Jackie Ramos, Former Bank Of America Employee, Picks New Fight With Banking Giant

WASHINGTON -- Jackie Ramos, whose 2009 video detailing her termination from Bank of America became a viral hit, is back on YouTube with another bone to pick with the banking giant.

Ramos, 26, recently posted a video titled "Bank of America Stole My House!" In the video, she says she lost her home following the death of her four-year-old son's father, Tim Woods, last April. While the foreclosure process was still underway in mid-December, Ramos said the bank put locks on the home.

Unfortunately for Ramos, her name was not on the mortgage. Further muddying the picture, she had already moved out of the Fairburn, Ga., home at the time of Woods' death.

According to Ramos, Woods purchased the home in 2008 after receiving a fixed-rate mortgage from Bank of America. But by the end of 2009, Woods and Ramos began to notice increases in their monthly mortgage payments.

Eventually, Ramos said, the bank explained that the extra charges were premiums for a mortgage life insurance policy. According to Ramos, Woods agreed to keep paying for the insurance with the understanding that the policy would cover the balance on his loan in case of death. Ramos said she was listed as the beneficiary on this policy.

"I was there when he spoke with Bank of America," she told the Huffington Post. "They said, 'Okay, we'll enter into the paperwork so if anything happens, [the house] will go to her.'"

At the time of Woods' death, Ramos had moved out of the home and begun dating another man. On the night Woods died, Ramos said, Woods confronted her and her boyfriend. "He found out I was dating someone new and he attempted to harm both me and my friend," Ramos said. Fairburn police told the Atlanta Journal-Constitution that the shooting occurred during a scuffle over a gun. Authorities had attempted to subdue Woods with a Taser before the gun went off.

Police later determined Woods' death was not considered the result of a "police-involved shooting" because the officer involved in the scuffle did not have possession of the gun, but Ramos says Woods committed suicide.

Ramos said the bank then denied the existence of the policy and refused to speak to her because she and Woods had not been married. Woods, Ramos said, had no will and did not designate an executor of his estate. She is not on good terms with his family, who say the house shouldn't go to her no matter what.

She and her son have since moved into a home she purchased in September.

In a statement to the Huffington Post, Bank of America declined to comment on Ramos' case as a matter of policy.

"Due to Bank of America's privacy policy, we have not discussed the Borrowers Protection Plan or the loan with Ms. Ramos, because she is not a borrower on the loan," said Bank of America spokeswoman Jumana Bauwens. "The Georgia State Probate court has appointed an Administrator for Mr. Woods' estate and Bank of America has communicated directly with that Administrator ... [we] cannot discuss the specific details of our customers' benefit requests."

According to Bank of America's Borrowers Protection Plan, "Suicide or intentionally hurting yourself" are not protected causes of death, nor is "Death that occurred during or as a result of breaking the law."

A former employee of Bank of America, Ramos was fired after taking a stand against what she felt were unfair lending policies. The video she made detailing her experience led to a story on the Huffington Post and an appearance on "The Daily Show."

"You guys stole my home, you guys stole my memories and you guys stole something from my four-year-old," she says in the new video. "You guys are a bunch of crooks, and I will let everyone know."

SEC May Target Big Banks In Lawsuit Over Mortgage-Backed Securities

Regulators may be preparing a lawsuit against some of the country's largest banks in order to probe their role in the acceleration of the financial crisis.

The Securities and Exchange Commission is planning to formally warn a number of firms that sold mortgage-backed securities in the years leading up to the meltdown of an impending enforcement action, the Wall Street Journal reports. At issue is whether banks knew at the time that the mortgages backing their securities were of poor quality -- and whether the banks nevertheless presented a picture of the loans that was misleadingly reassuring.

Mortgage-backed securities are generally believed to have played a central role in the near-meltdown of the national banking system a few years ago. The country's largest financial firms repeatedly bundled subprime mortgages and used them to guarantee securities that were sold to investors. When those mortgages proved unsound, it triggered a series of financial failures that dealt a severe blow to the national economy.

If such a lawsuit does come to pass, it would be part of a broader effort on the part of the federal government to assign responsibility for the financial crisis -- and to better regulate hazardous trading practices and high-risk financial instruments in the hopes of preventing another one. At the same time, the SEC has been criticized for not doing more to stamp out misconduct. In 2009, one prominent whistleblower called the agency "captive to the industry it regulates."

Multiple lawsuits and inquiries have already raised the issue of whether banks misrepresented the health of mortgage-backed securities during the housing boom. JPMorgan Chase faced one such suit last year, as did Washington Mutual and Bank of America's Merrill Lynch division. Goldman Sachs is currently facing a potential class-action suit from investors over whether it purchased a number of mortgage-backed securities in 2005 without first examining their health.

Goldman was also accused last year, by an investigatory Senate panel, of misleading Congress and investors as to the safety of the mortgage-backed securities it was selling.

News of the possible suit comes at a moment when banks are already being called to account for their handling of another result of the collapsing housing market: the foreclosure crisis. On Thursday, the government announced that it had reached a $25 billion settlement with some of the country's largest financial firms -- among them Citigroup, Ally and BofA, all said to be targets of the SEC investigation -- over charges that the banks engaged in systematic and widespread mortgage fraud.

Massachusetts Subpoenas Bank Of America Over Allegations Bank Overvalued Investment Products

* Massachusetts eyes CLO documents

* Investors lost $150 mln on products

* Bank of America shares down 1.2 percent

Feb 10 (Reuters) - Massachusetts securities regulators said on Friday that they were subpoenaing Bank of America Corp for documents to determine whether the lender had knowingly overvalued assets in some investment products.

Local investors lost about $150 million in investment vehicles structured by the company's affiliate Banc of America Securities LLC, said William Galvin, the state's top securities regulator.

Now his office is asking the Charlotte, North Carolina-based bank to supply documents for its activities involving collateralized loan obligations.

The CLOs include LCM VII Ltd and Bryn Mawr CLO II Ltd, which were structured by the bank and sold to investors in 2007.

Bank of America spokesman Bill Halldin said the bank doesn't comment on regulatory inquiries, except to say that it cooperates fully with them.

Galvin, who has been especially aggressive in looking into how big banks hurt small investors during the housing crisis and financial crisis, said he wanted to find out whether the issuer "was knowingly overvaluing assets in the portfolio to get them off their books and onto investors."

The news comes one day after Bank of America and other large lenders agreed to a $25 billion settlement over alleged foreclosure abuses.

The company's shares were down 1.3 percent at $8.07 in afternoon New York Stock Exchange trading.

Bank of England pumps further £50bn into economy

The Bank of England injected a further £50 billion into the economy today as the UK battles to stave off another recession.

The Bank's Monetary Policy Committee voted to increase the quantitative easing (QE) programme — effectively printing more cash — from £275 billion to £325 billion despite the subsequent risk of rising inflation.

The QE move will draw criticism from pensioners' groups who have warned it could leave more than a million pensioners "permanently poorer for the rest of their lives" due to the adverse effect money-printing has on annuities, which is where you buy a regular retirement income in return for your pension pot.Meanwhile, it held interest rates at a record low of 0.5%.

But business leaders said further stimulus would "support confidence" and welcomed the decision.

Explaining the move, the Bank says that while recent business surveys have "painted a more positive picture", the pace of expansion in the eurozone has slowed and "concerns remain" about the region's debt levels.

The Bank says that tight credit conditions and the Government's austerity measures present headwinds looking ahead, while inflation, which dropped to 4.2% in December, should continue to fall sharply in the near term.

Goldman Sachs sets aside $12bn to pay staff in 2011

The Goldman Sachs building in New York. The US investment bank's staff will get on average payout of $367,000 including bonuses and benefits. Photograph Lucas Jackson/Reuters

Goldman Sachs set aside $12.2bn (£8bn) to pay its staff in 2011 – an average of $367,000 (£238,000) each – sparking criticism that the Wall Street firm was living in a "parallel universe".

The payouts sparked a backlash from unions, who regard them as evidence that David Cameron's government should take steps to ensure top pay is better linked to performance. Campaigners for a "Robin Hood tax" on transactions said it backed their case for new levies on banks.

"When even in a bad year each Goldman employee pockets an average of $367,000 – nearly 10 times the average UK salary – it's proof that banks live in a parallel universe to the rest of us," said a spokesman for the Robin Hood Tax campaign.

Goldman used a greater proportion of its revenue (42%) to pay its 33,000 staff in 2011, compared with 39% a year ago. The firm axed 7%, or 2,400, of its staff during the year and those who remain will learn the size of their bonuses in coming days.

The highest profile firm on Wall Street reported full-year revenues of $28.8bn – down 26% and earnings almost halved to $4.4bn. Lloyd Blankfein, chairman and chief executive of Goldman, blamed "global macroeconomic concerns".

The total payout per staff member of $367,000 – a figure which includes salaries, bonuses, equity awards and benefits – was down 15% on the $430,000 paid the previous year. The actual amount set side to pay staff was down 21% at $12.2bn.

David Viniar, Goldman's finance director, insisted "discretionary" bonuses were down "considerably more than revenues" during the year and said the firm had embarked on a strategy to cut $1.4bn of costs.

But the TUC general secretary, Brendan Barber, said: "Goldman Sachs are brazenly defying their own sliding profits by dishing out pay and top bonuses worth £240,000 a head. This latest example of excessive rewards for mediocrity should give the government the green light to get tough on top pay. Ministers should start by putting workers on remuneration committees and making pay and bonuses exceeding £260,000 liable for corporation tax."

The firm has recently disclosed more about its pay deals in the UK as a result of rules set out by the Financial Services Authority requiring firms to publish pay for "code staff" – those taking or managing risk. Regulatory filings for Goldman Sachs Group Holdings (UK) show that it had 95 code staff in 2010 who had an average pay deal of $6.2m (£4m) in 2010 – and had a further $595m awarded in a one-off mid-year award of shares in 2010.

"This past year was dominated by global macroeconomic concerns which significantly affected our clients' risk-tolerance and willingness to transact," Blankfein said.

"As economies and markets improve – and we see encouraging signs of this – Goldman Sachs is very well positioned to perform for our clients and our shareholders," he added.

The turmoil in the eurozone held back many of its business areas. Revenues in investment banking were down 9% while its business that underwrites share offerings was down 14%. Its fixed income, currency and commodities operations suffered a 34% fall in revenue.

"Although activity levels in 2011 were generally consistent with 2010 levels, and results were solid during the first quarter of 2011, the environment during the remainder of 2011 was characterised by broad market concerns and uncertainty, resulting in volatile trading and significantly wider credit spreads, which contributed to difficult market-making conditions and led to reductions in risk by the firm and its clients," the firm said.

India's central bank infuses more money in system

New Delhi, Jan 24 - After nearly two years of tight check on money supply to tame inflation, India's central bank took steps Tuesday to infuse more liquidity in the system by reducing a key rate in a bid to help industry out of the current downturn.

The cash reserve ratio (CRR), the amount against deposits which commercial banks have to keep as liquid assets such as cash, has been lowered by 50 basis points to 5.5 percent from 6 percent.

"This step will release Rs. 320 billion into the system," Reserve Bank of India (RBI) Governor D. Subbarao said in a statement, soon after presenting the third quarter review of the monetary policy for the current fiscal year.

"The policy actions and the guidance are expected to ease liquidity conditions, mitigate downside risks to growth and anchor medium-term inflation expectations on the basis of a credible commitment to low and stable inflation," he added.

For the past two years, the central bank had been taking steps to curb liquidity with a mix of measures such as hikes in the short-term lending and borrowing rates to contain inflation that had risen to double digits with food inflation at 20 percent once.

In the mid-quarter review of the monetary policy in December, the central bank had hit the pause button on rate hikes while also indicating that it may ease the tight money policy regime if the inflation were to moderate further.

India's annual rate of inflation currently stands at a two-year low of 7.47 percent for December. Food inflation has been in the negative for the past three weeks, giving some comfort to policy-makers.

In the monetary policy review, the central bank also lowered its growth projection for the current fiscal to 7 percent from 7.6 percent earlier, while retaining its forecast on inflation at 7 percent by the end of March.

Accounts failing to inflation-proof savings

Research by comparison site Moneyfacts has found that there is not one single savings account currently available that will completely protect taxpayers’ savings from the effects of tax and inflation.

The latest figures show that inflation fell slightly in November, from 5.0 per cent to 4.8 per cent, on the Consumer Prices Index.

This means that basic rate taxpayers would need to put their savings in an account paying at least 6.00 per cent in order to stop them being eroded by inflation.

A taxpayer paying the higher 40 per cent tax rate, would need to put their savings in an account paying at least 8 per cent in order to inflation-proof their hard-earned cash.

Moneyfacts also highlighted that instant-access savings account pay an average of just 0.93% interest.

Sylvia Waycot, spokesperson for Moneyfacts.co.uk, said: “Over the last year the number of savings accounts that beat inflation for basic rate taxpayers has dropped successively from 57 to absolutely none, which must leave savers wondering why they save at all.”

Bonds tend to offer a better return on savings than instant access accounts, although even these do not negate the effect of inflation and they mean that the investment is tied up for a year or more.

The latest bond from Kent Reliance offers a 3.66 per cent interest rate for savers who don’t mind tying up their money for one year.

However the Limited edition one year fixed rate bond is only for savers with a savings pot of at least £50,000!

If you don’t mind locking your savings away for two-years, the Bank of Ireland, the Halifax and Vanquis bank all offer bonds with interest between 3.85 per cent and 3.9 per cent and there are a number of three year bonds offering over 4 per cent.