Low interest rates may be great for borrowers, but they're terrible for savers. Bank accounts on average are paying around half a percent -- which doesn't even keep up with inflation. What to do? Turn to banks on the Internet.
While thousands of Americans unleash their anger at big banks in protests around the country, many more are registering their dissatisfaction from their keyboards. In the wake of last week's news that Bank of America is adding a new $5 fee for debit card use, online-only banks saw waves of new customers coming through their virtual doors.
When the state tightened its foreclosure rules in response to the document crisis, it ordered the six largest servicers to explain why they should be allowed to continue foreclosing on homes. In effect, their response went something like this: "Trust us, everything's fine now."
GMAC, which is a unit of Ally Bank, has hired a number of accounting and legal firms to go over its foreclosure procedures.
The state's House Democratic delegation has asked the Justice Department, the Fed and Controller of the Currency to investigate the widespread -- and growing -- problem of faulty bank documents in foreclosure cases. One agency is taking action.
Several big banks have admitted that their employees routinely sign scads of foreclosure documents without verifying their information. Wells Fargo and CitiMortgage have denied engaging in similar practices. Yet new evidence shows they do.
Bank of America Corp. will delay foreclosures on properties in 23 states to review whether its employees signed off on foreclosure documents without reading them, making the largest U.S. bank at least the third in recent weeks to suspend foreclosures.
JPMorgan Chase & Co. will delay foreclosing on some properties in order to review affidavits that were signed by employees who didn't verify related files, making the company at least the second bank in recent weeks to suspend the foreclosure process on properties in order to better examine documents.
