Saturday, June 6, 2015

Slow Saturday Special: Early Withdrawals

Or late, depending on how you $ee things:

"Overdraft fees can be moneymakers for banks"

It's only their way of $aying they love you.



Pay no mind to that; he works there.

"Overdraft fees still bring in money for banks" by Deirdre Fernandes Globe Staff  May 30, 2015

The largest banks in Massachusetts collected hundreds of millions of dollars in overdraft fees from customers here and in other parts of the country in the first three months of the year, even as consumer advocates and federal regulators call for limits on these charges.

Banks with at least $1 billion in assets reported overdraft fees separately for the first time under federal regulations adopted after the financial crisis. The state’s four largest commercial banks — Bank of America, Citizens Bank, Santander Bank, and TD Bank — collected a combined $517 million in overdraft fees in the first three months of the year.

The state’s largest community banks, Eastern Bank of Boston and Rockland Trust of Rockland, each generated about $2 million in overdraft fees.

Banks have relied on overdraft and other fees in recent years as low interest rates squeezed profits from lending and new regulations limited investment and other activities that produced revenues in the past. Overdraft charges became particularly controversial as many banks employed practices aimed at creating overdrafts and generating fees.

The banks were/are reporting record-breaking billions per quarter and yet the mouthpiece is pushing the poor banks bit again. I suppose that cla$$ is their audience, but....

Regulators have since cracked down on many of those practices, for example prohibiting banks from automatically enrolling customers in costly overdraft protection plans — whether customers wanted them or not.

Nationwide, banks collected $2.5 billion in fees from customers who bounced checks or took out more cash from ATMs than they had in an account, according to data collected by SNL Financial, a Virginia research firm. Among the nation’s largest banks, overdraft charges accounted for as much as 40 percent of income from all fees.

“Overdrafts in particular are still very important, even to the big guys,” said Mike Moebs, founder of Moebs Services, an economic research firm.

Some banks rely more heavily on overdraft fees, in part because they have fewer lines of business such as investment banking and wealth services to generate income, experts said.

Amazing. They are admitting they have to screw you because serving the wealthy isn't enough to satisfy their greed.

When you step back and really look at it, it becomes clear that banker $cum is the lowest form of life imaginable. Forget insects and vermin and all the other creatures unfairly associated with such things; it's this crowd here, the f***ing banking clans, that outdo them by miles upon miles.

TD Bank, the fourth-largest bank in the state, collected $103 million in overdraft charges in the first quarter, 30 percent of its total fee income. Overdrafts accounted for less than 6 percent of Bank of America’s fee income.

“Our business mix is different,” said Judy Schmidt, a TD Bank spokeswoman. The bank does not make as much from wealth management and insurance fees, for example, she said.

“TD focuses on delivering everyday banking needs to a diverse group of consumers,” Schmidt said. “Overall, TD Bank’s noninterest income is lower, making overdraft fees appear proportionately higher.”

Yeah, good old TD bank! Someone making a $core!

But the bank also processes customer checks and withdrawals from the highest amount to the lowest, rather than the order in which they are received. Consumer advocates say that practice can trigger overdrafts. TD Bank plans to end that practice in the first half of 2016, Schmidt said.

Oh, they set you up to clobber you and didn't immediately end the practice? What rat-f*** ba$tards!!!! 

Have nice commercials on TV though!

Overdrafts generated 14 percent of fee income at Rockland Trust, compared with the statewide median of 9 percent. Ellen Molle, a bank spokeswoman, said Rockland Trust doesn’t have as many consumer fees; for example, the bank offers a free checking account that avoids monthly and other transaction costs.

Overdraft fees have been a concern of bank regulators in recent years.

But not before.

Last month, the US Consumer Financial Protection Bureau fined Alabama-based Regions Bank $7.5 million for its overdraft practices, including charging customers for overdraft protection even though they had not opted for it. The consumer agency is reviewing bank overdraft practices and considering new guidelines. 

It's called a kickback, and it is why banks are allowed to get away with this.

Since most banks charge an average $35 for an overdraft, the costs for customers can add up. They are mostly borne by the young and poor, said Susan Weinstock, the director of Consumer Banking at The Pew Charitable Trusts in Washington.

“We think the fees are excessive,” she said. Many banks have improved their overdraft practices, by providing consumers with more information about the charges and eliminating overdrafts at ATMs and retail terminals by rejecting the transactions, she said, but more needs to be done.

(Blog editor just reached for his back pocket; thought I felt something)

--more--"

Do you trust the Globe to cash that for you?

"Trying to deposit a bad check may cost you more" by Deirdre Fernandes Globe Staff  June 04, 2015

Trying to deposit a bad check, even innocently, is going to cost you 20 percent more at many of the state’s banks and credit unions, starting this week.

Launder millions in drug money.... no questions asked.

The Massachusetts Division of Banks has raised the penalty that state-chartered financial institutions can charge when a customer cashes a check written to them by someone else and that account has insufficient funds. The maximum cost will rise to $6.84 per check, up from $5.71 in 2014, the largest increase in five years.

Massachusetts is the only state that caps this fee, said David Cotney, the state’s banking commissioner. But, he added, “Nothing says the bank can’t waive the fees or charge less.”

The cap doesn’t apply to large national banks, such as Bank of America, which are regulated by federal agencies.

Fewer consumers may be using checks, but banks said that it still costs them money if they receive a check that bounces.

Oh, NOT AS MANY CHECKS BEING WRITTEN, huh? So let's CHARGE MORE for the FEW WE MANIPULATE into OVERDRAFTS!! 

Un-flippin-out-of-this-world!!!

Banks usually have to go into a customer’s account and in some cases manually deduct the amount cashed, said Jon Skarin, a senior vice president at the Massachusetts Bankers Association. They also have to notify their customers about the bounced check.

The cost to the bank depends on its size and whether it has the technology to do more of this work automatically. For some banks, it can cost as little as $1.21 per check and take two minutes, according to bank regulators. But for others, it’s a laborious process that extends more than an hour and costs nearly $23 for each bad check. 

Look at the propaganda pre$$ lackey making excuses for them. Takes $o much time.

On average, credit unions lose money on these transactions, said Paul Gentile, president of the Cooperative Credit Union Association, the trade association for credit unions. They spend an average $8.95 to process these checks, he said. 

They are supposed to be better than banks.

State regulators base the price cap on a survey of banks that they examined over a three-year period. The writer of the bad check also gets hit with a penalty from his own bank, usually an overdraft fee that costs $28, on average.

It's called cleaning up on both ends.

Overdraft fees can be moneymakers for banks.

Yeah, I $ee that.

In the first quarter of the year, banks nationally collected $2.5 billion in fees from customers who bounced checks or took out more cash from ATMs than they had in an account, according to data fro SNL Financial, a Virginia research firm. 

After the records were jiggered and $huffled.

--more--"

Related: Banks Beware!

No, it's YOU that need to beware of that para$itic $cum (again, with appropriate apologies to parasitic scum that are only following nature's instinct).

Ca$e in point:

"Bank of America has been fined $30 million by U.S. regulators, who accused the bank of violating consumer protections for members of the military in collecting debts. The Office of the Comptroller of the Currency, a Treasury Department division, announced the civil penalty Friday against the second-largest U.S. bank. The agency says Bank of America has started taking steps to correct the problems and "is committed to taking all necessary and appropriate steps" to do so. The regulators say the bank violated the law protecting service members by taking improper legal action against military customers for delinquent credit card accounts and overdrafts. Bank of America Corp., based in Charlotte, North Carolina, said in a statement it will continue to improve its compliance with the law."

Yeah, support the troops and feature the flag in the goddamn TV advertisements (debt-enslaving banks using it to promote freedom; what an insanely absurd world ma$$ media has become. 

What isn't being asked is why was this goddamn robbery being allowed in the first place. That's number one. Second thing is, if THIS GOVERNMENT is not going to file CRIMINAL CHARGES when it comes to RIPPING OFF VETS(!!!!!) then they will NEVER CRIMINALLY CHARGE THESE F***ERS!

It's enough to make you want to sail away to an island and stay there:

"American Express said president Ed Gilligan died suddenly Friday after falling ill while flying on a corporate plane to New York. The credit card company said the 55-year-old executive was coming back from a business trip. The plane made an emergency landing in the U.S., an American Express spokeswoman said, but she declined to say where Gilligan had been. "This is deeply painful and frankly unimaginable for all of us who had the great fortune to work with Ed," said American Express CEO Ken Chenault, in a letter to employees Friday. Gilligan began working at American Express Co. 35 years ago as an intern. He was named president of the company in 2013 and reported to Chenault."

Hmmmmmmmmmmmm.

So who built the boat?

"The Navy has awarded a $46 million contract to Electric Boat to support maintenance work on the submarine USS Montpelier. Electric Boat, a Groton-based division of General Dynamics, will conduct planning activities for the overhaul of the Los Angeles-class attack submarine under the contract. The Navy says the contract could eventually be worth up to $260 million if options are exercised. The Navy has been turning more to private contractors to help with submarine maintenance due to delays at government shipyards. The work on Montpelier is expected to involve as many as 600 employees in Groton at its peak."

Time for me to withdraw from the Saturday Specials and move on to something else.

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