Bank of America – Will They Survive
Bank of America (stock symbol BAC) has been in the news for a long-time now. Their stock price a year ago was at $43.00. It recently traded as low as $2.53. They traded as high as $55 back in December of 2006. The became the poster child for engineered bail-outs by saving the FDIC from closing Countrywide and then buying Merrill Lynch at a deep, deep discount. But look what it did to Bank of America. Not a pretty picture.
At this point the Gov’t and the FDIC seem bent and propping up Bank of America and their investment arms Banc of America and now Merrill Lynch. Despite the fact that Bank of America has misused tax payer money from TARP and has lobbied to not have to be transparent with those funds.
The sad thing is they and many other FDIC Banks have been allowed to become so big that the Gov’t can’t afford to let them close or fail. Which puts us the tax payers on the hook for a never ending vicious circle of providing bail-out funds.
Will Bank of America Survive? Probably. Should they, I think not. No corporation should hold so much power over a country or the Gov’t. No corporation should be allowed to grow so big that the Gov’t can’t allow them to face the consequences of poor decisions and greed.
FDIC insured banks should have limits placed on them so that they can’t grow to over a certain asset size. The fact is the greed and corruption of Bank of America, Citibank and others is not only affecting you when it comes to the TARP bail-outs, but now the FDIC is assessing all banks with a 20 Basis Point premium. How do you think the banks will pay for that? They will either increase fees, reduce staff, and or reduce your rates. As if the bank CD rates weren’t low enough already?
Bank of America along with Citibank has spent years gobbling up other banks and leaving a wake of bad service and high fees behind them. How much do you pay when you have an overdraft? I say, break them apart. Let the “little” guys by pieces back. Let them purchase near by branches and return them to being in the hands of community banks where they belong. Let them return to serving their communities instead of sucking them dry like vampires.
These mega-banks have broken the trust of America. And the people of America should demand better so that trust can be restored. Many people invested not only in the banks directly, but also into the stocks. The savings of America is probably safe, but the stock investments will probably not return for over a decade.
Small Business of America has been affected. They have seen their credit lines frozen and many have had to close their doors as they couldn’t afford to purchase more product or pay their employees. Have they received a bail-out? No. The banks that wallowed in greed and most likely corruption have been bailed out. The good people have been left holding an empty bag.
Come one America. You are better than this. Rise up and demand better.
Bank of America, you should not survive.
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My wife has a sister that recentely had a stroke and has close to a million dollars invested in Bank of America. Including over $200,000 invested in a Wachovia Bank that is now placed with Bank of America. What is currently the status with Wachovia Bank and how is these two Banks rated? 1-2-3-4 or 5 star banks??
We are in the process looking at other Florida Banks to place her investments.
Trying to find out the ac tual rating of Bank of America & Wachovia. Would appericate feed back e-mail shown above.
Floyd W. Ball
Comment by Floyd W. Ball — August 13, 2009 @ 6:37 pm
Both Bank of America and Wachovia are rated 3-stars. Bank of America’s profit is larger than most banks. :O) I don’t think you have to worry about them failing. They just tend to offer low rates.
Wachovia is actually being taken over by Wells Fargo I believe.
Regardless of the Bank, I’m always concerned with having uninsured deposits there. So consider spreading things around. There are numerous banks out there offering decent rates. Look at Ally Bank, Discover Bank, etc. You might also look at some credit unions. Alliant Credit Union has a 2.15% for 1Y I think.
Comment by CD Rates Blog — August 13, 2009 @ 8:25 pm