Bank of America: TARP Paid in full

[babylonsister]

Bank of America: Paid in full
Repayment of $45 billion in TARP money will free nation's largest lender from, among other things, executive pay caps.

Last Updated: December 9, 2009: 4:03 PM ET


NEW YORK (CNNMoney.com) -- Billions of dollars in bailout money received by Bank of America over the past year is now officially back in government hands.

Just a week after announcing plans to repay $45 billion in aid from the Troubled Asset Relief Program (TARP), the nation's largest lender said Wednesday it had cut a check to the government for the full amount.

"We owe taxpayers our thanks for making these funds available to the nation's financial system and to our company during a very difficult time," Bank of America CEO Ken Lewis said in a statement.

Bank of America (BAC, Fortune 500) said it funded the repayment through a combination of cash and the sale of $19.29 billion of securities that would convert into common stock. The stock sale still remains subject to shareholder approval.

As a result of the announcement, however, Bank of America will no longer be beholden to government demands that have been imposed on the company over the past year, including caps on pay for its top executives.

more...

http://money.cnn.com/2009/12/09/news/companies/bank_of_america_tarp/index.htm

[Mugweed]

1. Paid for by the middle class

With unscrupulous overdraft fee practices and credit card rate hikes.

[AndyA]

4. +1. n/m

[Hubert Flottz]

2. And when they get themselves in trouble the next time the CEOs

can bail their greedy ass out.

[AndyA]

5. +1. n/m

[tomm2thumbs]

3. 'We owe taxpayers our thanks' - which we will demonstrate by hiking rates and fees

if you think they actually did anything positive for our country to raise the money so quickly, think again...

[Vickers]

6. Now they can give their executives big bonuses again!

That's what all of this repayment is really all about.

[havocmom]

11. Yep

Any guess as to how soon after January 1 they start having serious problems again, building to a point of needing another bail out?

[OneTenthofOnePercent]

7. If they can truly supoprt themselves at this time...

then I have no problem with this move.
If I were a business, I would not any strings attached to my decisions.

However, if they stumble again I think they just ought to let them go insolvent.

[AllentownJake]

8. Now the execs can get their Christmas bonuses!

YAY

[Vinnie From Indy]

9. Ol' Ken is having a rough year

He is retiring this year and taking $68.8 million on his way out the door.

You can bet that he believes he is worth every penny and more. The naked greed is astounding.

[Javaman]

10. And they didn't learn a thing. nt