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Wells Fargo Hit with $1B in Fines

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Re: Wells Fargo Hit with $1B in Fines

#371

Post by matwood »

__jal wrote: post #207
manishsharan wrote: post #135

Earlier quoted context omitted.

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…

No. The correct answer is to close your account and move to a bank that actually has an interest in providing customer service. (Credit unions are great.) I have zero interest in some company's CRM, how they apportion money to employees, or anything else of that sort. If a company cannot get meaningful feedback about customers' reaction to their service, well, that sounds like they have a serious business problem to…

This is the correct answer. Many times people feel trapped in their bank because it is a pain to move, but it’s not hard.

Re: Wells Fargo Hit with $1B in Fines

#372

Post by matwood »

pwinnski wrote: post #320
ddingus wrote: post #174

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Yes, but there are two issues here. One is getting your trouble resolved. Sadly that means doing some work you shouldn't have to at present. The other is sharing all those experiences so that we can garner momentum to change things.

Both problems can be resolved by moving your accounts to a credit union, and encouraging others to do the same.

I like credit unions, but I recently left one after they started adding various fees. CUs also often do not have the resources of a big bank. I have been stuck in Europe before waiting for the bank back home to open because they blocked my debit card even after I told them I was traveling. The contract 1800 number could not fix my issue.

IMO, the current best banking experience is Schwab. Hopefully they don’t make dumb changes and screw it up.

Re: Wells Fargo Hit with $1B in Fines

#373

Post by matwood »

Klathmon wrote: post #290
ensignavenger wrote: post #286

Earlier quoted context omitted.

As part of your disclosures, lenders that plan to sell your loan will usually be required to disclose this fact, so you can deal with a lender that keeps their loans in house. The last house I bought the company disclosed that they might sell the loan, but they remain the servicer on the loan, so I don't even know who owns it.

Since then I've bought 2 houses, and both mortgage companies I've worked with had that clause. Is it actually possible to find someone who won't? Or is it just a false sense of choice like the ability to "choose an ISP that says they won't sell your information"?

It is possible. Smaller banks and CUs will often keep mortgages. Suntrust for example, tends to keep their mortgages.

Re: Wells Fargo Hit with $1B in Fines

#375

Post by adityasheode »

kaizendad wrote: post #19

OK, but Wells Fargo made $5 billion last year, and the activity they were fined for took place over many years, which leaves me to ask: after the fines, was this activity profitable or not? If it was profitable, do the fines actually dissuade future dishonesty? Also, apparently Wells Fargo thinks that 27,000 people lost their cars over this. I bet none of those people will be made whole. Cars are really essential thi…

I actually agree with you on this, Wells Fargo was doing this malpractice for years and the fine is really disproportionate. I mean even with the fine they still have a net income of over $4 billion. The regulator needs to levy a more stringent penalty. The puny penalty alludes to a bonhomie between the company and the regulators

Re: Wells Fargo Hit with $1B in Fines

#377

Post by thetruthseeker1 »

kaizendad wrote: post #19

OK, but Wells Fargo made $5 billion last year, and the activity they were fined for took place over many years, which leaves me to ask: after the fines, was this activity profitable or not? If it was profitable, do the fines actually dissuade future dishonesty? Also, apparently Wells Fargo thinks that 27,000 people lost their cars over this. I bet none of those people will be made whole. Cars are really essential thi…

Fines are usually multiple times more than the value they cheated which seems to be the case here( ~100M$ ) - so it is fair in some sense. Just because they are still profitable doesn’t mean the fine was unfair. There might be other divisions were people worked honestly, let’s not paint everybody with a broad brush or sound despondent.

Re: Wells Fargo Hit with $1B in Fines

#378

Post by dredmorbius »

matchagaucho wrote: post #188

There doesn't appear to be any reparations for the actual consumers. Where exactly do the fines go? A class action lawsuit would have served more justice.

This depends, but generally in Federal regulatory action, to the US Treasury. Victim restituion is a separate issue.

https://www.alternet.org/economy/bank-fines-and-crime

Re: Wells Fargo Hit with $1B in Fines

#380

Post by JetSpiegel »

yjftsjthsd-h wrote: post #273
coliveira wrote: post #244

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Banks don't do anything useful that cannot be provided by other means. They are completely useless. The only thing that banks do is to provide credit against things you already currently own, like mortgages and commercial loans. But these things could very easily be provided by an official agency. For example, if you don't pay your monthly mortgage you just lose the house and an official agency will deal with the sal…

So... Your alternative to banks is banks, but public sector, and you expect this to improve the bureaucracy level?

More like reuse an existing bureaucracy instead of creating a parallel, private one.
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