Wells Fargo booted from S.F. program

[KamaAina]

http://www.sfgate.com/bayarea/article/Wells-Fargo-booted-from-S-F-program-9240688.php

San Francisco has kicked Wells Fargo out of its Bank On program, which helps low-income people or those with credit problems open checking and savings accounts, city treasurer José Cisneros will announce Friday.

The program, which launched in 2006, pairs tens of thousands of people annually with 13 financial institutions like Chase and Citibank. Wells Fargo will be scrubbed from San Francisco’s list of participating banks immediately.

“Customers walked into Wells Fargo looking for a bank account to keep their money safe,” Cisneros said Thursday. “That’s not what they got. Staff exploited their personal information without their consent. That is a practice that is truly deceptive, wrong and predatory.”

Cisneros is encouraging the 13 other cities with Bank On programs, including Seattle, Houston, Nashville, Los Angeles and Miami, to also drop Wells Fargo from their list of participating banks.

[Wellstone ruled]

1. Ouch,this is

serious. Watch the National Narrative against Wall Street amp up. Bloomberg Business Channel already is trying to give cover for Wells,so someone is worried.

[dixiegrrrrl]

5. Esp. since Wells Fargo started in SF if I am not mistaken.

I am always happy to see reactions like this.

[Wellstone ruled]

6. Believe so,

and appears that the State of California's Consumer Banking Laws were the only ones to take these Guys to task. Looks like Wells was able to hide behind their Arbitrator Boiler Plate Rules for quite some time. Just for the ha-ha's,check our Amex Card today,same boiler plate,then checked our Visa,and yes there it is,wow,talk about not paying attention. Tell you what,these suckers are going to be used only in a emergency from on. Both have zero balance as of 5 pm today.

[tazkcmo]

2. Confusing.

This is supposed to be a program to help people, yet they pair them with the very banks that crashed our economy and continue to engage in predatory practices ranging from immoral to illegal. They would be better served by putting their money in a coffee can than letting BoA, Citi, Chase or WF have access to their money. It's like hiring a child predator to mentor at risk youth.

[KamaAina]

3. Perhaps they should use credit unions instead.

Of which there are many in California.

[tazkcmo]

4. As I said, a coffee can makes more sense.

It just seems counter productive to continue to do business with these Too Big To Jail institutions. CU's seem to be a preferable option as you suggest or even banks with a proven track record of integrity.