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Wells Fargo to pay $3.7B for mistreating customers

finance.yahoo.com

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Re: Wells Fargo to pay $3.7B for mistreating customers

#151

> “Wells Fargo’s rinse-repeat cycle of violating the law has harmed millions of American families,” CFPB Director Rohit Chopra said in the statement. “The CFPB is ordering Wells Fargo to refund billions of dollars to consumers across the country. This is an important initial step for accountability and long-term reform of this repeat offender.” > Shares of the company rose 0.7% to $42.11 at 9:57 a.m. in New York. Soo…

The market had probably expected a worse punishment.

Re: Wells Fargo to pay $3.7B for mistreating customers

#152
post #139
post #9

I feel so much cognitive dissonance realizing that there are hard working people literally losing their home and shelter wrongly while I might be sitting across from them at any time, expecting them to behave within normal social boundaries. Imagine a family with a new born, working 50+ hours at a physically demanding job, making $80k/yr combined, and then losing their home for no reason... and then being expected to…

I can’t even afford a home right now on a tech salary with sky high rent paying off my landlords 2% refi’d mortgage and student loans making it impossible at 6-7% fed interest rate hikes and inflated home prices after the insane COVID housing price bubble increase. I feel like life won’t start for another 5+ years for people like me, unless we gamble on being underwater on an inflated mortgage entering at the peak of…

Same here. I wasn't financially prepared to buy a house at insanely inflated Covid prices while interest rates were down in the 2% range, and I'm not excited to to buy a house at 7% while prices are still substantially higher than pre-Covid levels. Meanwhile rentals for anything other than a tiny box are just as expensive as a mortgage at those rates.

I don't understand how people who do not have 6-figure tech salaries are expected to have anything other than a poverty lifestyle when housing is so expensive.

I also don't understand these well-dressed young families parading around Boston and New York with their expensive baby carriages and $75k SUVs. Did I miss a memo on how to get rich at 30? Are they all going broke living like that? Did they all inherit a lot of money? Do they live in tiny apartments?

Re: Wells Fargo to pay $3.7B for mistreating customers

#153

So what's the least-evil bank that has a network of cash machines everywhere? (Yes, still need cash for certain things) Edit: also with a non-buggy mobile app? My credit union has the worst app. They don't seem capable of improving it... probably outsourced.

Many small local banks will refund ATM fees nationwide. I prefer small banks because it is much more possible to build a relationship with them to get better service.

Re: Wells Fargo to pay $3.7B for mistreating customers

#154
post #139
post #9

I feel so much cognitive dissonance realizing that there are hard working people literally losing their home and shelter wrongly while I might be sitting across from them at any time, expecting them to behave within normal social boundaries. Imagine a family with a new born, working 50+ hours at a physically demanding job, making $80k/yr combined, and then losing their home for no reason... and then being expected to…

I can’t even afford a home right now on a tech salary with sky high rent paying off my landlords 2% refi’d mortgage and student loans making it impossible at 6-7% fed interest rate hikes and inflated home prices after the insane COVID housing price bubble increase. I feel like life won’t start for another 5+ years for people like me, unless we gamble on being underwater on an inflated mortgage entering at the peak of…

> an inflated mortgage entering at the peak of the housing market

We are well past the peak of the housing market.

Re: Wells Fargo to pay $3.7B for mistreating customers

#155
post #139
post #9

I feel so much cognitive dissonance realizing that there are hard working people literally losing their home and shelter wrongly while I might be sitting across from them at any time, expecting them to behave within normal social boundaries. Imagine a family with a new born, working 50+ hours at a physically demanding job, making $80k/yr combined, and then losing their home for no reason... and then being expected to…

I can’t even afford a home right now on a tech salary with sky high rent paying off my landlords 2% refi’d mortgage and student loans making it impossible at 6-7% fed interest rate hikes and inflated home prices after the insane COVID housing price bubble increase. I feel like life won’t start for another 5+ years for people like me, unless we gamble on being underwater on an inflated mortgage entering at the peak of…

The Fed was responsible for low mortgage rates because they were purchasing MBS.

Mortgage rates are currently back to something more historically normal.

If you’re upset about anything, it should be a about rates being so low for so long, which drove up home prices.

Re: Wells Fargo to pay $3.7B for mistreating customers

#156
post #67

Earlier quoted context omitted.

In the US I bet any farmer who sprays police with milk would be instantly shot

Considering the inability of US police to successfully shoot farmers who spray police with bullets I think your bet might fail.

But consider this: what if the farmers have a darker skin color

Re: Wells Fargo to pay $3.7B for mistreating customers

#157
post #47

Earlier quoted context omitted.

There is nothing forcing anybody to bank with Wells Fargo. Their customers are clearly content, because they're still Wells Fargo customers. Edit: shit, someone else pointed out that they buy mortgages. Nevermind.

My oldest credit file is a credit card that I don't use anymore but it is owned by WF. If I close it, my credit score is negatively impacted by losing a decades old credit line. I don't particularly care about my credit score, and this sort of lock-in is pretty low friction, but changing banks can have costs. I hate them, over the years that I banked with them, they have consistently been a bad bank. I think I have a…

I was about to say, Wells Fargo was sold my mortgage literally the day after I signed it. I originated the mortgage with a local-ish bank and it still wound up in their hands.

Re: Wells Fargo to pay $3.7B for mistreating customers

#158
post #103
post #67

Earlier quoted context omitted.

In the US I bet any farmer who sprays police with milk would be instantly shot

Two years ago, we had protesters literally set police precinct on fire, and not only nobody got shot, but in fact nobody faced any consequences.

They didn't just set it on fire, they literally burned it to the ground. I watched live streams of the police abandoning the precinct building.

Elsewhere, people were firing fireworks mortars into occupied federal buildings, with little to no recourse.

"Good" protesters were overshadowed in media coverage of "bad" protesters, but I also saw a grocery store get completely ransacked for no reason other than people decided they could. There was so much damage that the store was closed for months to renovate, turning a poor neighborhood into a food desert.

Re: Wells Fargo to pay $3.7B for mistreating customers

#159
post #72

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I did a thought experiment. If FDIC and NCUA deposit insurance didn't exist, would I trust a bank of a credit union more with my deposits? I landed with credit unions due to the overt malfeasance of banks. The FDIC exists to keep banks afloat, because they're untrustworthy on their own.

If everyone moved their money to credit unions, they'd become just as bad as banks.

A bank exists to serve the interests of their shareholders, a credit union exists to serve the interests of their members. Unless you happen to be a significant shareholder in your bank, credit unions are more aligned with your interests.

Re: Wells Fargo to pay $3.7B for mistreating customers

#160
post #79

Why is it -always- Wells Fargo. There are thousands of banks out there, and Wells Fargo is not even close to being the biggest. But why are they in the news every year for some illegal dealings? It feels like they should be broken up or something at this point.

> and Wells Fargo is not even close to being the biggest Wells Fargo is the 2nd largest mortgage lender in the USA (after Quicken), #4 bank in terms of assets under management, #3 by market cap, #2 in number of branches. It is absolutely massive.

Fair point. I didn't mean to imply they were just some dinky little bank - they are quite large. But they are AFAICT third or fourth largest, and nearly 3x smaller than Chase. But Chase (nor the other top 3) don't have a fraction of the illegal dealings that WF seems to come up with.
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