Banksters Inc.

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from the Working Life blog:


Love That Bank Humor
Posted on 01 October 2012


Really, I can’t tell whether people who work at the major banks moonlight as comedy writers for The Daily Show, or they are so immune to public shame or punishment that they just don’t give a damn.

I’m really hoping that it’s the former option because you need to laugh sometimes. And this one fits the bill for laughter or loud swearing, or maybe both:

“We are canceling the remaining amount you owe Chase!” says a letter that JPMorgan Chase sent recently to thousands of home loan borrowers. “You are approved for a full principal forgiveness of your Home Equity Account,” says another, from Bank of America.

Jackie Esposito, of Guilford, Conn., got a letter like that. But she wasn’t elated — because she doesn’t owe the money anymore. She and her husband filed for bankruptcy three years ago. The roughly $64,000 they owed Chase has been legally wiped out.

What’s going on?

A good question.

Cast your mind back to February. Five of the nation’s big banks, including Chase and Bank of America, agreed to pay $25 billion to settle state and federal claims over questionable mortgage practices and promised to work harder to help borrowers who were in trouble. To prod the banks, the government said it would give them credits against the amounts they agreed to pay.

So, to the ire of customers who couldn’t get banks to work with them before, banks are now forgiving debts that no longer exist.

“When I got this letter that said they were going to relieve our debt, I just about fell over,” Ms. Esposito said last week. “You can’t forgive a debt that you’re legally unable to collect.”

In one sense, this is a direct outcome of a refusal to put bank executives in jail. When banks, or any institutions, pay fines to “settle” charges, that money essentially comes out of the pockets of shareholders. Not a single dime comes from the personal bank accounts of executives who continue to have jobs and reap huge pay and benefits. ...................(more)

The complete piece is at: http://www.workinglife.org/2012/10/01/love-that-bank-humor/

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