RebelCapitalist: Financial Information for the Rest of Us | A Call to Action for Bank of America Customers (Part 3): Take Back Our Money

A Call to Action for Bank of America Customers (Part 3): Take Back Our Money

Jan 15, 2009 | By: Mr_Blue | (2) Comments | Permalink | Tags: financial crisis, economy, bailout, tarp, credit unions

The hits keep coming. News reports indicate that Bank of America was threatening to crash our financial system if they did not receive taxpayer/government help with the acquisition of Merrill Lynch. Bank of America buys two losing business in a matter of months, Countrywide Financial Corp. and Merrill Lynch, and they expect us to bail them out - such much for “free markets”. We, particularly Bank of America customers, need to send a message to Bank of America.

The message: We are Taking Back Our Money - bank accounts, IRAs, Mutual Funds, credit cards, mortgages, etc. etc. Local credit unions are an excellent alternative to big banks such as Bank of America. Bank of America overreached with its purchases of Countrywide and Merrill Lynch. They should not be rewarded for those decisions.

Some people may argue that it is irresponsible to encourage a “run on the bank”. I say that that is an old argument that does not apply in our current financial system. There are plenty of financial institutions, particularly local credit unions or small local banks, that can absorb the accounts of Bank of America. The assets/loans of Bank of America would be purchased by other financial institutions.

Bank of America is not “too big to fail.” Besides, I was a Bank of America customer years ago but switched because of the horrible customer service.

UPDATE: What is a few hundreds of billions dollars here or there? Bank of America may be getting $10 to $20 billion in new capital and $120 billion to help with troubled assets from its Merrill Lynch purchase. Maybe it is time for Bank of America to be split up like Citigroup.