The perfidy of banks

I have had some very unpleasant interactions with banks, and the "general financial services industry" in the last 18 months or so since I bought my house. Apparently I'm not the only one.

Steve Lopez of the Los Angeles Times has a horror story in the Sunday January 1 edition about one consumer's (his own) run-in with a bank that shall remain nameless after an incident of identity theft involving his ATM/debit card.

Many progressive bloggers, like David Sirota and myself, have commented about the evil mosnstrosity that is The Bankruptcy Abuse Prevention and Consumer Protection Act of 2005.

There have been numerous mergers in the banking industry in the last few years. Just last week, former Secretary of Labor Robert Reich and Marketplace commentator blasted Bank of America's "sneaky banking practices." Basically, the banks don't let you access your money (for up to two weeks, i.e. 7-10 business days) when you deposit funds, but when you write checks they will withdraw funds rapidly (in 1-2 business days) in order to maximize "overdraft" fees.

Why can't banks be more like Google, whose corporate motto is "Don't be evil"?