The Notorious Banker

I went on a rant about Bank of America's coronavirus gameplan.

I have received several DMs from angry Bank of America EMPLOYEES (Not Just Customers) about the conditions in the financial centers, call centers, and other places. Some bank branches are told to wear gloves, some aren't allowed to. Some places Lysol can't be used, because people are allergic, and a lot of people have just had it with Bank of America's handling of it. I discuss their frustration, plus some ideas of how they can use all their fancy equipment to get people out of their bank to provide a first-class experience without having 30 people in close quarters in a branch.

Plus, I talk about a leaked email I got from a Bank of America associate that mentions Bank of America talking points on what to say to clients who ask about coronavirus issues. You guessed it, It reads like a sales pitch. Emphasizing digital banking. Never saying that they wouldn't close, and feeding them lies about cleaning protocols, whenever we didn't have a true janitor in my branch the last 3 years.

(Note, most property management companies handle janitorial work, not the bank)

Plus "restricting travel" for bank associates who never leave the branch usually. Ok.

go to twitter.com/bankbetterguy, and I will be glad to share the document in private.

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 wanted to lighten the mood of all the CoronaVirus talk by talking about one of the 15 times Bank of America threatened to fire me. This story is 11 years old next week. I discuss how a random interaction with a stranger on a Thursday afternoon that took 15 seconds led to a terrifying 2 weeks where I thought I would lose my job. It all has to do with my big, chubby fingers. I am not kidding. Listen to how one of my insecurities almost made me job insecure.

This is sadly a true story.

Plus I talk about some ridiculous sh*t I saw on Twitter from a Wells Fargo PR spokesman, who basically sales pitched online banking off of CoronaVirus

Tweet with the screenshots here

Plus, I got a DM from an insider who is a banker at a BofA branch back east venting her frustrations because her manager just yelled at her for having a slow sales day in the midst of a Coronavirus mandated closure of a lot of schools/stores/etc. I discussed how she is forced to call people to invite them in, plus getting yelled at for not selling a credit card to a widow who was doing maintenance on her deceased husband's acocunt. Total BS, but we knew it was coming

Her DM to me is on this Tweet

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

Coronavirus is real, scary and has caused 9 deaths as of this podcast. I feel that it could be the biggest illness in a long while, or just more hype by an overactive social media. Only time will tell. However, banks are talking about it and people are talking about it. People are also asking me my thoughts on Coronavirus and banking. I decided to talk about 3 things in today's pod.

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

Wells Fargo made up for a decade and a half of treating it's customers like crap and overselling accounts, and creating phony accounts to hit their sales goals by giving those customers absolutely nothing, and giving $3 Billion to rich people who invested in it, and the United States Treasury. 

I'm sure looking for a positive in all this, but I can't think of one.

Wells, who pushed their bankers to the brink of a nervous breakdown, called them names, and overall just made a mockery of banking, got off relatively light, and without a sincere apology

News Release from Wells Fargo Here

My podcast breaks down how goddamn nerdy their news release was, even renaming the scandal to make it sound like some rite of passage. I talk about how some of their past ways of "making it up" aside from the money are facetious, and hell, even make Bank of America look better by comparison.

I then break down how a random media source covered it. I picked NPR 

(Link to Article Here)

No political bias or anything...It was literally close my eyes and point. I talk about how we as consumers and how I, as a former banker look at this scandal and can't help but chuckle at how surreal it is. Wells Fargo give 10-figures as a result of this, and you, Mr. or Ms. Listener don't get a damn thing, unless you are a significant shareholder. Sucks to be you-- I mean all of us :(

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

Ever wondered how to get yelled at and nearly written up by your boss during the moments that a person on the phone called the bank claiming there was a bomb that was going to blow up the bank in five minutes? Well, have I got the story for you... Haha

Listen to my detailed account of the one bomb threat we had at Bank of America while I worked there, how my manager and regional managers screwed everything up, and how Bank of America Corporate Security yelled at us for "NOT BEING CLOSE ENOUGH TO THE BANK" while we were evacuated. (WTF?!?!?!)

Plus

Two Listener Questions about large transactions/amounts of money I handled + The dumbest reason someone ever closed out their account. Why it was because of a 80 year old cartoon character!!!

[email protected] - email if you have more info on more locations

575-322-4127 - VM Line.

@bankbetterguy on Twitter - DM ME

Tax time was always important to me at the bank. It is one of the busiest new account times at the bank. So many people setting up bank accounts in anticipation of or after the receipt of their income tax check. One of the things that I saw in 13 years of banking are Refund Anticipation Loans, where people pay a little extra to get a paper check to "cash" that same day. It involves a credit pull and a big fee usually. Well, Banks for years have screwed over those who get those Anticipation Loan Checks by holding checks up to 10 business days after deposit. 

I called it a scam then and now. Tax preparers sell you on the quickness of something they can't verify with a big bank like Bank of America and Wells Fargo. I discuss the process and tell some stories from my past.

Then, I also got a couple DMs about Bank of America now charging Cash Advance Fees for people to use their Credit Card for Venmo Payments. Venmo actually updated their terms as of 4 hours ago on Feb. 14, mentioning the updated policy.

I get into  how I believe that it's a method to get people to use Zelle more often, and to discourage use of competitors by penalizing something that wasn't penalized before. A lot of millennials will be impacted by this! Not cool, BofA. (To be fair, Other banks are contemplating this change too)

[email protected] - email if you have more info on more locations

575-322-4127 - VM Line.

@bankbetterguy on Twitter - DM ME

For the first time since 8-17-18, the day I got fired, I went into a Bank of America Branch. This one is in Tempe AZ, and boy, what an adventure it was.

Going in to close out my accounts that were charging me $37/month, I decided to take care of business while on vacation. I set an appointment, which is what they want you to do. I show up early to give them something to process, and in an empty bank, with 5 bankers standing around not doing anything, I was referred to the 1-800 number within 20 seconds of walking in.

You will hear audio of the beginning of my interaction with a woman named Naomi. She did a great job, though her training has taught her to not care about customers needs and to pawn them off to somewhere else. I talk about the survey I left her, and why I gave her a 9 because anything lower, and she would get yelled at/written up. I talk about my feelings of seeing how the service has changed, and overall my observations of a bank in crisis in person. Whew...It was bad.

[email protected] - email if you have more info on more locations

575-322-4127 - VM Line.

@bankbetterguy on Twitter - DM ME

I think that this new rule I had never heard about is about me and The Notorious Banker Project, along with Why Your Bank Sucks and how I help people publicly fight back against BofA when they deny your fraud claim and claim to help

An Awesome Story by The WSJ's Sarah Krouse detailing a new rule that Bank of America has. Basically, before they help you with fraud, they make you sign an NDA to keep you from talking about it, and also give you talking points to say to people when asked. This is insane. The WSJ story covers an old man who got swindled, and their attempt to "help him".. Gives you insight onto how the elderly are duped, but BofA is not there to protect anyone other than their self interests.

I helped people with claims in a branch 13 years, and I have never seen this level of secrecy, and not to mention the disclosure that Bank of America "MAY NOT BE ABLE TO RECOVER YOUR MONEY" WTF?!?!? Why am I shutting up then?

James Baca, The Notorious Banker has helped recover over 500k dollars in 10 months from BofA and Wells Fargo helping people navigate through horrible stuff like this.  Please read the article and listen today!

[email protected] - email if you have more info on more locations

575-322-4127 - VM Line.

@bankbetterguy on Twitter - DM ME

Today's podcast is so different.

I decided to share my favorite non-basketball Kobe Bryant story. I get criticized all the time for not seeming like I like big business and capitalism.. I love it, as long as it is responsibly done.

Kobe Bryant passed away Sunday and all I could think about is something I read the week I got fired. He invested in a company. Put $6 million in, walked out with $200 million. Amazing story about the drive to be successful. Link is for article about his investment. RIP KOBE.

https://bleacherreport.com/articles/2791197-report-kobe-bryants-6m-investment-in-bodyarmor-sports-drink-now-worth-200m

Plus

I didn't know where else to put this BofA story, but I talk about an interaction I once had with a family from Alabama in my office. My regional manager was observing my sales skills right behind me, and I ask a question about Alabama college football that endeared that family to me the entire time I worked at BofA that made me seem to care about them, which I did. I get nothing but love from the family, and I get a chewing out from my boss and nearly a written warning.

I asked a simple college football question that someone from the state of Alabama has an answer to. Haha. Listen to how I felt. I wasn't nice 

[email protected] - email if you have more info on more locations

575-322-4127 - VM Line.

@bankbetterguy on Twitter - DM ME