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.

ICICI Bank reports 20 per cent increase in net profit

Private sector bank, ICICI Bank has reported an increase of 20 per cent in net profit in the quarter till December 2011.

The bank reported the net profit at Rs. 1,728.10 crore in the quarter compared to Rs 1,437.02 crore in the same quarter previous year. The increase in net profit was mainly due to net interest income as well as decline in provisions on account of lower gross non-performing assets.

The bank's total income increased to Rs 10,483.73 crore from Rs. 8,444.75 crore in the same quarter of 2010, the company said in a filing with the Bombay Stock Exchange (BSE).

The operating profit for the bank was recorded at Rs. 2,687.10 crore compared to Rs. 2,342.61 crore in the same quarter previous year. The total provisions fell to Rs. 341.10 crore from Rs. 464.27 crore.

The net non-performing asset ratio for the bank decreased to 0.70 percent from 1.16 per cent in the previous year quarter. Total capital adequacy was recorded at the level of 18.88 per cent.

The results were trading 4.08 per cent up at Rs 886.70 on the BSE as investors reacted positively to the results.

Banks urging individual borrowers to buy covers

Banks in the country are urging individual borrowers to secure their loans by purchasing insurancepolicies amid growing concerns that non-performing assets (NPAs) are likely to increase in the country.

The country's banks have enjoyed lower levels of NPAs. However, there are growing concerns that many borrowers might be unable to replay loans in the coming months. According to banking officials, both public and private sector banks are convincing their customers to buy policies to cover their personal loans and overdraft facilities.

According to the latest data from the to Reserve Bank of India (RBI), outstanding personal loans amounted to Rs 12,817 crore at the end of December 2011. this figure is exclusive ofhousing, consumer durables, credit cards.

According to insurance industry estimates, about 30 per cent of personal loan borrowers are purchasing covers for their loans. The covers penetration is increasing at a fast pace in the country, as more people are doubtful of their ability replay loans on time to the banks.

Experts say that premium for these policies is low and if customers purchase a groupinsurance policy that they get a policy with an even lower premium as the loans are usually for a period of three-five years

Sean Quinn's wife must pay back €3m Anglo Irish bank loan

Anglo Irish Bank, from which the Quinn's borrowed money before Sean Quinn's bankruptcy. Photograph: Peter Muhly/AFP/Getty Images

An Irish court has ordered the wife of Ireland's one-time richest man Sean Quinn to pay back €3m (£2.5m) to the former Anglo Irish Bank.

Patricia Quinn must repay the money out of a loan she took out with her husband five years ago, Dublin high court ruled.

In her defence Patricia Quinn had claimed she was a homemaker for 36 years and did not even possess a basic knowledge of business matters. She denied she knew the details of what she was signing for when she signed the loan agreement and did not get the benefit of the money. But the Irish Bank Resolution Corporation – the name of the reformed Anglo Irish Bank – described her evidence as incredible.

She was a director of 63 Irish companies, a company secretary of 10 and that held directorships in 28 UK companies.

Her husband is the bankrupt billionaire whose rise and fall while playing the global property market personifies the collapse of Ireland's Celtic tiger economy. The 65-year-old Co Fermanagh-born business tycoon used to employ up to 5,000 people in construction and his family's insurance corporation. He is alleged to still control a property empire encompassing Russia, North America and the Middle East.

Last month Belfast high court declared him bankrupt over alleged debts believed to be worth €2.5bn to the Anglo Irish Bank. His choice of where to go bankrupt means he could be back in business within 12 months owing to Britain's financial laws. Had he been declared bankrupt south of the border under the Republic's more stringent bankruptcy laws he would have been waiting for 12 years. His fate is believed to among the biggest bankruptcy orders in the UK or Ireland.

In a Dublin court Mr Justice Kelly said a lot of criticism had been made of the credibility of Mrs Quinn's evidence.

He said for the purpose of this case he was going to set aside all questions of credibility and accept everything said in her sworn statements as accurate and truthful. But he said she had failed to make out an arguable defence to the claim by the bank for the repayment of the loan. He said even the most cursory glance at the documents she had signed would have told all but an illiterate person that she was entering into some form of borrowing agreement.

He also said she had been negligent by signing documents put in front of her without finding out their effect.

Kelly asked what could be more negligent than willy-nilly signing formal legal documents without giving a thought to their effect. He also said Mr Quinn's lawyers had argued that there was a presumption of undue influence in the relationship between husband and wife. In law there was not and had not been since 1750.

Kelly ruled that there was no evidence of undue influence by Mr Quinn. He said there was no evidence that Mrs Quinn suffered from an intellectual disability, a mental illness or cognitive impairment and there was no evidence at all of threats or bullying by her husband.

In relation to her argument that she did not receive the money, the judge said the question of whether it was used to complete the decoration of the Quinn home or for something else was a matter for the borrowers.

The loan was drawn down at the direction of Mr Quinn and was used.

The judge granted judgment to the bank for just over €3m. He refused an application by lawyers for Mrs Quinn for a stay on the order pending a possible appeal to the Republic's supreme court

Irish bank challenges Sean Quinn over move to Northern Ireland

Anglo Irish Bank, now the Irish Bank Resolution Corporation (IBRC) says it is owed €2.8bn by property tycoon Sean Quinn. Photograph Peter Muhly/AFP/Getty Images

Ireland's one time richest man Sean Quinn has moved most of his business across the border into Northern Ireland, a court heard on Monday.

A financial institution synonymous with the collapse of the Republic's economy – the former Anglo Irish Bank – started a high court challenge in Belfast to stop Quinn from declaring himself bankrupt in Northern Ireland.

The now state owned and renamed Irish Bank Resolution Corporation is seeking to annul Quinn's bankruptcy. It claims the former billionaire's bankruptcy within the UK is invalid as most of his assets and interests are still in the Republic. Under Irish law a bankrupt cannot trade for 12 years while in Britain and Northern Ireland they can go back into business after only 12 months.

The Irish Bank Resolution Corporation (IBRC), which says it is owed €2.8bn (£2.4bn) by Quinn, has challenged his decision to file for bankruptcy in Northern Ireland.

Gabriel Moss QC for the bank said that Quinn's "alleged new office" in Northern Ireland is not a place of business, claiming that the property tycoon's home in Ballyconell, County Cavan is still his centre of main interests.

Moss said that under European law, the centre of main interests must also be "ascertainable" to third parties and that Mr Quinn's Derrylin premises do not meet that test.

The bank's lawyer said Quinn used the Derrylin office as a place to manage his litigation with the bank and in that respect it could not be considered a place of business.

He also said that Quinn was within his rights not to tell the bank about his new office, but his failure to do so "may place him in difficulties" when it comes to his claim that it is his centre of main interests.

Quinn, 63, was granted a voluntary adjudication in Belfast over the alleged debt in November. It is believed to be one of the biggest bankruptcy orders of its kind ever made in the United Kingdom or Ireland.

As a result he was stripped of control of his manufacturing and insurance business empire in April.

Quinn was reputedly worth €4.72bn at the height of his success.

He said he brought the application north of the border because he was born, reared and worked all his life in County Fermanagh.

Ulster Bank cuts nearly 1,000 Irish jobs as RBS restructures

The Ulster Bank headquarters in Belfast, Northern Ireland. Photograph: Peter Muhly/AFP

RBS-owned Ulster Bank has confirmed it is cutting 950 jobs from its branches on both sides of the Irish border - a far higher figure than predicted on Wednesday.

The bank said 600 posts would go in the Irish Republic and 350 would be lost across Northern Ireland. It said it could not rule out compulsory redundancies.

Ulster Bank blamed the deterioration in the Irish and global economies for the cuts and said it needed to make the move to maintain a presence in the Irish banking market. It said it had no plans at present to reduce the number of branches on either side of the border but that would be kept under review.

The Irish Bank Officials Association (IBOA), the finance sector union, said it was alarmed by the scale of the proposed job cuts.

The IBOA said it would seek a "detailed analysis from management" of the rationale for the planned redundancies.

The job losses are part of a larger rationalisation by its parent group Royal Bank of Scotland, which earlier announced around 3,500 job losses over the next three years.

Ulster Bank has 1.9 million customers in the republic and Northern Ireland, and employs 6,000 staff.

The announcement signals the second round of redundancies that the lender has undertaken since the Irish banking crisis began in 2008. The bank cut 1,000 jobs in 2009.

Irish campaigners demand halt to repayment of Anglo Irish Bank debts

The government is due to make a €3.1bn payout on an Anglo Irish bond in March. Photograph: Peter Muhly/AFP/Getty Images

Anti-debt campaigners gathered in Dublin on Wednesday to call on the Irish government to suspend repayments on the bonds of bailed-out lender Anglo Irish Bank.

A coalition of trade unionists, faith groups and international debt relief campaigners, called Debt Justice Action, is highlighting the social costs of keeping up repayments on the bonds of Ireland's bailed-out banking sector.

Andy Storey of University College Dublin said the €3.1bn (£2.6bn) the Irish government is due to pay out on an Anglo bond at the end of March could fund the country's entire primary school system for a year.

He said most private bondholders in the bank have now been paid off, so the government is now repaying public-sector creditors, including the European Central Bank, which part-funded the Irish bailout. In total, the rescue of Anglo will have cost €47bn by 2031, the equivalent of 30% of Ireland's current GDP.

Enda Kelly's government has been keen to distance itself from crisis-hit Greece, but with the Irish economy contracting, public scepticism about the Brussels-backed austerity programme is growing.

Jimmy Kelly, regional secretary of the Unite trade union, said: "[Suspending repayments] would draw a line in the sand against reckless lending practices, save billions of euros belonging to people in Ireland, and have no negative repercussions for ordinary people in Ireland or elsewhere. Our demand is feasible and winnable."

The campaign for a debt write-off in Ireland is still small, but there have also been demands for homeowners who have seen the price of their property collapse to be allowed to suspend repayments on their mortgages.

Irish anti-debt campaigners have exchanged notes with protesters in Greece, Asia and Latin America – including Argentina, whose government defaulted on a loan from the International Monetary Fund after a savage political and economic crisis.

Nessa Ní Chasaide of the Debt and Development Coalition, an international debt campaign group, said: "The unanimous message of campaigners in Africa, Asia and Latin America is that ruining whole societies to repay illegitimate debts is wrong and unworkable.

"A solution must be based on cancellation of illegitimate debts that ensure lenders are held accountable for their mistakes, rather than sacrificing people's rights [because of] fear of financial markets."

Greece is currently struggling to negotiate a write-off of 50% on its debts to private sector bondholders, including banks and hedge funds, but talks broke down at the end of last week.

Eurozone leaders have insisted that Greece will be the only country in the single currency area to be offered debt relief in this way but financial markets are likely to focus on the risk that Portugal and Ireland – the two other countries forced to seek emergency bailouts over the past three years – could also demand a debt restructuring.