Taxpayers' Billions: How Banks Are Using It

Quote from: oldiebutgoodie on March 24, 2009, 07:18:49 PM

ABC News Questions Banks on How They Are Spending Bailout Money
Article dated Jan. 16, 2009
(before President Obama took the oath of office and so all contained herein refers to events that took place during the Bush Administration)

The U.S. government has provided $45 billion to Bank of America through the Troubled Assets Relief Program, but how that money has been used remains unclear.

When ABC News asked for details as part of a larger, ongoing project, a bank spokesman said the questions -- almost identical to inquiries made by a congressional oversight panel of the Treasury Department -- "show a fundamental lack of understanding about the TARP program, what it was intended to do and how it works."

[...]

The ABC News Business Unit posed the same five questions to Bank of America and 23 other banks that received at least $1 billion in TARP funds. The questions covered topics including lending activity, foreclosure assistance and bonuses.

[...]

The lack of details mirrors the responses provided by the Treasury Department, which is overseeing the TARP program, to a congressional oversight panel. In a sharply worded report released last week, the panel said it "still does not know what the banks are doing with taxpayer money."

[...]

In an ABC News poll conducted in December, 69 percent of respondents said they were not confident adequate controls had been put in place to avoid waste and fraud in the use of the funds.

[...]

To read the responses from the banks, click on each bank name listed below: Citigroup, Wells Fargo, Bank of America, Goldman Sachs, Morgan Stanley, PNC Financial, US Banc, GMAC, Sun Trust Banks, Capital One, Regions Financial, Fifth Third Banc, BB&T, Bank of New York Mellon, KeyCorp, State Street, Marhsall & Ilsley, Northern Trust, Huntington Bancshares and Synovus Financial. [CLICK TO READ ARTICLE FOR THE LINKS TO INDIVIDUAL INSTITUTIONS' RESPONSES]

RELATED: Responses by Banks on Their Use of TARP Funds
Articlel dated Dec. 17, 2008

It's an interesting irony that some of these financial giants will put the screws to individual Americans seeking loans/credit and demand full disclosure of all the individual's financial life but when the institutions themselves are put under a microscope and faced with demands for accountability, they cry, "B-b-b-u-t that's communism! We don't have to tell you (American People) anything! You can't tell us what to do!"

Old article...from January 2009.

Oldie said ~ "It's an interesting irony that some of these financial giants will put the screws to individual Americans seeking loans/credit and demand full disclosure of all the individual's financial life..."

This was a lunch time discussion today, based on some of the docudramas on the TV about the financial collapse. IIRC, liar loans, people puting down false incomes, jobs, details, and a lack of any reasonable attempts to verify mortgage details given by applicants, and others involved in these 'toxic assets' are at the heart of the financial tsunami that is gripping the globe.

Where was the request for full disclosure? When I got my first loan, I had to jump through hoops, sweat a lot, and suffer through sleepless nights. Based on what I've seen in the media and through my own experience, people have lied on applications, mortgage sellers have failed to verify anything, and others have lied about something as simple as jobs and wages. Lots of lies going all around.

I believe the culture of lies can be traced to groups that organized against the sound financial principles that were the standard for so many years.

I'd like to see those loan originators, lawyers, applicants, employers, and others put under microscope for the fraud, abuse, and debt that caused these problems.

jmho