The Notorious Banker

What the hell?

Bank of America off the top rope mentions that it will lower the overdraft fee from $35 to $10 effective May, according to their press release.

They are also doing away with NSF fees, ODP fees as well.

But here's the thing. I will discuss why this isn't all that it is cracked up to be, and how recent products that have debuted are kind of set up to make people get charged with other fees.

I also discuss how the Safebalance Checking account was referred to in my bank as the "poor person's" account, and how despite the reduction in fees, that 0.4% of a minimum wage earners yearly pay is in maintenance fees because of the "no overdraft account"

So much to break down, and it's all here, and I do it so well :)

TNB Has recovered nearly $2 Million from big banks back to consumers, with nearly $500k of it being Zelle fraud!

8000 followers + on Tiktok 3200 Followers on Twitter!!!

Buy My Book "PLEASE TRY YOUR CALL AGAIN LATER"!!! $1 of Net Proceeds will go to charity. 

Find all my social media and other links at:

TheNotoriousBanker.com (Links to YouTube, my book's page, podcast links, and how to contribute by Venmo/Cashapp and much more!!!)

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

Happy 2022!!!

I discuss a CNN exclusive about Bank of America in which they internally committed to their employees a $100 donation to food banks for each employee who gets a COVID-19 Booster. In a roundabout way, they are saying that if you don't share your updated vaccination status with them at BofA, that some people will starve. $100 can buy about 1000 meals for someone in need, and 205,000 employees can help make a dent into helping the food insecure, but shaming them into it by threatening to not give food to the needy is wrong. I discuss how backwards it is.

Link to Story

Plus, Just a funny story about Tampa Bay WR Antonio Brown inadvertantly sharing his bank account info on social media today. I explain how I know it was a BofA account, what that means for him and his account, and how it has a chain reaction to employees, Antonio, and countless other people just by him making the mistake.

Story

Plus I got almost 1,000,000 views on TikTok.. I explain what's going on in the intro.

TNB Has recovered nearly $2 Million from big banks back to consumers, with nearly $500k of it being Zelle fraud!

Buy My Book "PLEASE TRY YOUR CALL AGAIN LATER"!!! $1 of Net Proceeds will go to charity. 

TheNotoriousBanker.com (Links to YouTube, my book's page, podcast links, and how to contribute by Venmo/Cashapp and much more!!!)

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

On this special XMAS Edition of The Notorious Banker, which also celebrates 3 years in podcasting, we discuss Chase and how they rolled out a new overdraft policy made to "help" customers.

Detroit Free Press Article

https://www.freep.com/story/money/personal-finance/susan-tompor/2021/12/08/chase-bank-overdraft-fees-assist/8886802002/

We discuss how the new grace period will only lead to even more debt for those in need, how getting your paycheck 2 days earlier is a marketing ploy rather than actual help, and the big one, Chase is giving you a $50 buffer without penalty for overdrafts, which will help a small fraction of people, leaving the rest who overdraft on large payments like rent, phone, car payment, etc, to overdraft the same way.

It simply doesn't work and I will tell you why.

Plus we acknowledge 3 years of this podcast with commentary at the end. Thanks to the listeners for sticking with me in 2021!!!

TNB Has recovered nearly $2 Million from big banks back to consumers, with nearly $500k of it being Zelle fraud!

Buy My Book "PLEASE TRY YOUR CALL AGAIN LATER"!!! $1 of Net Proceeds will go to charity. 

TheNotoriousBanker.com (Links to YouTube, my book's page, podcast links, and how to contribute by Venmo/Cashapp and much more!!!)

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

One of the biggest things The Notorious Banker podcast has talked about since 2018, and especially since George Floyd were the stories of discrimination in the the banking industry, particulary, large banks to their customers of color.

A KSTP Reporter, Eric Rasmussen, brought us a story of an incident in Minnesota. Joe Morrow went to the US Bank in Columbia Heights after work to cash his check. Not only did he not get the check immediately cashed, he was told that the check was fraud and that "You people always do this". An argument assumed, and the police were called, and Morrow placed in handcuffs for allegedly trying to pass a bad check, and the manager, John Askwith of US Bank told the cops he was afraid that something would be stolen from his desk by the man.

One problem...Askwith the manager never verified the check was fraud. He made no calls or tried to verify it until the client was in cuffs. 

Morrow finally was vindicated, and he sued US Bank, which recently settled with him for an undisclosed amount, without admitting guilt, until Rasmussen and his KSTP reports opened up a can of worms about this discrimination, and US Bank finally accepted responsibility and apologized.

I try to discuss what ethical/procedural/compliance things the manager did wrong, and how I saw this incident as I read about it and listened to interviews. As you all know, I have a unique perspective.

This is a crazy story that only shows us things are still bad in the banking industry.

Links to Eric's Stories

https://kstp.com/news/banking-while-black-police-video-shows-how-cashing-a-paycheck-led-to-handcuffs/6324616/ - 1

https://kstp.com/news/banking-while-black-more-customers-share-stories-of-suspected-discrimination/6326140/?cat=5 - 2

https://kstp.com/news/us-bank-apology/6328290/ - 3

TNB Has recovered nearly $2 Million from big banks back to consumers, with nearly $500k of it being Zelle fraud!

Buy My Book "PLEASE TRY YOUR CALL AGAIN LATER"!!! $1 of Net Proceeds will go to charity. 

TheNotoriousBanker.com (Links to YouTube, my book's page, podcast links, and how to contribute by Venmo/Cashapp and much more!!!)

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

Capital One made waves on this December 1st by announcing it was getting rid of overdraft fees.

While that sounds all well and good, their CEO Richard Fairbank mentioned that it will require an enrollment in an Overdraft Protection program to begin the no-overdraft fee banking.

Well, if you are "getting rid" of them, why do I need "protection" from something that isn't there, Richard?

Links to articles about the story

CNBC - Hugh Son

CBS News

Yahoo! Money

TNB Has recovered nearly $2 Million from big banks back to consumers, with nearly $500k of it being Zelle fraud!

Buy My Book "PLEASE TRY YOUR CALL AGAIN LATER"!!! $1 of Net Proceeds will go to charity. 

TheNotoriousBanker.com (Links to YouTube, my book's page, podcast links, and how to contribute by Venmo/Cashapp and much more!!!)

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

Very frustrating topic to discuss today. 

As I predicted last year in the height of the COVID-19 Pandemic, Bank of America was going to leave Gallup, NM. The city, entrenched within the Navajo Nation where hundreds of thousands of amazing folks live is losing the only BofA branch in their area. After the branch closes in February 2022, the nearest BofAs will be in Farmington, NM (100 miles), Flagstaff, AZ (185 miles), and Albuquerque, NM (138 miles). Although BofA claims in a handout given to customers at the branch (they don't even have the decency to mail the clients) that ATMs will be left at the branch,  I can attest that at my former branch, they were gone in a matter of months.

Thanks to @yazzie8chris on Twitter for the image of the flyer

My first segment is dedicated to calling out BofA on this. Gallup has one of the busiest branches of BofA by volume, but BofA doesn't like that they are mostly service transactions for fixed income folks. In some parts of the Navajo Reservation, the median income is less than $20,000, and 18,000 homes still don't have electricity (!!!) and/or running water. I discuss how the lie that BofA usually says that migration to digital platforms for the clients doesn't make sense here, as so many Navajos live in areas with no cell service or high speed internet. A lot of the times, their only banking is the monthly visit to the branch. 

I break down everything about a story no one is talking about but me. Youtube Video here.

Second segment, I discuss questions you had about my book, "Please Try Your Call Again Later". A lot of you asked why I was so nice to the people in charge of NM and NMDWS in the book. I give my explanation in a very James way. Plus I talk about how some of you believed that this book was the method I am using to force the state to pay me (lol). 

TNB Has recovered nearly $2 Million from big banks back to consumers, and about $500k of it was Zelle fraud!

Buy My Book "PLEASE TRY YOUR CALL AGAIN LATER"!!! $1 of Net Proceeds will go to charity. 

TheNotoriousBanker.com (Links to YouTube, my book's page, podcast links, and how to contribute by Venmo/Cashapp and much more!!!)

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

Proud to announce my new book, "Please Try Your Call Again Later" is going to be available on Amazon in a couple days. 

Paperback - $14.99

At least 15% of net proceeds will go to charity to help special needs kids and food insecurity in my home area of Southern NM.

Plus

Bank of America sent a weird email out the other day basically blaming the USPS for you not getting your credit card bills on time. What people may see as a company warning you, I see as a bank looking to push people to enroll in their app, which is part of their sales metric, as well as forewarning you about this issue as to make it easier to deny a refund of late fees should you not receive your bill in the mail.

TNB Has recovered nearly $2 Million from big banks back to consumers, and about $500k of it was Zelle fraud!

All My Links HERE

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

Bank of America sent out an email touting Zelle, after weeks of bad publicity about it and how it is used to scam people. I refer to it as a "Nigerian Prince Scam built into an app" The email, which talks about easily identifying people who use Zelle in your phone book doesn't account for how crooks phish for information in order to complete these scams! Anyone can plug in any number, see if they use Zelle and strategize how to steal accordingly. I give a logical scenario how a scam would work.

Photos of the email here!

Plus, I talk about JPMorgan Chase CEO Jamie Dimon's comments on Bitcoin being "worthless". While I don't agree with that part of it, he makes some very salient points about how his clients are adults, and also how BTC may be regulated in the future, and likely won't be a good thing for people who are big believers in BTC.

CNBC Article Here!

Plus, I talk about my Unemployment plight here in NM, and announce my new book, "Your Call is Very Important To Us" and discuss why I am freaking out at the moment.

TNB Has recovered nearly $2 Million from big banks back to consumers, and about $500k of it was Zelle fraud!

All My Links HERE

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

So much crappy Bank of America stories today:

First, a nationwide outage of all things BofA: Online and Mobile Banking, ATMs, Teller Systems, and Debit Cards all stopped working early Last Friday, on the 1st of the month when banks are usually full with clients who only show up 1x a month. I discuss how stunning it was that BofA acknowledged it to the media, the weird length they went to to emphasize that "Your Information is Secure" when no one was asking about it, and how an event like that actually makes my page really popular.

Here are articles I reference in the segment:

CBS46 Article

Fox News Article

Marketwatch Article

Then we tackle Bank of America kissing its own ass for the 2nd time in a year by announcing a pay raise via press release. Keep in mind, it had already announced the $1 increments earlier. I discuss how the increments is really meant to give them a free PR pop yearly until $25, and why associates should feel outraged that they may never see the end of the pay raise rainbow, because in 4 years, many jobs may go away. I discuss how $200,000,000 of a $30B net profit this year can get a huge chunk of employees to $25/hr now and boost morale

Articles:

May 2021 BofA Press Release

October 2021 BofA Press Release

Finally, I laugh at how 4,300 branches are going to be receiving VR headsets to train tellers and bankers on how to strengthen and deepen relationships with people and how to resolve problems with customers. I discuss the limitations of VR tech (including its disappointing use for porn...disappointing in the sense that it was overhyped and underperformed), plus I discuss the weirdness of using analytics that are downloaded from the training session to tailor further training based on an associates strengths and weakness, putting more on the plate of a poor branch manager. The photo used in the press release is hilarious, and yes, they used the word, "Immersive" in the release

BofA Press Release

TNB Has recovered nearly $2 Million from big banks back to consumers, and about $500k of it was Zelle fraud!

All My Links HERE

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

Just a nice long rant podcast about how the State of New Mexico denied my unemployment claim just like countless thousands of people get denied for little to no reason. I was blamed for not contacting them sooner, when the toll-free number disconnects you if all operators are busy. Despite phone records proving inability to get help from them, and a several dozen list of companies I have sought jobs from and applied for, I was denied my right to get benefits.

I discuss the feeling, I discuss how so many are going through this, and I discuss my next step in fighting for me, which in turn will allow me to fight for you!

TNB Has recovered nearly $2 Million from big banks back to consumers, and about $500k of it was Zelle fraud!

All My Links HERE

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

TheNotoriousBanker.com for detailed info on yours truly, and ways you can follow The Notorious Banker

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