Big Banks

Wells Fargo borrowers potentially eligible for mortgage rate reductions under the national settlement with big banks are being notified this month, Maryland's attorney general said Friday. The lender is mailing out rate-reduction offers in waves, meaning that some borrowers already might have received their letter, said the office of Attorney General Douglas F. Gansler. In a statement, Gansler urged homeowners to "respond as soon as possible. " Those who don't get an offer in the mail by the end of May but think they're eligible should call the bank at 800-288-3212, he added.

Maryland small businesses gripe that they can't get loans from banks. Lenders complain of a dearth of borrowers. Is there any way to get these two together? The state is going to try, under legislation expected to be signed into law today. Maryland will use a carrot — or, rather, up to $50 million in deposits — to encourage banks here to lend to small businesses. Basically, participating banks that make loans to small businesses will receive an equal amount of deposits from the state.

I read with interest Gregory Karp's article discussing the relative advantages and disadvantages of credit unions and banks ("Crowning a banking champ," Oct. 23). As the article correctly points out, both banks and credit unions offer consumers distinct benefits. Ultimately, however, banking today is all about getting services to customers, rather than the other way around. Consumers now want convenience along with stability. They want to make transactions quickly, get accurate and timely answers to questions and conduct business whenever it is convenient for them.

Wells Fargo borrowers potentially eligible for mortgage rate reductions under the national settlement with big banks are being notified this month, Maryland's attorney general said Friday. The lender is mailing out rate-reduction offers in waves, meaning that some borrowers already might have received their letter, said the office of Attorney General Douglas F. Gansler. In a statement, Gansler urged homeowners to "respond as soon as possible. " Those who don't get an offer in the mail by the end of May but think they're eligible should call the bank at 800-288-3212, he added.

Ken Rose is a Bank of America customer, but he has also done business for years with Destinations Credit Union in Parkville. Now, with the bank's announcement that it will charge many debit-card users a $5 monthly fee, the Edmondson Village resident says he plans to switch all his banking to the credit union. "They do everything," Rose, 60, said of Destinations. "Nobody's going to banks anymore. " While that might be an overstatement, local credit unions are seizing on the public's discontent with big banks — Wells Fargo and Chase are also testing debit fees, and Citi recently announced new charges for checking accounts — to step up their marketing efforts and pull in more customers.

In tandem with likely passage of federal legislation permitting big banks to open branches throughout the country, the merger trend turning financial giants into behemoths is moving at whirlwind speed. The summer has seen three huge consolidations -- one in New York between Chemical Bank and Manufacturers-Hanover, one in the southeast quadrant between NCNB and C&S Sovran and now the latest on the West Coast between BankAmerica and Security Pacific. Only Citicorp will outrank them in assets.

In the button-down world of banking, Columbia Bank has an attitude.Outside its offices in Ellicott City on U.S. 40, where streams of cars race by at blazing speeds, it recently slung a green and white plastic sign between the light poles blaring: "Ready to switch. Welcome."The bank hardly needs such advertising. In just eight years since it opened its doors, Columbia Bank has brought in 25,000 customers and captured 12 percent of Howard County's estimated $1.4 billion deposit market -- ranking third behind NationsBank and First National Bank of Maryland.

Maryland small businesses gripe that they can't get loans from banks. Lenders complain of a dearth of borrowers. Is there any way to get these two together? The state is going to try, under legislation expected to be signed into law today. Maryland will use a carrot — or, rather, up to $50 million in deposits — to encourage banks here to lend to small businesses. Basically, participating banks that make loans to small businesses will receive an equal amount of deposits from the state.

As state attorneys general across the country consider whether to settle with big banks over shoddy and illegal foreclosure practices, some Marylanders are urging Douglas F. Gansler not to sign on the dotted line. Their efforts are part of a nationwide effort to press for investigations and lawsuits instead. Gansler joined other Democratic attorneys general in Chicago on Monday to discuss proposed settlement terms, while their Republican counterparts talked details in a conference call.

At first blush, my reaction toRobert L. Ehrlich Jr.'s column ("Wondering aloud: thoughts on religion and politics, energy and athletics," March 4) is, how could a seasoned politician have so many unanswered questions? But on closer reading, the object is to promote sharply partisan falsehoods by implication. Let's consider a few of the whoppers. First, there is the notion that President Barack Obama should be regarded as anti-business. Compare the performance of the stock market during the president's term with that during the Bush years and tell me which president should be regarded as anti-business by Wall Street.

At first blush, my reaction toRobert L. Ehrlich Jr.'s column ("Wondering aloud: thoughts on religion and politics, energy and athletics," March 4) is, how could a seasoned politician have so many unanswered questions? But on closer reading, the object is to promote sharply partisan falsehoods by implication. Let's consider a few of the whoppers. First, there is the notion that President Barack Obama should be regarded as anti-business. Compare the performance of the stock market during the president's term with that during the Bush years and tell me which president should be regarded as anti-business by Wall Street.

As state attorneys general across the country consider whether to settle with big banks over shoddy and illegal foreclosure practices, some Marylanders are urging Douglas F. Gansler not to sign on the dotted line. Their efforts are part of a nationwide effort to press for investigations and lawsuits instead. Gansler joined other Democratic attorneys general in Chicago on Monday to discuss proposed settlement terms, while their Republican counterparts talked details in a conference call.

Going to the bank used to be sort of fun. Lollipops for the little ones. The local manager you had known for years. Depositing your paycheck with the same tellers every Friday afternoon. Such patterns provided a rhythm to daily life and also helped to create a sense of virtuous wealth-building. How different it is today. When we think of "bankers" now, we are more likely to think of bean-counting downsizers, who don't know us and never will, receiving gargantuan bonuses each year.

This week, President Obama travels to Wall Street, where he'll demand -- in light of the Street's continuing antics since the bailout, as well as its role in watering down the Volcker rule -- that the Glass-Steagall Act be resurrected and big banks be broken up. I'm kidding. But it would be a smart move. Americans of whatever stripe -- from tea partiers on the right to occupiers on the left -- continue to hold Wall Street at least partly responsible for the nation's continuing misery.

I read with interest Gregory Karp's article discussing the relative advantages and disadvantages of credit unions and banks ("Crowning a banking champ," Oct. 23). As the article correctly points out, both banks and credit unions offer consumers distinct benefits. Ultimately, however, banking today is all about getting services to customers, rather than the other way around. Consumers now want convenience along with stability. They want to make transactions quickly, get accurate and timely answers to questions and conduct business whenever it is convenient for them.

Ken Rose is a Bank of America customer, but he has also done business for years with Destinations Credit Union in Parkville. Now, with the bank's announcement that it will charge many debit-card users a $5 monthly fee, the Edmondson Village resident says he plans to switch all his banking to the credit union. "They do everything," Rose, 60, said of Destinations. "Nobody's going to banks anymore. " While that might be an overstatement, local credit unions are seizing on the public's discontent with big banks — Wells Fargo and Chase are also testing debit fees, and Citi recently announced new charges for checking accounts — to step up their marketing efforts and pull in more customers.

WASHINGTON -- An alliance of liberal Democrats and conservative Republicans threw prospects for broad bank deregulatory legislation into confusion yesterday by amending a related bill so as to allow banks to merge with insurers, an idea that had previously been squelched.The amendment vote on the House Banking Committee was driven by a variety of motives. Conservatives were seeking a broad dismantling of barriers in the financial industry.Liberals hoped that the amendment would be a "poison pill," killing the bill it was added to, which would repeal a number of laws meant to ensure that people in poor neighborhoods can get loans.

YOU'VE GOT to hand it to the big banks for sheer brass. First they get the courts to stop what everyone knows is the berserk growth of credit unions. A few days later, they announce mergers creating banks large enough to buy the Third World -- if the Third World could prove it had anything worth buying and laid off its work force.I don't think my father ever went into a bank -- or wrote a check. I think he was afraid of banks. A little guy didn't feel right in those days in a vaulted lobby with marble pillars and forbidding men sitting in polished metal cages.

In your article "Big banks vow no repeat of '08" (Aug. 11), bank CEOs insist they have fundamental strengths so that a repeat of the 2008 financial crisis is not about to happen. Their overwhelming message in the article: This time is different. Didn't we hear that before the 2007-2008 crisis? Wasn't that what Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac and the big banks said about buying loans being made to subprime borrowers? And the recession before that and the banking crisis rooted in the savings and loan industry that started in 1984?

The House Financial Services Committee today approved three bills to water down the new Consumer Financial Protection Bureau before it’s fully launched. Supporters of the legislation say it will add accountability and transparency. What’s transparent is that the legislation, backed by the banking industry, mostly serves to weaken the new Bureau. One bill, which passed 33-24, would eliminate the position of the director and replace the head of the Bureau with a five-member commission made up of people from both political parties.