Wells Fargo Reads TPMCafe

Start your day with TPM.
Sign up for the Morning Memo newsletter

Last night I wanted to talk about the difference between banning certain transactions and merely “nudging” people away from them, so I posted a story I from a bankruptcy lawyer that told an unflattering story about Wells Fargo.

A reader posted a response that she evidently received sometime between 10:15 Saturday night and 5:30 Sunday morning from “Ms. xxx xxxxx” at Wells Fargo Loss Mitigation Department. The letter includes a lot of information about the debtor, whom Wells Fargo evidently could immediately identify. The letter also explains that the people at Wells Fargo “follow Prof. Warren’s publications and speeches most carefully.”

Good.

I’ll ask the lawyer about the disbursements mentioned in the Wells Fargo letter. It wasn’t in his email, but surely he would know if that had happened. Depending on the timing, the disbursements might be recoverable by the trustee for the benefit of all the creditors.

But now that we have a representative of the Wells Fargo Loss Mitigation department explaining business practices on TPM, I have a couple of questions: First, how many more “sad little stories” (as you refer to it) are there like this? How many loans have you made this year to people with credit scores of 525 and maxed out credit cards? How many do you keep, and how many do you take sell for a fee to someone else, and then take another fee to service? How do you decide which ones to keep and which to sell?

Second: Why didn’t you post to TPM yourself? Is there a reason that only “Ellen” has any direct contact with you? Was it Ellen’s decision to delete your name, or was that part of your instruction to her? I use my name, and I hope you will use yours too when you are speaking on behalf of the company.

It is exciting to know that Wells Fargo wants to use TPM to explain its practices. I’m sure other readers have questions too.

Latest Cafe

Notable Replies

  1. Avatar for tcinla tcinla says:

    Back when banks were actually regulated, and were not allowed to go national if they were registered under state regulations, Wells Fargo and Bank of America were excellent banks, which went out of their way to provide real, understanding, SERVICE to their customers. I banked at both institutions and never had a single complaint about either.

    Then that fucking moron Bill Clinton approved the banking deregulation. A business lawyer I knew forecast to me that, once it went into effect, within two years no one would consider a bank to be a place where they would receive actual “service.” Turns out, she was conservative in her timeline. It happened within a year of that fucking asshole signing that anti-democratic legislation.

    Both banks got purchased by Southern scumbags, and both banks have become shitholes. I first figured out Bank of America no longer provided service when I deposited a check from a project, and was soon told by the issuer it was short. I contacted the bank and asked to cancel the transaction (I had been able to do that before) but this time, no, it wasn’t possible. And then BA proceeded to send it through their system FIVE TIMES, charging me escalating fees each time. I refused to pay. They canceled the account and then put me on a Banking Black List that gave me nothing but trouble with the banking industry for nearly 10 years (fortunately, the other account I had elsewhere had been given to me as a veteran, for their public relations, and they honored their agreement).

    Bank of America, and Wells Fargo, and every pinstriped pimp who works for them can all go to hell. Followed quickly by every other bank and every other bank employee on the planet.

Continue the discussion at forums.talkingpointsmemo.com

Participants

Avatar for discobot Avatar for tcinla

Continue Discussion
Masthead Masthead
Founder & Editor-in-Chief:
Executive Editor:
Managing Editor:
Deputy Editor:
Editor at Large:
General Counsel:
Publisher:
Head of Product:
Director of Technology:
Associate Publisher:
Front End Developer:
Senior Designer: