Or Maybe Your Profit Levels and Bonuses Are Simply Obscene?

/in , /by

Jamie Dimon says they’re going to have to chase 5% of their customers away in response to limits Dodd-Frank put on the usurious rates banks charge merchants for each debit card transaction.

Federal limits on debit card processing fees will force banks to charge customers more for services, making accounts too expensive for as many as 5 percent of customers, JPMorgan Chase’s chief executive Jamie Dimon said Friday.

The rules, proposed as part of the Dodd-Frank financial reform law, would cap the fees that merchants pay banks for processing debit card transactions at 12 cents each.

That is almost 75 percent less than the average 44 cents per transaction that banks get now.

U.S. banks could lose about $13 billion of their annual industry debit processing revenues because of the rules, which the Federal Reserve proposed last month.

Dimon also announced today that their profit was up 47% last quarter. And that’s after the $10 billion in bonuses Dimon’s banksters will share.

In other words, JP Morgan could easily afford to keep serving its poorest customers, just by accepting reasonable profit and bonus levels instead of the positively immoral ones they’re now getting. But it has chosen, instead, to push millions into “unbanked” status, I guess because those people aren’t as worthwhile as people as JPM’s MOTUs are.

Note, too, that Chase is one of the national leaders in contracting with states to provide debit cards for state unemployment benefits. I wonder if JPM will forgo these big state contracts and captive consumers as part of its “unbanking” plans?

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  1. MadDog says:

    I’ve long been “amused” by the fact that banks charge us to hold onto our money and use for their bonuses.

    Unless my memory has gone totally bonkers, wasn’t there a time that banks used to pay us for the privilege of using our money?

    Oh wait, that was only for the past 1000 years or so.

    • DWBartoo says:

      A passing quaintness, outmoded after a 1000 years, to be replaced by the goodness of greed, MadDog.

      A portion of the new fleasing.

      DW

      • MadDog says:

        It is no longer a practice of banks to serve us, their customers.

        The practice at banks now is that it is we who must serve them.

        It is no longer our money which we deposit for banks to manage for us.

        It is now their money and we better not be fookin’ late with the deposit or else!

        And all of this simply and completely epitomizes that the MOTUs live in a totally different reality than the rest of us.

        A reality where our laws do not apply. A reality where even the real reality does not apply.

        • captjjyossarian says:

          It is no longer a practice of banks to serve us, their customers

          Yup, you nailed it. Our Federal government gives banks exclusive privileges not afforded other corporations yet the banks provide nothing in return. The high priests of deregulation see no need to force the banks to serve a public purpose.

    • SueTheRedWA says:

      Credit unions! The director, for my husband’s credit union, had his pay bumped up to $100,000. The board actually does want to move it up a bit more, but not more than $10,000 or $10,000. He does a whole lot better job than any of those big bucks bankers do.

    • jpe12 says:

      Fees and minimum balances have always been part of checking accounts. (see generally: the history of regulation Q and the rise of NOW accounts)

  4. laurastrand says:

    Me? I’ve got a credit union account and I have resisted the “opportunity” to get a debit card with the visa logo on it. As a result, it does not work in some retail locations, but hey, that’s ok because I’d rather have a purchase be declined than pay nickle one to visa for the convenience of making a purchase. Why the hell should visa profit from a simple transaction that they are not a party to?

    • SueTheRedWA says:

      For the last four years, at the start of the month, I buy a gift card for my local grocery store. I write a check, then use the gift card the rest of the month. The grocery store doesn’t have any fees and I’m not keeping track of small checks. A win-win.

  5. SueTheRedWA says:

    That self-same credit union director went to a banking conference a year or so ago. Can’t remember whether it was a one-day or two-day conference. He told my husband that the bankers spent all of 15 minutes talking about customer service and the rest was how to create fees to charge customers.

  6. workingclass says:

    Goldman is the Treasury Department’s bank and JP Morgan is the Fed’s bank. All four are criminal organizations.

    Fuck Jamie Dimon. He should be in prison.

  7. cole65 says:

    It takes almost ten minutes to set up an account at a credit union. I went from B of A to Wells Fargo because B of A was just stealing my money. I left Wells Fargo after a month, same reason. Landed at a community bank, which was great for a year. One gloomy Monday morning, my new bank had a new name, and I decided to see what credit unions were all about.

    What an eye opener. I’m not sure I deserve to be treated this well. My CU actually acts like it is MY money. I know, what a concept. At the end of the month, they refund out of network ATM fees, rather than adding fees and charges. My ledger matches theirs.

    Move your money.

    • SueTheRedWA says:

      My credit union is actually across the state. Been at the office once. When I went to set up the checking account recently, sent them a check, told them what I wanted on the check, (initials only for example), spoke with one of four employees, called up the check-printing company’s website they use, told her what I wanted, and that was it.

      Now, when I wanted a credit card a month or so ago, so I could get rid of another one, the director asked questions about our finances. I don’t mind that as he is the reason my money is safe as this credit union serves a business really struggling with the Great Recession.

      I can give example after example of great service from a number of credit unions over the last four decades. I know there are some bad ones, but they are few and far between.

    • readerOfTeaLeaves says:

      Interesting. The idea of moving my money out of a bank (WF) last year was tempting, but just… more of a ‘project’ than I felt that I had the time or energy to do. I needed to kind of wind up 2010, then figure out where to move the money — the banks are more stress than I need.

      Last week, on advice of an acquaintance who has been with her large credit union for 20 years, I went to a branch. It’s going to take me another two months or so to get all the money pots rolled out of the bank and into the credit union, but like you… let’s just say that I was **amazed** at the difference.

      The credit union did not offer me one single ‘financial product’, didn’t try to ‘sell’ me a thing, and the rates made my jaw drop. Thank God I didn’t wait one more week!

      What a breath of fresh air.

      At one point, I discussed with the credit union employee how on earth their rates could be so low for services, so respectable for savings: she said, “we have a lot of mortgages, and they are all ‘golden’. We didn’t lend irresponsibly like the big banks.”
      Nice to see ethics pay off for a change.

  9. Shoto says:

    Dimon also announced today that their profit was up 47% last quarter. And that’s after the $10 billion in bonuses Dimon’s banksters will share.

    Pretty good deal, Jamie, especially when you consider that your POS bank (read: criminal enterprise) would be made instantly insolvent if the loan and investment portfolios were marked to actual real market value.

    Asshole.

  10. allan says:

    But, but … if the banks don’t prosper, where will the loans to create all those Green Energy Jobs™ come from?

  11. wagthedog says:

    Anyone read about Evergreen that used to make solar panels in Massachusetts? The Banksters wanted double digits interest on business loans. So Evergreen fired 800 workers and moved their plant to China, where they got loans from China banks at 4.5 percent.

    So here is an excellent example where the Banksters’ greed is destroying America and causing joblessness.

  12. TalkingStick says:

    I have discovered a new credit card charge. $.78 for processing a charge by a vendor outside the US. In my case it was to renew AVG anti-virus.

    Love the Irishman!

  13. PeasantParty says:

    EW, this is a great post. Remember, the banksters were all beside themselves because they were not getting enough attention from the President and Dems.

    We should highlight them every chance we get. They want attention and consideration so very badly. /s

  14. bigrock says:

    if any informed american is still banking with chase, wells, boa, goldman, or any other mega monster bank, they are part of the problem..

    everyone needs to move to a local small bank or a credit union and even open accounts in more then one if you have serios savings,

    these monster mega banks are only making money by being a prime dealer for the federal reserve, borrowing money from the fed at less than 0.5% and using that money to but u s treasures at 3.5%. hell my 4 year old could make money doing that..

    they are also making 10 billion a month by front loading – runing the scam the fed is running…

    remember the fed is owned by the bankers,,not the tax payer…

    • SueTheRedWA says:

      Bigrock,
      I agree, but had to wait until house refinancing was done. They (the banks, etc) get you if you change your accounts too much which negatively effects your credit rating. Once the loan was completed, I will have closed two bank accounts, Chase being one of them, and three credit cards.

  15. bgrothus says:

    I use a community bank and have rid myself of my credit card at WF. However, last year when I needed a car, I went to my bank to borrow $5K. I told the local bank I preferred to do business with them, that I had already been given a go ahead by B of A. They could not give me a loan, took a week after I filled out the paperwork to be declined. B of A authorized the loan instantly over the phone and had the money in my account as soon as I told them I was ready. That is the sad reality.

  16. Denn says:

    Closed my Chase accounts last week. Told the suit behind the desk that my mattress doesn’t charge me fucking ten bucks a month to keep my money.

  18. HelenaHandbasket says:

    These banksters sure have an entitlement mentality.

    An internet search showed me that the top 7 Wall Street firms paid out more in compensation than the combined budget shortfalls by all 50 states combined. Can anyone say ‘transfer of wealth?’

  19. DrDick says:

    I’m sorry, but given the general compensation level of those receiving them, any bonuses are obscene and immoral. Nobody can justify paying someone over a half a million dollars for any job.

  20. ThingsComeUndone says:

    In other words, JP Morgan could easily afford to keep serving its poorest customers, just by accepting reasonable profit and bonus levels instead of the positively immoral ones they’re now getting.

    Everyone’s expenses rise with income as does debt they must service few people buy a million dollar home in cash when they can finance a much bigger 10 million dollar home. More money quite often does not mean financial security rather it means more debt.
    After all I can’t get $30 for every $1 of collateral I own like a hedge fund can.
    My point the super rich have debts that they must service or they go homeless. Also despite the bank bailout they have assets that are over valued because Americans are not buying stuff these assets will drop like a rock when the next crisis hits.
    The rich have all been investing in emerging economies because they are growing. Tunisia has revolted the leader is in exile.
    Mexico can’t even keep tourist money maker Acapulco safe Wallmart must be reconsidering their new store in Mexico.
    Ipod workers commit suicide in China.
    America is hurting but the rich who hate America chose to invest overseas rather than help their own country. Those investments now look iffy.
    I wonder how long any family stays in the top 20% times of economic distress hurt the rich sooner or later.