Bank Of America Targeted By Brad Miller In National Campaign

[zazen]

Source: Huffington Post

On Sunday night, Rep. Brad Miller, a Democrat from Bank of America's home state of North Carolina, attended a general assembly meeting of Occupy Raleigh, the local offshoot of the national protest movement against Wall Street greed and abuse. When he returned to Washington, he announced the introduction of a bill that aims to make it easier for millions of consumers to take part in their own personal marches -- away from big banks.

As of now, major banks employ a variety of tactics to make it difficult for consumers to walk away when they jack up fees, as Bank of America did recently by announcing a new $5 monthly debit fee, blaming Wall Street reform for necessitating the hike. Congress can pass legislation countering abusive fees, but without a real free market, banks are able to figure out new ways to wring money from customers. Instead of focusing on regulation, said Miller, the goal should be to create a true free market.

“If we can find a way to introduce real competition into banking, that'd do more than any regulation," Miller told HuffPost. "The biggest banks have turned the switch for market forces to the off position. If consumers could shop around for banks the way they can for everything else, banks wouldn’t think they had a God-given right to pay their executives vulgar bonuses and still make enormous profits, and consumers would get a much better deal."
. . .

On Thursday, the nearly 800,000-member advocacy group Progressive Change Campaign Committee (PCCC) launched a national campaign to win support for Miller's legislation, calling on people to sign a petition and contact their member of Congress.

Read more: http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2011/10/06/bank-of-america-brad-miller_n_998192.html

[LiberalEsto]

1. My daughter closed her BOA account today

She only had $4.28 in it. She had been meaning to close it for some time, but never got around to it. I told her every account that's closed sends a message to BOA that people are fed up.

[zazen]

2. Yay! We love our credit union!! n/t

[LiberalEsto]

7. My entire family is with a credit union

We joined it about 3 years ago on the recommendation of folks here at DU.

[sarcasmo]

9. Thank you're daughter for me, this is what it will take to send these Greedy bankers a message.

Sure it's only $4.28 but one less account for them to tack on fees.

[supernova]

3. We are closing ours next week

Have to wait til after payday Tuesday. BoA emptied our account with a $100 penalty fee. We are moving to the SECU next week. Can't wait! I;ve been with them of necessity for about six months and I can't stand it! Can't wait to be free.

[sarcasmo]

11. Good for you and make sure you tell the branch manager why.

[woo me with science]

4. Excellent! nt

[Scurrilous]

5. K & R

:thumbsup:

[SoapBox]

6. Credit Union ... Credit Union ... Credit Union!!!

...do a search and just do it.

[sarcasmo]

10. +1

[slackmaster]

8. I don't see what's so hard about walking away from a bank.

1. Find new bank.

2. Open checking account, and any other accounts you need such as savings.

3. Change direct deposits, etc. over to new checking account.

4. Transfer money out of savings into new savings accounts.

5. Close old accounts.

6. Tell old bank to kiss your ass.

[zazen]

12. think about the way we change phone or cable companies

You go to your new preferred vendor--or even talk to them on the phone--and due to anti-trust laws or whatever that broke up the monopoly--that vendor calls your old company and switches everything over for you.

How many of us have used their competing deals to negotiate a better one?

What if you had to go sit down face to face with your old carrier and then personally change your phone number when you switched carriers--and then alert everyone you know of your new number--after waiting 90 days to transfer everything. And then get docked your account reactivated or at best phone calls lost if people accidentally used your old number. And if you don't want to go through this bureaucratic nightmare to leave, you're stuck with whatever fee-charging policy your bank wishes to institute.

Why do banks make us go in in person, wait 90 days, and move all direct deposits and debits ourselves? They could easily transfer all of that over--well, maybe the IT part wouldn't be easy, but it wouldn't take long to set up a system that triggers your creditors that your account has changed, triggers you to change it, etc., etc.

Imagine if Time Warner had demolished pensions all over the country, been lent billions in taxpayer dollars to lend out, and instead spent that on a few employees, and then turned around and raised your bill $60 a year. And leaving them required 1-2 full-time days of work and six months of unnecessary vigilance.

[slackmaster]

13. I personally have no problem telling a banker or anyone else to go pound sand down a rat hole

I recommend it.

[annabanana]

14. I am currently in a transition process...

I've had a vestigial credit union account for years. I have to get new debit cards from them, transfer a couple savings accounts and get the routing number for the paycheck (so I can switch over the EZ Pass, the newspaper subscriptions & other 'auto-charges') to worm my way free of their clutches.

It's not such an easy process, as many are finding out.