Comments of the Week: Foreclosure Settlement Checks, CFPB's Complaint Database
April 12, 2013 9:58 AM
American Banker readers share their views on the most pressing banking topics of the week. As excerpted from the Comments sections of AmericanBanker.com articles.(Image: Thinkstock)
On letting the FHA offload risk without proper resources:
"Reliance on pre-crisis [risk] sharing strategies will, holding all else constant, create the pre-crisis environment I believe we would all prefer to avoid."Related Article: Let the FHA Charge for Risk, Like Fannie and Freddie Do (Image: Thinkstock)
On the payouts consumers are receiving in the foreclosure settlement:
"The vast majority of borrowers were delinquent and had no contact with their servicer. They are going to open their mailbox and see a note that says 'Congratulations! Bank error in your favor. Collect $300.'"Related Article: Foreclosure Settlement to Give Only $300 Each to Most of Affected Borrowers (Image: Thinkstock)
On the $300 checks most homeowners will receive under the foreclosure settlement:
"They call this a settlement?"Related Article: Foreclosure Settlement Amounts to Peanuts for Most Borrowers (Image: Thinkstock)
On the OCC seeking enforcement powers against bank consultants:
"Whatever happened to 'institution-affiliated party' liability?"Related Article: OCC Seeks Enforcement Powers Against Bank Consultants (Image: Bloomberg News)
On whether the CFPB's database will help or hurt banks:
"The database going public may get these big banks to clean up their act. FDIC, OCC [and the] Fed don't act on these complaints. If anything, they just run interference to keep consumers out of the banks' hair."Related Article: Will CFPB Complaint Database Help or Humiliate Banks? (Image: Bloomberg News)
On the possibility regulators will ape the CFPB and make small bank complaints public:
"How helpful will it be to see the following (typical) complaints lodged against small banks? … The new accounts person did not offer fresh coffee. The carpet in the lobby is ugly. The bank should have known the check they were depositing would bounce. The bank is not open on Saturdays. Ten pages of incoherent rambling that references things like 'free citizen of the republic' … I could go on."Related Article: Most Banks Escaping Public Scrutiny of Complaint History (Image: Thinkstock)
On dealing with a rude customer:
"I call him and say I am sorry for his trouble, but 'you have till Friday to close your account or I will send you a cashier's check for the balance.' If you talk to me like that, how will you treat our other employees?"Related Article: Customer's Always Right? Banks May Beg to Differ (Image: Thinkstock)
On how banking can become 'antifragile':
"Reduce regulation and eliminate deposit insurance, and the banking industry will restructure itself into a high performer, providing better services at lower costs, in the same manner as FedEx and Apple."Related Article: Make Banks Antifragile - Release Washington's Stranglehold (Image: Bloomberg News)
On a call to end TBTF by requiring all creditors, except insured depositors, to take a loss when a bank fails:
"A systemically important institution will not fail in isolation - that is why they are called 'systemic' … While [the approach] is perfectly reasonable as a policy approach, it ignores the systemic and political realities that come into play when these mega firms get into serious trouble."Related Article: End 'Too Big to Fail' Without Breaking Up Banks - Here's How (Image: Thinkstock)
On FDIC officials pushing to bolster the Basel III plan:
"We need more tangible equity in the system and a greater degree of hands-on supervision using sound judgment, not blind reliance on models."Related Article: FDIC Officials Push to Bolster Basel III Plan (Image: Bloomberg News)
On the need for a long public debate about Basel III:
"Capital is such a fundamental economic component, where small mistakes can have huge consequences for everyone."Related Article: FDIC Officials Push to Bolster Basel III Plan (Image: Thinkstock)
On Bitcoin's potential to replace financial havens like Swiss banks:
"Bitcoin treats everybody the same: anonymously."Related Article: Bitcoin and the Rebirth of Financial Safe Havens (Image: Thinkstock)
