Free Republic

New York Attorney General Eric T. Schneiderman sued three of the nation's largest banks over a private national mortgage registry system, contending it has resulted in a wide range of deceptive and fraudulent foreclosure filings. The lawsuit, filed in New York State Supreme Court in Brooklyn, names units of Bank of America Corp., J.P. Morgan Chase & Co. and Wells Fargo Corp. as defendants, as well as MERSCorp., which owns and operates the Mortgage Electronic Registration Systems, known as MERS. In his complaint, Mr. Schneiderman alleges that MERS has effectively eliminated the public's ability to track property transfers because those...

Well, isn't this rich? And I do mean rich. President Obama, man of the people, will deliver his presidential nomination acceptance speech at the Bank of America Stadium in Charlotte, N.C. -- so that Democratic Party fundraisers can reward big donors with skyboxes and other lavish perks. As usual, the White House and its allies are trying to camouflage naked partisan money-grubbing in populist garb. "I think this would be a great opportunity to have tens of thousands of North Carolinians and others outside of the state to see and participate in the convention process," one North Carolina Democratic Party...

Picture Emerges of Teen Suicide Pilot CHARLES BISHOP: To some, he was a smart, humorous student, which makes his suicide flight all the more incomprehensible. By CURTIS KRUEGER, KATHERINE GAZELLA and ED QUIOCO © St. Petersburg Times published January 8, 2002 ----------- Charles Bishop was a teacher's dream. He read Shakespeare in class, pulled together a middle school literary magazine and enjoyed a good game of flag football. Friends and family members who knew him best described Charles as a patriot. The teen who flew an airplane into the Bank of America building, carrying a note sympathizing with Osama bin...

A fifteen-year-old student pilot apparently trying to recreate the 9/11 kamikaze attack on the World Trade Center slammed a stolen Cessna 172 private airplane Saturday into Tampa, Florida's Bank of America building, the city's tallest structure. Charles J. Bishop, a 15-year-old flight student from Great Britain, stole the small aircraft from Albert Whitted Municipal Airport in nearby St. Petersburg at about 5 p.m., law enforcement sources said. Bishop was killed as the Cessna carrying 56 gallons of fuel slammed into the Bank of America tower, leaving the tail section of the plane dangling precariously from its side. The fuel did ...

Part of article from St. Pete Times after Sept 11. "Robert C. Cooper, president of National Aviation Flight School and Aviation Rentals, stressed that the extra security cannot be done at the expense of those of Middle Eastern descent. "I don't want to get involved in profiling," he said. "I have faith in my government. I have to work on the belief that my government has basis to allow them into the country and show them proper respect." end of article. Cooper is head of National Aviation Holdings that owned A/C. Many Florida flight schools train Arab students. Wonder if ...

Attorney General Eric Holder said a federal probe found discrimination against at least 200,000 qualified African American and Latino borrowers from 2004 to 2008, during the height of the housing market boom. He said that minority borrowers who qualified for prime loans were steered into higher-interest-rate subprime loans.

The Federal Housing Finance Agency is looking into contracts between the government-sponsored enterprises and mortgage servicers to determine the best step to take when a servicer fails to perform well. In the third quarter, Fannie Mae bought back mortgage servicing rights from Bank of America covering $74 billion in unpaid principal balance, according to its third-quarter financial statement. It was 11% of the Fannie loans being serviced by BofA.

I wonder how much longer it will take before there is a rush where main street Americans are fed up and pull all their money from these Banking institutions which many contend are nothing more than Fraud / Bankster's. People in good faith have been trying for months/years to settle with Banks, HAMP, HARP,Yada..yada..yada government programs which have proven to be an utter failure. If Banks are unwilling to work with homeowners, at what point do you think homeowners will just say SUE ME? Good luck squeezing blood from a turnip so to speak.

NEW YORK (CNNMoney) -- Another trading day and another low for Bank of America's stock. Shares of Bank of America dropped more than 3% Tuesday, hitting a new 52-week low of $5.03 -- its lowest level since March 12, 2009. After the close of trading Tuesday, Bank of America was one of 37 financial institutions downgraded by S&P. Beyond the S&P downgrade, trading could become even more complicated in Bank of America's stock, if it falls below $5. Under that threshold, many broker-dealers will not allow investors to buy or short a stock on margin, according to a spokesperson for...

WASHINGTON, November 22, 2011 (LifeSiteNews.com) — In a rare successful pushback against the pro-gay rights corporate culture, customers of Bank of America and the Cisco Corporation have won a promise from the two companies not to discriminate against employees or vendors who publicly oppose same-sex “marriage.” The National Organization for Marriage’s (NOM) Corporate Fairness Project announced Nov. 7 that both companies, which the leading gay rights group Human Rights Campaign had rated favorably, backtracked on a decision to cancel seminars by Frank Turek, who is a traditional marriage advocate. Frank Turek was 'fired' by both Cisco and Bank of America...

The various "Occupy Wall Street" demonstrations around the country declared Thursday to be a "day of action" in the ongoing protest of big banks and Wall Street policies that they blame for a sagging economy. While thousands protested in Manhattan, Los Angeles and other cities, several hundred people took to the streets of downtown Amherst. According to video supplied to The Republican by Julie Varney of Amherstwire.com, demonstrators assembled in front of Bank of New England branch at South Pleasant and Amity Streets. At one point, the footage shows demonstrators storming into the bank lobby to disrupt business. After several...

Occupy San Francisco demonstrators and student protesters have taken over the lobby at a Bank of America branch in the city’s financial district, chanting “We are the 99%!”

CHARLOTTE, North Carolina (Reuters) - Bank of America Corp employees are flooding rival companies with resumes as a major cost-cutting program gets under way at the second-largest U.S. bank. Competitors say they are getting an influx of calls, emails and LinkedIn connection requests as the bank embarks on a plan to slash 30,000 jobs over the next few years. The employees are scouting jobs in retail, commercial and investment banking, bankers and recruiters said. "It's definitely picking up," said a senior executive at a rival consumer bank.

How do you foreclose on a home that doesn't exist? That's the question KRPC-TV in Houston asked Texas homeowner Brad Gana, whose home was destroyed by Hurricane Ike in 2008 while he was overseas (via AGBeat). Despite the the destruction, Gana continued to make mortgage payments on the property. Then, two days before Gana planned to sell the property, he learned the bank was foreclosing on it. What happened? Apparently, while Gana was making his regular payments, Bank of America had incorrectly placed a homeowner's policy on the non-existent property and additionally, increased his monthly mortage payments. Bank of America...

CHARLOTTE, N.C., Nov 01, 2011 (BUSINESS WIRE) -- In response to customer feedback and the changing competitive marketplace, Bank of America no longer intends to implement a debit usage fee. "We have listened to our customers very closely over the last few weeks and recognize their concern with our proposed debit usage fee," said David Darnell, co-chief operating officer. "Our customers' voices are most important to us. As a result, we are not currently charging the fee and will not be moving forward with any additional plans to do so." Bank of America

Bloomberg reports that Bank of America (BAC) has shifted about $22 trillion worth of derivative obligations from Merrill Lynch and the BAC holding company to the FDIC insured retail deposit division. Along with this information came the revelation that the FDIC insured unit was already stuffed with $53 trillion worth of these potentially toxic obligations, making a total of $75 trillion.

In about 18 days, more than 50,000 people plan to send a message to banks: Goodbye. In an event titled “Bank Transfer Day” thousands are signing up to leave large banks in favor of credit unions on or before Saturday, November 5, over what some call unethical practices. “If you don’t believe in a company’s practices or feel that a company’s practices are unethical, then, very simply, you should not have money with that company,” the 27-year-old creator of the event, Kristen Christian, told KTLA Live. “I was tired of paying outrageous fees to banks for a severe lack of...

Monster Prediction From BofA: Another US Debt Downgrade Is Coming In Just A Few Weeks Joe Weisenthal | Oct. 22, 2011, 7:04 AM | 4,055 | 48 In an analyst note, Bofa/ML Ethan S. Harris drops a bit of a bombshell prediction: We expect a moderate slowdown in the beginning of next year, as two small policy shocks—another debt downgrade and fiscal tightening—hit the economy. The “not-so-super” Deficit Commission is very unlikely to come up with a credible deficit-reduction plan. The committee is more divided than the overall Congress. Since the fall-back plan is sharp cuts in discretionary spending, the...

A plan by beleaguered Bank of America to foist trillions of dollars of funky Merrill Lynch derivatives onto its depositors is raising eyebrows on Wall Street. The rarely used move will likely save the bank millions of dollars in collateral but could put depositors’ cash behind the eight ball. The move also brought to light fissures between the nation’s top banking regulators, the Federal Deposit Insurance Corp. and the Federal Reserve, in the wake of new regulations meant to curb the free-wheeling habits that fostered the worst crisis in a generation back in 2008. At issue is BofA’s decision to...

Occupy Wall Street protesters in San Diego caused a downtown bank branch to shut down Thursday afternoon. The San Diego Union-Tribune says several dozen protesters sat down in front of a Bank of America branch, causing the bank to close early at 1:30 p.m. Access to ATMs were still allowed though. "It's not really a Bank of America thing," 26-year-old Michael Basillas told the Union-Tribune. "It's much more of a symbol, one of many banks that screw people over all the time." The Union-Tribune reports that there were about eight police officers watching over the 30 to 40 demonstrators as...

While the professional Left trashes Wall Street, they might want to consider how their current President got elected.  The Sunlight Foundation reports that Barack Obama didn’t just win the Wall Street sweepstakes in 2008 over John McCain — he’s done better at getting Wall Street cash than any other President in the last 20 years: Despite his rhetorical attacks on Wall Street, a study by the Sunlight Foundation’s Influence Project shows that President Barack Obama has received more money from Wall Street than any other politician over the past 20 years, including former President George W. Bush.In 2008, Wall Street’s largesse accounted for...

Bank of America's CEO defended his bank's new $5 fee on debit cards on Wednesday, saying that customers and shareholders understand the bank has a "right to make a profit." Bank of America (BAC, Fortune 500) CEO Brian Moynihan defended the move, which the bank announced last week in response to new caps on debit card swipe fees that the banks charge retailers. Bank of America's announcement of a new debit card fee was followed today by an announcement of new checking account fees by Citibank (C, Fortune 500). These new bank fees have fueled a populist backlash that has...

Be aware that B of A is a good work week behind in transactions of ATM.

NEW YORK -- Bank of America still isn't explaining why online banking may be slow for some of its customers for a sixth day in a row. A message on the bank's home page Wednesday said most of the site was working normally, but that customers may experience "occasional delays." A spokeswoman for Bank of America Corp., Tara Burke, says the company doesn't disclose the causes for website problems and noted that online banking was now available. She declined to say how many customers may still be experiencing slowness signing in.

NEW YORK (AP) — Bank of America is closing down one of its mortgage units. The Charlotte, N.C. bank put its "correspondent lending" business up for sale on Aug. 31. It couldn't find a suitable buyer and has decided to close the business by the end of the year, said bank spokesman Terry Francisco.

Economic indicators are falling. The Fed issued a gloomy report on the future of the economy, saying that the so-called recovery may be “faltering.� Greece has only enough cash to make payroll for a few weeks before it defaults and flattens the European banking system. The only thing missing from a collapse is a good, old-fashioned bank run.Enter Dick Durbin (h/t Ryan K):video platformvideo managementvideo solutionsvideo player Holding up a plastic debit card on the Senate floor this afternoon, Sen. Dick Durbin, D-Ill., had some advice for Bank of America customers angry about the new $5 monthly fee: leave.“Bank of...

President Obama joined fellow Democrats in blasting a new fee on debit card users announced by Bank of America, arguing that banks do not have an "inherent right" to a certain amount of profits. The bank has come under a hail of criticism after it announced it would begin charging debit card users $5 a month, blaming the move on policymakers who curbed the amount of fees they could collect from retailers. "You don’t have some inherent right just to get a certain amount of profit if your customers are being mistreated," he said in an interview with ABC News....

(The news that BofA customers will soon shoulder a monthly charge for debit purchases sparks outrage — and threats to abandon the bank altogether.) Bank of America, proclaiming that its bottom line is hurt by new legislation that limits how much money banks can charge retailers for the privilege of letting customers pay with debit cards, announced that it will make up for those losses by charging customers a $5 monthly fee. The fee takes effect in 2012 and affects any customer who makes debit purchases. ATM and credit card transactions will remain free. Predictably, the bank's customers are not...

WASHINGTON (AP) -- Federal regulators bowed to pressure from big banks seeking a quick exit from the financial bailout program and did not uniformly apply the government's own conditions set for repaying the taxpayer funds, a new watchdog report says. The report was issued Friday by the office of Christy Romero, the acting special inspector general for the $400 billion taxpayer bailout of the financial industry and automakers. It found that regulators, to varying degrees, "bent" to pressure from the banks in late 2009 and relaxed the requirements put in only weeks earlier. The regulators also were motivated by a...

Bank of America Corp plans to charge customers who use their debit cards to make purchases a $5 monthly fee beginning early next year, joining other banks scrambling for new sources of revenue. U.S. banks have been looking for ways to increase revenue as regulations introduced since the financial crisis limited the use of overdraft and other fees.

Moody's Investors Service has downgraded the ratings of Bank of America Corporation's (NYSE: BAC) holding company to Baa1 from A2 for long-term senior debt and to Prime-2 from Prime-1 for short-term debt. The long-term deposit ratings of Bank of America N.A. (BANA) were downgraded to A2 from Aa3, while BANA's short-term rating was affirmed at Prime-1. The actions conclude a review for downgrade announced on June 2, 2011. The outlook on the long-term senior ratings remains negative. The downgrades result from a decrease in the probability that the US government would support the bank, if needed. Moody's believes that the...

House Oversight Committee Chairman Darrell Issa (R-Calif.) is wondering why Fannie Mae agreed to buy 400,000 mortgages from Bank of America and whether its purchase of the risky assets constitutes a "backdoor bailout" of the bank. Issa sent a letter Thursday to Edward DeMarco, the acting director of the Federal Housing Finance Agency (FHFA) that regulates Fannie, asking for a justification of the deal, especially in light of the bank's recently announced spate of layoffs. "The transaction appears to have shifted a significant amount of risk from BofA's portfolio to Fannie.

More layoffs looming on Wall Street By Maureen Farrell September 13, 2011: 7:52 AM ET stock market As bank shares have dropped, these firms are taking stock of their employment rosters. Click chart for more market data. NEW YORK (CNNMoney) -- Wall Street should brace for an autumn of upward revisions among the big banks. Not for profits or revenue, but in the number of layoffs to come. Bank of America (BAC, Fortune 500) announced a five-fold increase Monday in its number of layoffs, noting that it plans to get rid of 30,000 jobs over a yet unspecified period. Earlier...

Bank of America is doomed, says bank analyst Chris Whalen, the founder and managing director of Institutional Risk Analytics. (See video below) Importantly, this dour outlook as nothing to do with the company's operating businesses, which Whalen thinks are fine. In fact, says Whalen, there's no need for the bank to be restructuring them and firing thousands of employees (40,000 is the latest estimate) to improve its bottom line. The part of Bank of America that's not fine, in Whalen's view, is the ongoing liability from the mortgage underwriting that Bank of America's subsidiaries did during the housing bubble. The...

It was only a matter of time. A few weeks after every money losing firm in the US and the kitchen sink disclosed it would sue Bank of America in an accelerating attempt to salvage something through litigation, the worst case scenario for Brian Moynhian just got real. As of minutes ago, Norway's Government Pension Fund, which is another name for its Sovereign Wealth Fund, has just announced it is suing Bank of America for mortgage fraud. Not only that but it is also going after Countrywide, obviously, but far more importantly, is also suing KPGM, the auditor on the...

Just months after being fired from Cisco Systems in California over an anti-gay marriage book, Christian consultant Dr. Frank Turek was also given the boot from Bank of America. "I get a lot of flak for just actually agreeing with what a majority of Americans agree on and that is that marriage is between one man and one woman," Turek said this past week on American Family Radio. Turek was doing work on and off for Bank of America for about 15 years, mainly conducting leadership and team building programs, he said. Other clients have included Coca Cola, Home Depot...

Dear Banks, Remember all of that bailout money you received? Sure hope you saved some of it. US authorities are preparing to sue more than a dozen big banks over claims they misrepresented the quality of mortgages sold during the 2006-7 housing bubble.The US Federal Housing Finance Agency (FHFA), which is overseeing the remains of failed mortgage giants Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac, is reportedly planning to argue that America’s biggest banks failed to check the health of mortgages before they sold them on to investors. The collapse of hundreds of thousands of sub-prime mortgages triggered the 2008 credit crisis...

Bank of America, JPMorgan Chase, Deutsche Bank and Goldman Sachs are among those expected to be named in the lawsuit. The agency that oversees U.S. mortgage markets is preparing to file suit against more than a dozen big banks, accusing them of misrepresenting the quality of mortgages they packaged and sold during the housing bubble, The New York Times reported on Thursday. The Federal Housing Finance Agency, which oversees mortgage giants Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac, is expected to file suit against Bank of America, JPMorgan Chase, Goldman Sachs and Deutsche Bank, among other banks, the Times reported, citing three...

U.S. Set To Sue Big Banks Over Bad Mortgages Agency says B of A, JPMorgan Chase, Goldman Sachs, others misrepresented securities By NELSON D. SCHWARTZ The federal agency that oversees the mortgage giants Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac is set to file suits against more than a dozen big banks, accusing them of misrepresenting the quality of mortgage securities they assembled and sold at the height of the housing bubble, and seeking billions of dollars in compensation. The Federal Housing Finance Agency suits, which are expected to be filed in the coming days in federal court, are aimed at Bank...

Dear Mr. Moynihan: I want to bring to your attention a recent decision made by your HR team that I think does not reflect your leadership of Bank of America. Dr. Frank Turek was fired as a vendor for his political and religious views, even though those views were never mentioned or expressed during his work at Bank of America. By way of background, Dr. Turek is an eight-year veteran of the United States Navy, and he and his wife have two sons serving in the United States Air Force. He has conducted leadership, teambuilding and other training programs for...

Amid questions about Bank of America's credibility, Warren Buffett's Berkshire Hathaway Inc. has invested $5 billion dollars into the nations biggest bank. The bank's stock has fallen 52% over the past year over concerns of it's mortgage problems and worries that it would have to sell large amounts of its stock. Bill O' Reilly and Laura Ingraham discuss the possible motives behind this investment.

Warren Buffett has swooped in to save the day, this time for Bank of America. Warren Buffett's Berkshire Hathaway Inc. agreed to invest $5 billion in Bank of America Corp. to help assure investors that the company will not go under. What's with all the recent do gooder deeds? Is this guy considering a run for president in 2012? Probably not. By investing and "bolstering confidence" in Bank of America, Buffett will be rewarded with a handsome $300 million annually. Maybe he can use some of that to donate to his "the rich deserve to be taxed" cause.Already stocks have...

Buffett's Berkshire has agreed to buy 50,000 preferred shares of Bank of America for $5 billion. That means he's paying $100,000 per share. He also has options to buy 700 million. That's 7% dilution for shareholders. Buffett says it's not just a vote of confidence in Bank of America, but in the U.S., according to Becky Quick on CNBC. It's a better deal for Bank of America than Buffett gave to Goldman Sachs in some ways, he says. And get this - he dreamt up the idea to invest in Bank of America yesterday - in the bathtub. Bank of...

A former Wikileaks spokesman claims to have deleted thousands of unpublished files that had been passed to the whistleblowing site. Daniel Domscheit-Berg told the German Newspaper Der Spiegel that the documents included a copy of the complete US no-fly list. He said he had "shredded" them to avoid their sources being compromised. Mr Domscheit-Berg previously worked alongside Julian Assange until the pair had a high profile falling-out. It is understood that he took the files off Wikileaks' servers at the time of his departure. Wikileaks confirmed the claims on its Twitter feed, saying: "We can confirm that the DDB claimed...

Reports: Bank of America to ax 10,000 or more jobs By:The Associated Press | The Associated Press Follow Us @ap | 08/19/11 12:55 AM. Bank of America Corp. is cutting 3,500 employees this quarter and working on restructuring plans that will ax several thousand more jobs, The Wall Street Journal and The New York Times reported citing people familiar with the situation. The reports Friday said that the job cuts at the biggest U.S. bank by assets might exceed 10,000 or about 3.5 percent of its current work force. The retrenchments are part of CEO Brian Moynihan's efforts to engineer...

CHARLOTTE, N.C. – Bank of America Corp. is cutting 3,500 jobs in the current quarter and working on a broader restructuring that could eliminate thousands of additional positions, The Wall Street Journal reported in its Friday edition, citing people familiar with the situation. The 3,500 positions are spread across the nation's largest bank by assets, including investment banking and trading, and the cuts are expected to be completed by the end of September. Some employees already have been notified. Thousands of additional reductions are expected as part of an aggressive overhaul known as "Project New BAC," after the Charlotte, N.C.,...

AUGUST 19, 2011 Bank of America Set to Slice Jobs Reductions Total 3,500 in Current Quarter; Many More Seen BY DAN FITZPATRICK Bank of America Corp. is cutting 3,500 jobs in the current quarter and working on a broader restructuring that could eliminate thousands of additional positions, people familiar with the situation said. The 3,500 positions are spread across the nation's largest bank by assets, including investment banking and trading, and the cuts are expected to be completed by the end of September. Some employees already have been notified. Thousands of additional reductions are expected as part of an aggressive...

Bank of America’s actions continue to betray its words. CEO Brian Moynihan bravely maintained in an investor conference call last week that the beleaguered bank would be around for the next 230 years and did not need more new capital. He nixed selling equity at its current price levels, because it would be highly dilutive. Yet we and others have raised the issue that the bank is in a corner in dealing with its not so hot balance sheet. Not only are equity sales an alternative the bank desperately wants to avoid, but the other route back to health, earning...

A day after the US downgrade to AA+, Warren Buffett (who elsewhere continues his op-ed uber-campaign in hypocrisy by writing in the NYT that the government should "Stop Coddling the Super-Rich") said that in his book the US is AAAA. Amusingly, hours later S&P downgraded Berkshire to pari with the US. Judging by the record near surge in volatility in the ensuing days, the market was not too convinced with the octogenarian of Omaha's latest orations. What it was more convinced by, judging by market results, was the fact that Bank of America upgraded something totally different to an AAAA...