I used to go to a little neighborhood bank for many years; they were friendly, courteous, and helpful, and I saw the same people at the drive-up window often enough we knew each other by our first names. Then the little neighborhood bank decided to become a big, bad bank and pursue corporate accounts. In what seemed to be a calculated move to rid themselves of consumer accounts, their representatives became brusque and unhelpful, even rude, and you could never count on seeing or talking to the same people twice at the drive-up as they sought to bleed average depositors dry with increased fees. After writing a letter of complaint to the bank president, which was never answered, I stopped doing business with them. I hope all of the 99 Percent stop doing business with the big banks, especially the Big Four: Bank of America, Chase, Citibank, and Wells Fargo. Stop being a sucker for the big banksters; take your money out and move it to a credit union or small local bank where you’ll get better treatment and a better deal. Find a credit union or small bank in your area here.
Former JPMorgan Banker: Exploiting Consumers Is ‘The Purpose Of The Banking Organization’
By Travis Waldron
Think Progress
Nov 18, 2011Wall Street banks, largely spared from the economic ruin felt by millions of Americans since the financial crisis of 2008, have returned to profitability, generating higher profits in the two-and-a-half years since the crisis than they did in nearly eight years preceding it. But that hasn’t stopped them from seeking new ways to generate revenue — like Bank of America’s proposed $5-a-month debit card fee or the millions banks have made from charging consumers to receive unemployment benefits or food stamps.
If all this makes Americans feel like Wall Street banks only view them as money-making tools, well, that’s because the banks apparently do. According to David Mooney, a former JPMorgan Chase employee, Wall Street banks see consumers as an “income stream” to exploit for profit-making purposes, Reuters reports:
David Mooney, chief executive officer of Alliant Credit Union in Chicago, one of the nation’s larger credit unions, used to work at a one of Wall Street’s top banks, JPMorgan Chase. There’s a vast cultural gap between Wall Street and his new world, he says: Old friends from the Street, he says, now jokingly refer to him as a “socialist.” A credit union is supposed to be run in the interests of all members, he says, while commercial bankers tend to see consumers as customers who can be “exploited” by layering on more fees.
Says Mooney: “I don’t say this lightly, but the consumer is simply an income stream and exploiting that is the purpose of the banking organization.”
Read the rest here.