Bank of America Bad for America Press Releases
Press releases and media advisories from BANKOFAMERICABADFORAMERICA.org

• SEIU Unveils Reform Measures for Holding Nation's Biggest Banks Accountable to Consumers, Working Families
  

  For Immediate Release:
  Thursday, December 6, 2007

  Contact: 
  Lynda Tran 202-907-1172 cell

  
  SEIU Unveils Reform Measures for Holding Nation's Biggest Banks Accountable to Consumers, Working Families

  Exploitive practices by banking industry harming working families most, prompt fastest-growing labor union to call for new standards to protect consumers

  Washington, D.C. - With lawmakers continuing the debate over subprime mortgage protections, the Service Employees International Union (SEIU) unveiled new reform measures today for some of the nation's largest and most powerful banks. The new standards called for by SEIU--the fastest growing labor union in North America--would protect low-income and minority families in particular from a range of exploitive practices currently used by the biggest banks in the country, including schemes to drive up ATM, overdraft, and other fees; excessively high interest rates on credit cards; and predatory and abusive lending practices such as deceptive credit card marketing and billing tactics as well as subprime and discriminatory lending.

  "We've passed the point where an 'anything goes' motto can be tolerated for the biggest and richest banks in the country," said Andy Stern, SEIU International Executive President. "We're sending a message today on behalf of all working families: enough is enough."

  Consolidation in the banking industry in the last decade has led to the top ten banks in the country controlling nearly half of all bank deposits in the country. Meanwhile, the biggest banks overall have cultivated a fee-driven profit model that disproportionately harms low-income and moderate-income families, most notably Bank of America (NYSE: BAC). Bank of America's total deposit service charges--income from fees the bank charges its customers for servicing their accounts--grew by 70 percent between 2002 and 2006 alone. In addition, Bank of America's move this summer to increase non-customer ATM fees by 50%--as high as $3 per transaction--has been criticized for prompting other leading banks to raise their ATM fees as well.

  The reform measures released today--entitled "SEIU Principles for Holding America's Largest Banks Accountable to Consumers and Working Families" call for:

• Basic standards for fees and interest rates on credit cards, bank accounts, and other bank products.
• 'Super' Community Reinvestment Act requirements for the largest and most powerful banks.
• Permit FTC scrutiny of bank practices and allow state attorneys general to enforce state and federal consumer protections.
• Strict enforcement of the 10% cap on bank deposits set by the Federal Reserve.

"We already know what happens to consumers when the biggest banks are allowed to operate without real regulation," said Ed Mierzwinski, Consumer Program Director for US PIRG. "It's high time lawmakers put real limits on the power of big banks to wreak havoc on the financial futures of working people."

For more information visit www.bankofamericabadforamerica.org.

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Bank of America Bad for America is a project of the Service Employees International Union (SEIU), the fastest-growing labor union in North America with 1.9 million members. We're working to hold big banks accountable to working families and our communities.

• SEIU TO OUTLINE 4 PRINCIPLES FOR REFORM OF AMERICA’S LARGEST BANKS, MAKING THEM ACCOUNTABLE TO CONSUMERS AND WORKING FAMILIES
  

  Fastest-Growing Union to Urge End to “Anything Goes” Approach for Biggest Banks

   

  Andy Stern, international executive president of the 1.9 million member Service Employees International Union (SEIU), the fastest-growing union in North America, will hold a phone-based national news conference at 2 p.m. ET on Thursday (December 6, 2007) to outline four principles to rein in America’s largest banks and the “increasingly harmful schemes” these financial institutions use to exploit U.S. consumers, particularly working families.

  News event speakers will be: Andy Stern, international executive president, SEIU; and Ed Mierzwinski, consumer program director, US PIRG, the federation of state Public Interest Research Groups (PIRGs),

  Stern will say that SEIU members and working families have been preyed on by big banks (such as Bank of America) for far too many years -- exploited by the banking industry’s profit-at-any-cost business model and bombarded with everything from excessively high ATM/overdraft/credit card fees and interest rates to predatory mortgage loans, to deceptive credit card marketing and billing tactics. According to Stern, the incredible growth and continuing concentration of power into the hands of a few giant banks is a threat to working families and consumers and to the health of the U.S. economy -- working families can’t wait any longer for lawmakers to step in and end the “culture of coziness” that exists between federal regulators and the biggest banks. 

  TO PARTICIPATE:

  You can join this live, phone-based news conference (with full, two-way Q&A) at 2 p.m. ET on December 6, 2007 by dialing 1 (800) 860-2442. Ask for the "SEIU bank reform principles” news event.

   

• New Study Shows Bank of America Worst on Locating Bank Branches in Majority Minority Neighborhoods, Lending More Mortgages to Whites than African Americans, Latinos
  

  For Immediate Release:
  Thursday, November 1, 2007

  Contact: 
  Lynda Tran 202-730-7349

  Analysis of most-segregated cities reveals nation's biggest bank underserving communities of color, harming low-income families

  Washington, D.C. -- As lawmakers ramp up scrutiny of the banking industry for predatory and abusive lending practices, a new report released today finds Bank of America (NYSE: BAC) is worst on locating bank branches in minority neighborhoods and lending more mortgages to whites than African Americans or Latinos. In four of six cities, Bank of America ranked last in locating bank branches in majority minority neighborhoods and was twice as likely to lend to white mortgage applicants than to African American mortgage applicants in Detroit and Chicago, the study shows.

  "It's simply unacceptable that Bank of America--the biggest bank in the country--is failing to ensure access to banking services and fair mortgage loans for entire communities of color," said William McNary, Co-Director of Citizen Action Illinois. "If the bank with the most branches won't do the right thing for our neighborhoods, who will?"

  The report, issued by the Service Employees International Union (SEIU), examined Bank of America's pattern of bank branches against its top two competitors in Buffalo, Chicago, Detroit, New York, Philadelphia, and St. Louis--cities ranked by the U.S. Census Bureau among the top-ten most-racially segregated in the country. Despite having more than double the number of bank branches of its nearest competitor nationally--with more than 5,700 bank branches, Bank of America has five times as many branches as Citibank and two times as many branches as JPMorgan Chase--Bank of America performed worst overall in locating branches in majority minority communities in the cities analyzed in the report.

  Key findings of the study, entitled "Shut Out of The American Dream: How Bank of America is Systematically Underserving Communities of Color and Harming Low-Income Families with Questionable Practices," include:

  • Bank of America is overall less likely to locate bank branches in majority minority communities than its top competitors in each market:
  • Bank of America ranked last in locating bank branches in majority minority communities in 4 of the 6 cities analyzed.
  • Bank of America ranked last in locating bank branches in African American communities in 4 of the 6 cities analyzed.
  • Bank of America ranked last in locating bank branches in Latino communities in half the cities with Latino populations large enough to be analyzed.
  • Bank of America fails to locate bank branches in majority minority neighborhoods regardless of the proportion of area residents who are minority:
  • In Philadelphia--where nearly one-fifth of the area's residents live in majority minority communities--Bank of America has located only 5 percent of its bank branches in majority minority communities.
  • In the African American communities that comprise 14 percent of Philadelphia's population, Bank of America has located only 3 percent of its bank branches
  • In Chicago, Bank of America has 12 times more bank bran