Bruce Ramsey seems awful upset by a press release from Mike O’Brien that says, “I got sick of all the fees and hassle of the big banks, making life difficult for customers while reaping record profits.” He takes issue on the fact that Bank of America (who O’Brien didn’t name as his bank) didn’t make a profit for a few years, showing their profits and losses from 2006 to 2010:
2006 $21 billion
2007 $15 billion
2008 $2.6 billion
2009 ($2.2 billion) loss
2010 ($3.6 billion) loss
So, how much did B of A to make in the third quarter of 2011, you ask? Oh, $6.2 Billion. Still, I don’t think O’Brien begrudges the banks their profits, I think it’s more the hassle and fees that he cites that are the problem.
Ramsey is also upset about the fact that O’Brien is sharing this in a press release. But it seems to me, it’s information his constituents might want.
It is a little unusual on O’Brien’s part, but I say good for him for getting he word out about National Bank Transfer Day. I’d transfer my money, but I’m a little over a decade ahead of the curve on this one.
Next up (I hope): Ditch Your Credit Card Day.
“‘Record profits’ is a phrase that gets thrown around a lot, often by people who could not define what a profit is.”
Gee, you aren’t a little bitter, are ya Bruce? I mean, working for a business that hasn’t shown a profit in years, and all. Maybe you should’ve gone to B-school and become a banker instead of going to J-school and becoming an editorial writer. Nickel and diming poor people on welfare and unemployment benefits pays better than hawking newspapers for nickels and dimes.
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/.....f=business
@1: “I’m a little over a decade ahead of the curve on this one.”
I’m about a half decade behind you, Michael, and I don’t understand why everyone doesn’t do this. Credit unions pay better and charge less than commercial banks, for one thing.
OK, let’s check out the trend:
2006 $21 billion
2007 $15 billion
2008 $2.6 billion
2009 ($2.2 billion) loss
2010 ($3.6 billion) loss
2006 – BoA is flying high by selling credit default swaps and subprime mortgage tranches.
2007 – Oops! the house of cards built by BoA, Merrill Lynch and Countrywide (both of which BoA now owns), and others falls over.
2008 – Profits dry up as the country sinks into the worst depression since 1930 — who wudda thought?
2009 – Let the lawsuits begin.
2010 – Shit! We’re losing money! We gotta fire our loyal employees and jack around our loyal customers to make up the losses caused by our bad business decisions and fraudulent loan products.
Sure looks to me like bad decisions have consequences. But this being a free market and a competitive economy and all, when banksters try to stick customers with their losses, after they can’t stick shareholders anymore because all the shareholders have left already, what’s wrong with the customers seeking a better deal elsewhere?
Personally, based on what we now know about BoA’s behavior during the bubble, I not only wouldn’t borrow from them (see: fraudulent foreclosure filings), I sure as HELL wouldn’t trust them with my savings!! Seriously, this bank needs to be dead. So dead it can never rise again. And the banksters who generated and processed the fraudulent loans should spend the rest of their lives working in fast food joints for minimum wage.
What exactly does Ramsey think is wrong with the free market eliminating lousy banks? Isn’t that how free markets are supposed to work?
@1 “Ditch Your Credit Card Day.”
Oh no, not me! I have only one credit card, a no-fee card through a credit union, on which I never pay interest because I pay the balance in full every month, and I charge everything to it I can. Including medical bills, which really runs up the reward points, because I’m old and sick and have a lot of medical bills.
My credit card doesn’t cost me a cent and so far this year I’ve gotten a free chainsaw and a free pressure washer with my reward points. Of course I don’t believe that stuff is really free — the customers paying 12% to 28% interest on their credit cards paid for it.
Debit cards are an incredibly bad deal for consumers and a racket for banks. Why does anyone use them? If you charge something to a debit card, there’s no float, the money is sucked out of your account immediately. There’s no reward points, and if someone gets your pin, they can empty your account. (With a credit card, the company eats fraudulent charges.) Debit cards make sense for bankers, but not for customers, so why does anyone use them?
If bankers can’t make a profit by paying savers 1/10th of 1% on their savings, and lending their money to credit card customers at 28%, we need a new set of bankers.
If my bank makes a profit, it’s not my fault. I’ve busted my ass to get my banking services for free! Free stuff is an American birthright. After all America is the land of the free! If Ramsey’s against free stuff, he’s un-American.
@5
I had a rewards card for a while, no fees, never paid any interest on it. I usually used my reward points to pay for gas on road trips. Went to Zion and back without paying for gas. But, credit card companies and the folks at Visa are a bunch of evil fuckers, so I ditched the card in the end.
When you buy something with a debit card your spending gets tracked and the company you’re making the purchase at gets dinged with a fee. Since it’s nobodies fucking business what I buy and I’d like the merchant I’m shopping at to get the full price of the product I tend to use cash.
OK, let’s check out the trend:
2006 $21 billion
2007 $15 billion
2008 $2.6 billion
2009 ($2.2 billion) loss
2010 ($3.6 billion) loss
In the absence of taxpayers lending hundreds of billions at ZERO INTEREST to B of A beginning in 2009, Ramsey’s ‘trend’ would have ended there and O’Brien would never have put out that press release.
There you have it. Bruce Ramsey…still clueless.
I have never understood why anyone would do business with a bank. I have always assumed banksters were, well, banksters.
I have never, ever dealt with a bank. I have been a member of the Kitsap Federal CU (Now just Kitsap CU) since 1979.
People I worked with manage the CU and still do. I have always been proud of the fact that my money stayed in the community and helped out people I know and worked with.
I’ve never had a debit card, always used checks (free) or cash.
I only have a credit card (9% if I don’t pay it off at the end of the month) because they’re necessary if you want to buy tickets or make hotel/car rental reservations.
Why would anyone ever do business with a bankster?
Company cards are printed on some type of card stock, the visual effect, technique of printing, cost and other details varying according to cultural or organizational norms and personal preferences.