Life these days seems chock full of “Don’t know whether to laugh or cry” moments. Few of them are more hilariously painful than Brian Moynihan’s latest little fit.
It seems the Bank of America CEO is really, really mad — “incensed,” to be exact — about all the bad-mouthing his poor widdle bank is taking from critics. Moynihan told employees in a global town hall meeting last week that he’s incensed about widespread criticism of BofA, particularly, he said, “when you think about how much good all of you do, whether it’s volunteer hours, charitable giving we do, serving clients and customers well.” There were no reports of riotous laughter after that part about serving customers well, so we can only conclude that Moynihan was serious. If so, we can also conclude that he’s about as out of touch and clueless as someone can be regarding public attitudes these days.
BofA execs already have said how mad they are about public criticism of their $5-per-month charge for debit card users. The company’s counterattack, as well as the timing of the debit-card fee announcement in the first place, are evidence of how tone-deaf BofA is to the Non-Banking World’s concerns— and how inept the company has become in the PR department. It’s clear that the public’s instinctive revulsion upon learning about the new debit-card charges was less about the $5 and more a matter of “the straw that broke the camel’s back.”
You know, Brian, it’s not just the debit-card thing. Since you seem to have forgotten why your company’s reputation has plummeted, here’s a short guide to help you:
* Bank of America was a part — although admittedly not as large a part as, say, Goldman Sachs — of the insane Wall St. gambling in derivatives that nearly brought down the global economy.
* Your bank was involved, largely through your newly acquired Countrywide Financial friends, in massive foreclosure fraud, including robo-signing foreclosure documents and using false documents to justify foreclosures.
* You were bailed out by taxpayers and yet act as if the rest of us saving your butt was no big deal. Again, tone-deaf.
* BofA consistently ranks low in customer satisfaction, small business owner satisfaction, and was voted the nation’s second-worst company (behind BP) by Consumerist.com, a Consumer Reports-affiliated outfit.
* You have laid off more than 30,000 employees — thirty thousand! And you think you’re incensed?
Hope that helps explain things.
This article appears in Oct 25-31, 2011.
Bank of America should pay their customers back all the interest they earn on the money that customers deposit in their account? What a greedy bank!!!
Moynihan is such as asshole…His days are numbered just like the rest of the pricks running this country.
can’t you get a decent haircut on your salary?
These assholes have ruined my wife’s GST trust fund…. in 3 years 400K gone, since they took over US Trust…. I don’t benefit directly but am concerned if anything will be left for my children
Read B of A’s financials. They paid a couple billion for Countrywide and have since paid billions having to repurchase bad loans. If they had not bought CW, taxpayers would have had to pay it. Also, they long ago paid back the TARP funds. The feds complain they are foreclosing too fast on customers and then fine them for taking too long according to the contract with Freddie mac and Fannie Mae. I think financial institutions have become too big a sector of the economy, but at least get informed before you bash B of A. You will see that much said about then is just not true. Like Noam Chomsky says, read the financial journals to get the real truth.
You know what……you’re right….B of A has made it’s fair share of mistakes for sure. What company hasn’t. And as far as I’m concerned, for those that don’t like the new debit fees…..leave the bank. That’s called free enterprise. But to suggest (and you CLEARLY have) that B of A doesn’t IN FACT do a tremendous job of giving back to communities it serves is ludicrous. Try letting them pull out and see how that serves our fine city. WHOEVER wrote this article is an IDIOT. Go ahead, contribute to pissing off the bank, let them leave Charlotte, and see how that works out for us DUMBASS!!
Clearly, all you have time for is to sit around and issue your opinion all day………try getting a REAL job. You’re pathetic…..quit your bitching and actually FIX something vs sitting around and belly aching!!
Thanks, Rob Henricks, for your charming analysis. But you’re wrong – I didn’t suggest that BofA doesn’t “give back to the community.” In the past it’s done some great things for Charlotte — emphasis on “in the past.” Lately, what it has mostly contributed is the royal screwing over of its customers, and causing tens of thousands of peopleto lose their jobs. Congrats, by the way, on your steamy love affair with BofA. Have you had time to wipe that brown stuff off your nose yet? Seriously, are you really that fearful of BofA leaving Charlotte? I agree it would be a blow to the local economy, but A. they’ve ALREADY been a large blow to the local economy, and B. how does the possibility of BofA leaving become a reason to withhold comment on the bank’s performance and its contempt for its own employees and customers? I guess what you’re saying makes sense in corporate lackey world, but I wouldn’t know.
Lastly, I’ll ignore your comments about “sitting around and belly aching,” since you obviously don’t know me and thus have no friggin idea what else I do besides writing for CL. On second thought, regarding that “sitting around and belly aching” thing, I think I’ll defer to your obvious expertise on the subject. Now get back to work.
Bob Henricks is little more than a door-to-door salesman type who now charges thousands of dollars to gullible schmucks for seminars on how to make money. It’s hardly a surprise that he worships at the altar of Bank of America.
BOA bought CountryWide and took over Merrill Lynch. Yes they were taken in. But they were bailed out and the goverment still lends them money at zero interest to get them back to making billions a quarter. Where is much help to the homeowners? They own homes worth less than they owe on them. Homeowners have lost jobs because of what the banks did on loans to homeowners.
Someone made a lot of money. Loans that were illegal have a paper trail. Where are the criminals who did the illegal loans and the CEO’s that made millions – are they in jail or coming to trial?
I beleive that Hank Paulson and then Tim Geithner and Eric Holder have covered up the whole loan fraud mess. They take some fines from banks and think this what we want. I don’t care to see banks make billions without helping the Homeowners who did not get bailed out. BOA is like all the banks – greedy with no concern for individuals. They need to do everything they can to help people and when we have all recovered then make a profit and pay the million dollar bonus.
Brian Moynihan is just another clone of Ken Lewis. The fact is that Bank of America’s acquisitions policy has been crazy for over a decade. The bank never should have bought Countrywide and they never should have bought Merrill Lynch. Now that they’ve bought them, they now realize their analysis of these acquistions was horribly flawed, but now they OWN THEM and can’t get rid of the albatross. All of the top dogs at BofA are former idiots from Nation’s Bank — all of them are incompetent and should be fired and replaced with competent management.