Wells Fargo Hit with $1B in Fines • Hacker News Board

Re: Wells Fargo Hit with $1B in Fines

#161

Post by macandcheese » Fri, Apr 20, 2018, 7:29 PM UTC

heurist wrote: post #38

aphextron wrote: post #4

Something has happened to big banks along the way, where they no longer actually provide banking services to their customers. When I walk into a Wells Fargo branch now and sit down with a "banker" to take care of my accounts, it consists of sitting next to them while they call 1-800-WELLSFARGO for me and talk to a call center. There simply is no service anymore. I walked into my local branch to open up an IRA last we…

It's definitely an industry ripe for rebirth. For instance, I should be able to partition my money into several lightweight accounts - one for groceries, one for home expenses, investment, etc - and automatically have fractions of my deposits sent to those accounts so my budgeting and money management are handled without any effort on my part. I should have lightweight cards available for each of those accounts with…

A plug for Personal Capital for tracking multiple cards / investment accounts... No ads, just prompts to sign up for their managed investing service occasionally (can't speak to that, fee seems high...). But their free product is substantially more useful than Mint et al. Great web app, great iOS app, really good tracking of expenses and cash flow. Some small annoyances like not linking with Coinbase / Robinhood and not allowing batch editing or smart-editing of transaction categories, but they are small when you look at the larger picture of all they provide for free.

Re: Wells Fargo Hit with $1B in Fines

#162

Post by SnowingXIV » Fri, Apr 20, 2018, 7:32 PM UTC

ericcholis wrote: post #76

heurist wrote: post #38

Earlier quoted context omitted.

It's definitely an industry ripe for rebirth. For instance, I should be able to partition my money into several lightweight accounts - one for groceries, one for home expenses, investment, etc - and automatically have fractions of my deposits sent to those accounts so my budgeting and money management are handled without any effort on my part. I should have lightweight cards available for each of those accounts with…

Simple[1] is pretty close. Create "Goals" for any amount and time period, Save $X by Y Date . Simple automatically allocates money to your Goals from your Available Balance daily, every friday, or any other schedule. They show you a "Safe to Spend" balance which is your Available Balance minus your total Goals. You can associate a Goal with a spending category, say Groceries, and have all transactions marked Grocerie…

I liked the idea of simple, but didn't like the fact they couldn't send me checks to use. They'll mail them on my behalf but not send me an actual checkbook to hold onto for one off situations. I rarely use them, but sometimes contractors or landlords prefer this method or charge exorbitant fees to use a credit card.

Also if I come into a decent size amount of a cash payment, I can't walk into a bank to deposit it. Mailing in straight up cash seems super weird to me.

Re: Wells Fargo Hit with $1B in Fines

#163

Post by bedhead » Fri, Apr 20, 2018, 7:32 PM UTC

The government should've instead created a "fine" where they receive something like half of Wells Fargo's profits for the next ten years or so. Then cap executive compensation for the duration. Then force every board member to resign and have a regulator on the board. All for the next decade. These one-and-done fines that are paid by shareholders instead of management, even large ones, do nothing...do something with lasting consequences if you want to punish, modify behavior, and put the fear of god into others considering cheating.

Re: Wells Fargo Hit with $1B in Fines

#164

Post by sgolestane » Fri, Apr 20, 2018, 7:33 PM UTC

heurist wrote: post #38

aphextron wrote: post #4

Something has happened to big banks along the way, where they no longer actually provide banking services to their customers. When I walk into a Wells Fargo branch now and sit down with a "banker" to take care of my accounts, it consists of sitting next to them while they call 1-800-WELLSFARGO for me and talk to a call center. There simply is no service anymore. I walked into my local branch to open up an IRA last we…

It's definitely an industry ripe for rebirth. For instance, I should be able to partition my money into several lightweight accounts - one for groceries, one for home expenses, investment, etc - and automatically have fractions of my deposits sent to those accounts so my budgeting and money management are handled without any effort on my part. I should have lightweight cards available for each of those accounts with…

CapitolOne! You can open an accounts online, no fees and you get interest on your balance. I have more than 20 accounts with them for everything from saving for vacation to saving for unexpected pet expenses.

Re: Wells Fargo Hit with $1B in Fines

#165

Post by aerotwelve » Fri, Apr 20, 2018, 7:33 PM UTC

PurpleBoxDragon wrote: post #154

aerotwelve wrote: post #122

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Yes. Dodd-Frank, the act that created the CFPB, mandates that the fines are deposited into what's called the Consumer Financial Civil Penalty Fund[1]. Money in that fund can be used for only two purposes by law: 1) Compensating victims of the wrongdoing 2) General consumer education & financial literacy programs The key here is that #1 takes priority by law; #2 only kicks in if the victims are unknown or in a few oth…

>I agree with the others in this thread who have serious problems with regulatory agencies that "self-fund" by using fines to keep the lights on. CFPB doesn't do this So one of the agencies most likely to go after major corporations don't do this. But the police that go after the little people can? Seems... rigged.

I completely agree that's its the wrong way to do it no matter if you're a regulatory or law enforcement agency. If I had my way, they would all operate like the CFPB.

And this is why I don't understand the opponents who want to tear it down. I understand why some might disagree with the bureau for philosophical reasons, but if we're going to have it, let's do it right.

Re: Wells Fargo Hit with $1B in Fines

#166

Post by edc117 » Fri, Apr 20, 2018, 7:34 PM UTC

bluGill wrote: post #61

samstave wrote: post #22

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I once took out $25,000 from my WF account and asked for it in a cashiers check. I paid the $5 fee for the check (even though they had stated that it would be free) - then I took my money.... I came back ~1month later to re-deposit the check into SAME WF acct. They stated that they had to put a hold on the check for 14 days until they could verify the funds. For a WF issued cashiers check. From the SAME act the funds…

It is easy to forge a cashiers check. Even if it is real, it is possible to erase the name on it and put something else on. Or you could have a fake id that makes it seem like you are really the person who it was written to. Those are just the types of fraud that come to mind immediately, those who work in banks probably know of more.

Worked in a bank when I was younger (Not WF). Was fairly trivial for us to confirm that the cashiers check was actually issued by us. It shouldn't have been held longer than a day at most, particularly not for a client.

Re: Wells Fargo Hit with $1B in Fines

#167

Post by ghostly_s » Fri, Apr 20, 2018, 7:35 PM UTC

manishsharan wrote: post #135

heurist wrote: post #38

Earlier quoted context omitted.

It's definitely an industry ripe for rebirth. For instance, I should be able to partition my money into several lightweight accounts - one for groceries, one for home expenses, investment, etc - and automatically have fractions of my deposits sent to those accounts so my budgeting and money management are handled without any effort on my part. I should have lightweight cards available for each of those accounts with…

I work for a large bank and can offer a tip. When you find yourself in this situation -- please create an incident report by lodging a complaint with the branch manager or online . Tweet if you must : your goal is to make sure that an incident shows up in the CRM. Branch managers bonus is tied to customer satisfaction parameters. This will not make you situation more bearable but it will force the branch to be more r…

That's not my job.

Re: Wells Fargo Hit with $1B in Fines

#168

Post by cocoablazing » Fri, Apr 20, 2018, 7:36 PM UTC

Someone1234 wrote: post #59

heurist wrote: post #38

Earlier quoted context omitted.

It's definitely an industry ripe for rebirth. For instance, I should be able to partition my money into several lightweight accounts - one for groceries, one for home expenses, investment, etc - and automatically have fractions of my deposits sent to those accounts so my budgeting and money management are handled without any effort on my part. I should have lightweight cards available for each of those accounts with…

> I should be able to partition my money into several lightweight accounts - one for groceries, one for home expenses, investment, etc Heck not even real "Accounts" (in the traditional banking sense) but just "funds" or "virtual accounts." I should be able to put $5/month into a "waste of money" fund, and then flag specific transactions against that balance when I use it, or as you said have a virtual credit card tha…

The correct term would be “facilities”, but this jargon is only used for corporate/UHNW clients with complex credit needs IME.

Re: Wells Fargo Hit with $1B in Fines

#169

Post by KPLSD » Fri, Apr 20, 2018, 7:36 PM UTC

heurist wrote: post #38

aphextron wrote: post #4

Something has happened to big banks along the way, where they no longer actually provide banking services to their customers. When I walk into a Wells Fargo branch now and sit down with a "banker" to take care of my accounts, it consists of sitting next to them while they call 1-800-WELLSFARGO for me and talk to a call center. There simply is no service anymore. I walked into my local branch to open up an IRA last we…

It's definitely an industry ripe for rebirth. For instance, I should be able to partition my money into several lightweight accounts - one for groceries, one for home expenses, investment, etc - and automatically have fractions of my deposits sent to those accounts so my budgeting and money management are handled without any effort on my part. I should have lightweight cards available for each of those accounts with…

The budgeting part of what you're describing is basically YNAB. https://app.youneedabudget.com/ It's a set of virtual buckets for allocating what money you currently have. It's not free but it's great because when one bucket's empty, it forces you to choose where else that money is going to come from. Like, "OK you blew threw the beer money, dum dum. Do you want to steal from your vacation fund or the new computer fund." After using it, I would argue that the ideas of "budgeting" and "without any effort on my part" are not compatible. You have to make hard decisions with limited resources and a good budgeting system should automatically bring those hard decisions to your attention and not just let you see how you screwed up with a pretty graph a month later (cough, Mint).

Also, many people use it without auto-import, but then you obviously have to be rigorous about entering in transactions. Anyway, it's an option.

Re: Wells Fargo Hit with $1B in Fines

#170

Post by abalone » Fri, Apr 20, 2018, 7:36 PM UTC

aphextron wrote: post #4

Something has happened to big banks along the way, where they no longer actually provide banking services to their customers. When I walk into a Wells Fargo branch now and sit down with a "banker" to take care of my accounts, it consists of sitting next to them while they call 1-800-WELLSFARGO for me and talk to a call center. There simply is no service anymore. I walked into my local branch to open up an IRA last we…

HN meta-analysis: You will see mostly anecdotal evidence here that facilitates confirmation bias. Whatever you think of the subject at hand, threads like this mainly serve to let people vent more than offering actual insight.

(FWIW I have anecdotal evidence that both my local Wells Fargo and another big bank branch seemed to be stepping up service quality in response to the scandal. But again, that's not actually worth anything apart from demonstrating that anecdotes are insufficient.)