robberies, had the least.
Overall, there were 5,628 reported bank crimes — the 5,546 robberies along with 74 burglaries, eight larcenies and 13 extortions of financial institutions.
That marked a decrease from 2009, when there were 6,065 such crimes reported, the FBI said…
[continues at Reuters]
…
California Man Pays Off $6,500 Credit Card Bill In Pennies
UPI reports:
MIRA MESA — California man upset with his bank for disallowing his requested refinance said he decided to pay off his $6,500 credit card bill entirely with pennies.
Thierry Cahez of San Diego County rolled 650,000 pennies in plastic, loaded them into crates and drove the lot to his Mira Mesa bank, KABC-TV, Los Angeles, reported.
Cahez was turned away by the bank several times but eventually was sent to a branch with a vault large enough to handle the coins.
Cahez said he opted to pay his credit card bill with pennies because he was turned down for a refinance and for the amount of charges and fees on his credit card, KABC-TV said Tuesday.
The Bank of America Data Leak Starts, Thanks To Anonymous
In November 2010 Julian Assange created much consternation among banking circles by revealing that WikiLeaks had material that could take down a major bank, which was later revealed to be Bank of America. However, despite or maybe because of Assange’s arrest in Britain, the leak was not forthcoming … until now, it seems.
The group Anonymous has announced an initial BofA release on its Twitter feed and the link to a .rar compressed file is here. The group’s website BankOfAmericaSuck.com appears to be down as of this posting, probably because it’s overwhelmed (or perhaps BofA has attacked it?).
The disinformation team hasn’t had a chance to analyze the leaked material from BofA yet – anyone who has please post your thoughts in the comments.
Philadelphia Vampire Turns The Foreclosure Tables On Wells Fargo
An inspiring story from Philadelphia as a homeowner forecloses on (that’s right, forecloses on) a sleazy big bank. Wells Fargo tried to force Patrick Rodgers into paying for an exorbitant home insurance policy, and then broke the law by ignoring Rodgers’ written requests for a response. After the bank refused to pay resultant fines, a judge ordered a sheriff’s sale on its downtown branch. Oh and also: our hero is A VAMPIRE.
New Yorkers Welcome Planned Terror Attacks On Wall Street Banks
I know I should be horrified by the comments to this New York Post story claiming that the FBI and NYPD are advising Wall Street banks that terrorists are planning to attack them, but on the other hand it does show just how despised the bankers are because of the never-ending fallout from their self-induced financial crisis. Here are some particularly choice examples:
sadtruth
02/01/2011 1:32 PM
Planning attacks against major wall street executives? When? Do they need housing and accommodations?Cut Off The Freeloaders
02/01/2011 1:25 PM
Shouldn’t we be referring to them as “superheroes” instead of terrorists? ANyone who has any dealing with US banks in the last few years would agree Im sure. The heads of US banks are the biggest criminal empire known to man.TommyNYC
02/01/2011 10:32 AM
This will be the first terrorist attack sanctioned by the american taxpayers!! Take the executives but leave the buildings please!!actressdiva
02/01/2011 7:57 AM
good thing all the records of…
Swiss Banker Gives WikiLeaks Damning Data On Wealthy Tax Evaders
Another week, another round of WikiLeaks. Clearly there are no sacred cows and in fact it is the biggest targets who are going down fastest, from corrupt governments to cheating taxpayers. Playing the Bradley Manning role this time is ex-Bank Julius Baer executive Rudolf Elmer. AP/Yahoo News has the story:
A former Swiss banker on Monday supplied documents to WikiLeaks that he alleges detail attempts by wealthy business leaders and lawmakers to evade tax payments.
Rudolf Elmer, an ex-employee of Swiss-based Bank Julius Baer, said there were 2,000 account holders named in the documents, but refused to give details of the companies or individuals involved.
He has previously offered files to WikiLeaks on financial activities in the Cayman Islands and faces a court hearing in Zurich on Wednesday to answer charges of coercion and violating Switzerland’s strict banking secrecy laws.
“I do think as a banker I have the right to stand up if something…
The Federal Reserve Is Going Broke
Everyone’s favorite private business pretending to be a government agency by using “Federal” in its name — no not Federal Express, I’m referring to the Federal Reserve — may be on its way to going broke according to economics professor (and consultant to the Minneapolis branch of the Fed) Varadarajan Chari. From Reuters:
The U.S. Federal Reserve’s journey to the outer limits of monetary policy is raising concerns about how hard it will be to withdraw trillions of dollars in stimulus from the banking system when the time is right.
While that day seems distant now, some economists and market analysts have even begun pondering the unthinkable: could the vaunted Fed, the world’s most powerful central bank, become insolvent?
Almost by definition, the answer is no.
As the monetary authority, the central bank is the master of the printing press. It can literally conjure up money at will, and arguably did exactly that when…
Over One Million People Lost Homes To Foreclosure In 2010
Photo: Brendel (CC)
Not only is the housing crisis not over, it looks like it’s accelerating, despite claims in Washington and on Wall Street that a recovery is underway. The only reason the number of foreclosure notices stayed just under 3 million in 2010 was that some banks backed off at the end of the year to avoid bad press. Les Christie reports for CNN Money via Yahoo Finance:
Foreclosures were at a record high in 2010, and more than 1 million people lost their homes, even as notices started leveling off during the end year.
In total, there were nearly 2.9 million foreclosure notices filed during the year, according to report released Thursday by RealtyTrac. That was a record high, but just 1.7% above 2009.
It most certainly would have been higher had notices not plunged in November and December as banks halted tens of thousands of foreclosures in the face of the…
Bank of America Running Scared of WikiLeaks
The power of WikiLeaks remains undiminished in 2011. The New York Times devotes a major story to Bank of America’s desperate attempts to mitigate the carnage expected when (if) WikiLeaks releases details of scandalous, fraudulent activities at the bank:
By the time the conference call ended, it was nearly midnight at Bank of America’s headquarters in Charlotte, N.C., but the bank’s counterespionage work was only just beginning.
A day earlier, on Nov. 29, the director of WikiLeaks, Julian Assange, said in an interview that he intended to “take down” a major American bank and reveal an “ecosystem of corruption” with a cache of data from an executive’s hard drive. With Bank of America’s share price falling on the widely held suspicion that the hard drive was theirs, the executives on the call concluded it was time to take action.
Since then, a team of 15 to 20 top Bank of America officials, led by…
A Time To Gift, Or A Time To Grift? It’$ Christmas Bonus Time For The Swells On Wall Street
Go, Wall Street, Go!
Never mind the rise in unemployment and foreclosures. Never mind the folks waiting to know if they will get the benefits they need before they are cut off. Never mind the growing gap between rich and poor, and the continuing spread of poverty. (Did you know that inequality in the US is at the highest level of any industrialized country?)
Does any of this matter? The idea of equality as a social goal is apparently passé.
Christmas has a special meaning on Wall Street: It’s bonus time. This brings to mind Peter Wolf singing with the J. Geils Band, “First I look at the Purse.” The context was different but the meaning is the same.
Just five “too big to fail” bankster companies have stashed $90 billion for payouts to prized employees. They know that the beat on The Street is fading, so it seems to be “take the money…
The Bank Of America’s Occult Symbolism
The Vigilante Citizen claims that the fresco paintings adorning Bank of America’s corporate headquarters are filled with symbolic Masonic imagery that conveys hidden messages. They’re definitely odd at first glance:
Prominently displayed in the lobby of the Bank of America’s Corporate Center are “creepy” frescoes, filled with occult symbols. Even more unsettling is the fact that those images seem to predict events of a radical world change in the not-so-distant future. Are those murals predicting the coming of an occult New World Order? We will look at the occult meaning of the symbols found on the Bank of America frescoes.
We see here a young blond boy standing on a standard Masonic checker-board pattern floor. His feet are placed at a 90 degrees angle, in accordance to Masonic initiation ritual.
Seemingly underneath the boy are people dressed in business suits, seemingly strategizing while pointing at the Masonic boy. Does the boy represent the “new…
WikiLeaks’ Plan To Take Down A Major Bank
Julian Assange, perhaps THE man of the media moment, says that early in 2011 WikiLeaks will disclose documents so damning that their release could “take down a bank or two.” Finally perhaps, some retribution for the Plunder of America by the banksters? From Andy Greenberg’s interview with Assange for Forbes:
Julian Assange
Forbes: Is it a U.S. bank?
Assange: Yes, it’s a U.S. bank.
One that still exists?
Yes, a big U.S. bank.
The biggest U.S. bank?
No comment.
When will it happen?
Early next year. I won’t say more.
What do you want to be the result of this release?
[Pauses] I’m not sure.
It will give a true and representative insight into how banks behave at the executive level in a way that will stimulate investigations and reforms, I presume.
Usually when you get leaks at this level, it’s about one particular case or one particular violation. For this, there’s only one similar example. It’s like the Enron emails. Why were…
Eric Cantona Foments A New French Revolution
Eric Cantona first achieved fame playing soccer for Manchester United and France. He was an extremely talented striker, but perhaps is best known for his flying kung fu-style kick at a heckling fan. That’s all in the past though, and Cantona has a new career as a budding indie film star. Apparently he’s also quite conscious of the fact that there’s not much liberté, égalité or fraternité in France or the rest of the world these days, and he knows just how to bring about another revolution: everyone should go to their bank and withdraw all their cash. The system would crash and, voilà, la Révolution! Here he is in an October interview explaining how it works:
