The Notorious Banker

Contains Adult Language

After Bank of America made decisions to close branches 2 weeks ago in Vegas and in Bakersfield, CA, I have been waiting for the shoe to drop in markets I am familiar with. It took over a week but it finally happened.

 After "Temporary Closures" were announced in Orlando, Miami, Atlanta, Tampa, Charleston, Dallas, Houston, San Diego, Phoenix, and other areas due to "Coronavirus Concerns" (Although later press releases mention "low foot traffic as another reason), Bank of America hit close to home.

My home region of El Paso, TX was impacted by BofA closures on Wednesday July 8, and then a former customer of mine and friend, Jennifer, sent me an instant message of an hour long line at my hometown branch in Las Cruces, NM where the lobby was unexpectedly closed down as well on Monday July 13. Unbelievable. BofA recently stripped 3/4 drive up lanes of service capability as well, leaving one lane of drive thru in one branch for 110k people in this town.

News Article about El Paso

I discuss in the podcast about the fake reasons behind the El Paso closure, how lame the Bank of America Spokesperson is when releasing statements that hold no logic to the media, and what I really think is behind it, and I speculate what the hell is going on at the branch I worked at and was fired from. I'm curious as hell.

In between talking about the local closures, I go on a mini-rant about an incident regarding a night out at the ballpark for the El Paso Bank of America team which wasn't supposed to include us, and how a certain market executive was caught trying to screw us over, leading to a mini-revolt against management. It's a fun story, and you'll hear how pissed I was about it.

Plus, I will talk about the list of businesses that received PPP Loans in New Mexico that was released, and how Wells and BofA only gave out a total of 3 loans in my hometown, despite the fact that there were over 200 recipients of PPP Loans in Las Cruces. I discuss the only loan BofA gave, which was to a Las Cruces institution when it comes to food, and I give praise to local banks who helped out the rest of the businesses. Good job to you all.

I HAVE A NEW YOUTUBE CHANNEL WITH EXCLUSIVE VIDEOS AND QUICK HITS ON NEWS STORIES THROUGHOUT THE WEEK. Please like, subscribe and share. Make it HUGE!

Check it out!!!

MY PATREON Page! For as little as $1, you can help James Baca in his fight against big banks. http://patreon.com/NotoriousBanker

$2 gets you bonus content, $5 will get you my book!

Sponsors [email protected]  - Advertise your business with a growing, cutting edge podcast.

Visit our Twitter Page @BankBetterGuy -  Bank Advice, humor, observations, deals and  VIGILANTE CUSTOMER SERVICE & Host James B on Twitter @jamesbisright

(Podcast contains explicit language, Listener Discretion is Advised)

I made a prediction about 18 months ago

Bank of America would love to "Try" to close down most branches in a market to see how clients would react and also to push their "alternative ways of banking agenda.

Well, the mission has begun.

Twitter was overrun with complaints of Bank of America being closed in Vegas and Bakersfield, CA during the beginning of July.

Here is a report from 8 News Now in Vegas and 23ABC in Bakersfield that mentions the same issue in those two towns with the EXACT SAME STATEMENT from a "BofA Spokesperson".

(You get to hear my banker impression again)

They basically try to play the sympathy card and state that they do this "out of an abundance of caution for employees and clients" due to COVID-19 and allude to possible scenarios where employees had to call out to care for family members. This from a bank that once told a female coworker in front of me, "Ugh..again?" when she announced her 3rd pregnancy plus the fact that you can't take off on the first week of the month without a DAMN good excuse. Why the change?

The thing not thought about? Both states do their unemployment system through Bank of America, and the huge impact millions of additional people frequenting those branches and their ATMs led to massive cash shortages. Couple that with CEO Moynihan's desire to cut back on some of those services (As he mentioned in a Fox Business Interview in July 2019) and you see a bank rather have pissed off clients because they are closed, rather than them being open and not able to give out cash. The branches don't have the capability at the branch level to facilitate more cash ordered thats not "forecasted" in the system. Sigh.

I give examples of how those things happened over the years with me, and how the routines of ATM refills and cash ordering are set by the Bank which accounts for all variables, including the holiday that's been around for 244 years and the fact the 1st of the month is always busy!

Plus I tell a little story about getting yelled at for hitting a button too many times, which proves my point that BofA monitors EVERYTHING, which tells me this was more calculated than unfortunate incident.

Oh, and Atlanta, Tampa, Orlando, are some other cities with closed branches too. OMG. Listen to this today!

I HAVE A NEW YOUTUBE CHANNEL WITH EXCLUSIVE VIDEOS AND QUICK HITS ON NEWS STORIES THROUGHOUT THE WEEK. Please like, subscribe and share. Make it HUGE!

Check it out!!!

MY PATREON Page! For as little as $1, you can help James Baca in his fight against big banks. http://patreon.com/NotoriousBanker

$2 gets you bonus content, $5 will get you my book!

Sponsors [email protected]  - Advertise your business with a growing, cutting edge podcast.

Visit our Twitter Page @BankBetterGuy -  Bank Advice, humor, observations, deals and  VIGILANTE CUSTOMER SERVICE & Host James B on Twitter @jamesbisright

The Notorious Banker has conquered NYC.

Yours truly helped Victor, an essential employee in NYC recover $3490 from Bank of America which was stolen from him with the use of their evil product, Zelle.

In the podcast, I discuss (again) my dislike for Zelle, and how it causes so many issues for people, including Victor. Using it only for family purposes, he wasn't an active user of Zelle. But when nearly $3500 comes out of his account which wasn't his transaction, they made Victor feel like he was to blame for the money getting lost, and they ended up declining him without ever looking at any evidence that he obviously got hacked.

Cue yours truly. The Notorious Banker comes in like a bat out of hell, and showed Victor how to press the issue, seeking guidance from a lot of BofA leaders in NYC. After initially helping they decided to use a tired excuse they have used before on clients of mine:

"Have your cell phone company write us a notarized letter saying you were hacked"

Something BofA knows they don't or won't do for obvious security questions and liability purposes.

When it seemed like all hope was gone, I used some "creative writing" to scare BofA into passing the buck to a person who could actually help and within a couple days, Victor got his money back.

I hope to interview him for a future podcast, so stay tuned for that. It was exciting. Victor was the 900th person I helped in one year, recouping over a million bucks in the process.

I HAVE A NEW YOUTUBE CHANNEL WITH EXCLUSIVE VIDEOS AND QUICK HITS ON NEWS STORIES THROUGHOUT THE WEEK. Please like, subscribe and share. Make it HUGE!

Check it out!!!

MY PATREON Page! For as little as $1, you can help James Baca in his fight against big banks. http://patreon.com/NotoriousBanker

$2 gets you bonus content, $5 will get you my book!

Sponsors [email protected]  - Advertise your business with a growing, cutting edge podcast.

575-322-4127 is our voicemail line to share your bad banking experience. 3 min limit.

Our website http://www.notoriousbanker.com for more info on our podcast, store, sponsorship info and much more! Visit our Twitter Page @BankBetterGuy -  Bank Advice, humor, observations, deals and  VIGILANTE CUSTOMER SERVICE & Host James B on Twitter @jamesbisright

After over 100 episodes, The Notorious Banker has his first guest. My old Co-Worker Nancy stops by and chats about our time at Bank of America.

(Warning, it's a long one.. and there will be a part 2, but it is fun and interesting)

We worked together for over 3 years (2014-2017), but we didn't become friends until the day after I had a life-changing moment while vacationing in Las Vegas. 

In the podcast, we talk about how we got our start at BofA, old customers, how we knew that we were training customers to inevitably get rid of our jobs, and discussing how she feels about teaching her kids about banking.

Plus we discuss how we became friends through two of the most stressful times in my life. A suicide attempt, and a home loan fuck-up that almost made me homeless and how the loan office played me and us like a fiddle, and how although we started at two different branches and BofA calls us all "teammates", we were rivals that didn't like each other.

We also touch upon the benefits and perils of being bilingual in a branch and also why we still care about the banking world after leaving it and how people stay way too long in roles at the bank, which fucks up their customer service, because they stop caring.

There will be a part 2 with listener questions, submit them today.

I HAVE A NEW YOUTUBE CHANNEL WITH EXCLUSIVE VIDEOS AND QUICK HITS ON NEWS STORIES THROUGHOUT THE WEEK. Please like, subscribe and share. Make it HUGE!

Check it out!!!

MY PATREON Page! For as little as $1, you can help James Baca in his fight against big banks. http://patreon.com/NotoriousBanker

Sponsors [email protected]  - Advertise your business with a growing, cutting edge podcast.

575-322-4127 is our voicemail line to share your bad banking experience. 3 min limit.

Our website http://www.notoriousbanker.com for more info on our podcast, store, sponsorship info and much more! Visit our Twitter Page @BankBetterGuy -  Bank Advice, humor, observations, deals and  VIGILANTE CUSTOMER SERVICE & Host James B on Twitter @jamesbisright

Bank of America claims (falsely) that 75 percent of their workforce is working-from-home. With hours long hold times, and a lot of apathy towards customers in need, I dispute that claim wholeheartedly. 

Dean Athanasia, A big-time exec for Bank of America has his weekly column on BofA's internal website called "Dean's List" (How Original). In this week's edition, he outlined how Work-From-Home Associates are helping keep Bank of America  operationally excellent (laughs).

We talk about what's in his column

I discuss how I feel this is a placeholder until they lay off people. It only makes sense that this is the case. 

I HAVE A NEW YOUTUBE CHANNEL WITH EXCLUSIVE VIDEOS AND QUICK HITS ON NEWS STORIES THROUGHOUT THE WEEK. Please like, subscribe and share. Make it HUGE!

Check it out!!!

MY PATREON Page! For as little as $1, you can help James Baca in his fight against big banks. http://patreon.com/NotoriousBanker

Sponsors [email protected]  - Advertise your business with a growing, cutting edge podcast.

575-322-4127 is our voicemail line to share your bad banking experience. 3 min limit.

Our website http://www.notoriousbanker.com for more info on our podcast, store, sponsorship info and much more! Visit our Twitter Page @BankBetterGuy -  Bank Advice, humor, observations, deals and  VIGILANTE CUSTOMER SERVICE & Host James B on Twitter @jamesbisright

Bank of America patted themselves on the back again. One week after "committing" to a billion dollars to end racial inequality, they decided to put out another press release touting the donation of $25 million to the Smithsonian Institute for "“Race, Community and Our Shared Future” Initiative. While I am happy Bank of America wants to bring this conversation to the public, they brought a weird partner in for that with their tax break...I mean donation.

Smithsonian says, "The initiative will launch with a series of virtual town hall conversations among global and national leaders in civil rights, social justice and economic mobility to help drive meaningful change across policy. Programming will be presented nationally and in local markets, engaging people in communities across the country on issues relating to race and equity."

So why do they need money? Why can't they use zoom or skype like we all are now to interact. Why do they need "programming" that takes time to develop? Plus why are they...?

I discuss how they can better have these conversations in their own communities using their own damn branches and not on a paid TV channel.

I also discuss stories of how they tried these assembled events at one point to talk to students, where I was hung up on, despite the fact I was bearing gifts to give.

Plus, I sing the song "There Was An Old Lady Who Swallowed A Fly"...What?

Plus, I also criticize Bank of America for not mentioning George Floyd's name, despite the fact all this philanthropy is because of what happened to him, and I rail against that weak sauce.

Oh.. Plus the museum isn't open because of Covid-19. Sigh.

Plus I give you a preview of my Premium Podcast Available with a $2 or more donation on Patreon: Sex Work and Banking, where I discuss issues the Adult World has with big banks and doing simple things like trying to get their money. It runs 5m on here, but over an hour on Patreon. Subscribe today!

I HAVE A NEW YOUTUBE CHANNEL WITH EXCLUSIVE VIDEOS AND QUICK HITS ON NEWS STORIES THROUGHOUT THE WEEK. Please like, subscribe and share. Make it HUGE!

Check it out!!!

MY PATREON Page! For as little as $1, you can help James Baca in his fight against big banks. http://patreon.com/NotoriousBanker

Sponsors [email protected]  - Advertise your business with a growing, cutting edge podcast.

575-322-4127 is our voicemail line to share your bad banking experience. 3 min limit.

Our website http://www.notoriousbanker.com for more info on our podcast, store, sponsorship info and much more! Visit our Twitter Page @BankBetterGuy -  Bank Advice, humor, observations, deals and  VIGILANTE CUSTOMER SERVICE & Host James B on Twitter @jamesbisright

Congrats to myself for making it 100 episodes. Tells you there is a lot to talk about with big banks!

This topic is hard for me to talk about, because it's about racism and discrimination, but it needs to be told.

Bank of America put out a press release Tuesday announcing a "Billion Dollar Commitment" to end racial inequality. When I woke up, I got 15 DMs all asking me if it was BS. Well...

The Billion Dollars isn't a donation to charities (mostly)

They do give to some medical facilities in Chicago, DC and LA, but Only 0.02% of it is going to that ($2 Million) to be spread out over 38 locations!

The bulk of it is committing to lending to African-American owned businesses and for African-Americans to get home loans, or in other words, so Bank of America can give them money to borrow, which was the law already (fair lending) so black people can pay it back with interest. In other words, BofA is actually going to MAKE money on this.. 

Second, Bank of America is touting "Further recruitment and retention of teammates in low-to-moderate-income and disadvantaged communities to build on work the company has already done to serve clients locally."

Meaning? They are spending money on themselves to hire and keep their people. What?!?! Plus, they are including an already promised and enforced pay raise to $20 an hour as part of their "Giving" here (from what I gather with the wording of it)

Check out my twitter thread about it here!

They refer to the death of George Floyd and Protests as "The events of the past week".  Look, giving people jobs and pay raises internally is NEEDED AND DESERVED, but it's not charity because you worded it that way (thats why I hate BofA pr). 

There are some parts of the $1 Billion commitment I don't understand, but some are crystal clear.. $1 Billion is not leaving BofA's pockets!!!!

To capitalize on George Floyd and the hurt the country is going through by giving people the impression you are actually giving money away is gross. I went off on the podcast. Contains Mature Language!

I HAVE A NEW YOUTUBE CHANNEL WITH EXCLUSIVE VIDEOS AND QUICK HITS ON NEWS STORIES THROUGHOUT THE WEEK. Please like, subscribe and share. Make it HUGE!

Check it out!!!

MY PATREON Page! For as little as $1, you can help James Baca in his fight against big banks. http://patreon.com/NotoriousBanker

Sponsors [email protected]  - Advertise your business with a growing, cutting edge podcast.

575-322-4127 is our voicemail line to share your bad banking experience. 3 min limit.

Our website http://www.notoriousbanker.com for more info on our podcast, store, sponsorship info and much more! Visit our Twitter Page @BankBetterGuy -  Bank Advice, humor, observations, deals and  VIGILANTE CUSTOMER SERVICE & Host James B on Twitter @jamesbisright

We talk about George Floyd on this podcast. We don't talk about the incident on Monday so much as to the environment that society is in with discrimination and frustration, especially as it pertains to dealing with banks when you are a person of color. I discuss my outlook on how we shouldn't paint all job lines with one broad brush, whether it's cops or lawyers or bankers even, yet it is our duty to point out when something is wrong.

I get into detail about discrimination I've seen and felt for employees and customers during my time in banking, and I talk about vandalism of banks during this crazy time, and how I understand it, especially if you have had incidents with a big bank, as most lower class people and minorities do.

I am not equipped to talk about all the stuff with the case, but I am equipped to discuss with you how banks make certain people feel, and that I can understand the pain given by banks which can add on to pain from other aspects of life.

I send my best wishes out to whoever is hurting at the moment. Take Care

I HAVE A NEW YOUTUBE CHANNEL WITH EXCLUSIVE VIDEOS AND QUICK HITS ON NEWS STORIES THROUGHOUT THE WEEK. Please like, subscribe and share. Make it HUGE!

Check it out!!!

MY PATREON Page! For as little as $1, you can help James Baca in his fight against big banks. http://patreon.com/NotoriousBanker

Sponsors [email protected]  - Advertise your business with a growing, cutting edge podcast.

575-322-4127 is our voicemail line to share your bad banking experience. 3 min limit.

Our website http://www.notoriousbanker.com for more info on our podcast, store, sponsorship info and much more! Visit our Twitter Page @BankBetterGuy -  Bank Advice, humor, observations, deals and  VIGILANTE CUSTOMER SERVICE & Host James B on Twitter @jamesbisright

Yours truly has done it again.

The Notorious Banker has rescued $7600 from Bank of America for fraud committed on a customer. It was fraud which Bank of America did not want to refund despite overwhelming evidence proving it wasn't him!

I received a random Patreon donation and message from "B" in Arizona, who searched for "BofA Fraud" on Apple Podcasts was sent to me on a Wednesday night while I was on a mission to buy the cheapest kitty litter possible, even thought I don't own a cat. 

He mentioned that while in Arizona,  his account was used to cash 4 $1900 checks in Long Island NY one day, and New Jersey the next day without ever presenting ID. All 4 banks cashed checks without a hitch.

When the fraud was eventually caught, they told "B" that they could not give temp credit and he would have to wait up to 60 days for the claim to process, despite giving a signature sample to a local police dept, getting a police report, and proving he was at work at the time, with backup from his employer as well!

Reaching out to me, the message sounded similar to all the other fraud I have dealt with over the last few months, and I claim to my wife, "I bet I can get this done in 1 day" without seeing the check images.

When I do see the images, I affirm that statement and help B write a detailed letter calling out BofA on their fraud protection and pointing out all the errors. B gets an exec's phone number, an apology and his money back in one day. B rewards me with a nice donation, which I am thankful for.

Bank of America, you can't stop me. Vigilante Customer Service has cracked the $1,000,000 mark!

I HAVE A NEW YOUTUBE CHANNEL WITH EXCLUSIVE VIDEOS AND QUICK HITS ON NEWS STORIES THROUGHOUT THE WEEK. Please like, subscribe and share. Make it HUGE!

Check it out!!!

MY PATREON Page! For as little as $1, you can help James Baca in his fight against big banks. http://patreon.com/NotoriousBanker

Sponsors [email protected]  - Advertise your business with a growing, cutting edge podcast.

575-322-4127 is our voicemail line to share your bad banking experience. 3 min limit.

Our website http://www.notoriousbanker.com for more info on our podcast, store, sponsorship info and much more! Visit our Twitter Page @BankBetterGuy -  Bank Advice, humor, observations, deals and  VIGILANTE CUSTOMER SERVICE & Host James B on Twitter @jamesbisright

I celebrate my beautiful wife's 30th birthday on Tuesday with the story how my sales goals at Bank of America made me oversell a then college student Gabrielle with a checking account, which led into a credit card. That also led to my dreaded home loan with Bank of America in 2016.

 Learn how the overselling never really benefited me, but merely the branch so they can hit their goals. Listen to how getting her a savings account one day, given to my coworker Nancy led to a chewing out of me for not getting sales, which also happened with the home loan as well.

Learn about the origins of my analogies "Bank Car Wash" and "Crackers (Bread Crumbs) in the meatloaf accounts" as well.

Plus, I touch base with a follower who mentioned the money is missing from ATMs in Nevada. I elaborate on the shortages Bank of America ATMs are going through in some big states with a high unemployment rate, because BofA issues unemployment debit cards in that state. Learn why BofA does not give two shits about you not getting money, making you want to swipe your card in lieu of cash!

News Story Here.

I HAVE A NEW YOUTUBE CHANNEL WITH EXCLUSIVE VIDEOS AND QUICK HITS ON NEWS STORIES THROUGHOUT THE WEEK. Please like, subscribe and share. Make it HUGE!

Check it out!!!

MY PATREON Page! For as little as $1, you can help James Baca in his fight against big banks. http://patreon.com/NotoriousBanker

Sponsors [email protected]  - Advertise your business with a growing, cutting edge podcast.

575-322-4127 is our voicemail line to share your bad banking experience. 3 min limit.

Our website http://www.notoriousbanker.com for more info on our podcast, store, sponsorship info and much more! Visit our Twitter Page @BankBetterGuy -  Bank Advice, humor, observations, deals and  VIGILANTE CUSTOMER SERVICE & Host James B on Twitter @jamesbisright