Commercial Banking

Extracurricular Activities: Public Servant Misconduct in 2012

Another Occupy Protest Scheduled Tonight

Here's something those newly evicted Occupy protesters can do with themselves. This evening, bitter folks will gather around Bank of America in San Francisco to protest the bank's three-day loan modification customer outreach event. Specifically, the "struggling families," aka protesters, will be th ... More >>

Bank Fees Are Costing Consumers Way Too Much Money, Study Says

Sometimes it's hard to decide which is worse  -- insurance companies, banks, or just the 1 percent. Today, banks win.We just learned that banking giants charge Americans anywhere from $84 to $144 every year just to maintain a bank account, according to a report from the California Reinvestment ... More >>

Occupy Noe Valley Tries to Save More Homes

Since Occupy Bernal has proven to be the only local Occupy group to actually get shit done, homeowners in Noe Valley went ahead and formed a similar movement, riffing off Bernal's model of not occupying.In other words, no tents necessary.Tomorrow, Occupy Noe will start collecting signatures at the N ... More >>

Here's What the State's Historic Foreclosure Protection Bill Means to Homeowners

One of the worst parts of going through a foreclosure is the sense of helplessness. There's a lot of waiting and hoping and let-me-transfer-you-over run-arounds. The process feels closed and distant, marked by indifferent operators and vague brief loan modification denial letters. Yesterday the Cal ... More >>

The Dispossessed: Geary Brown Dodges Eviction

In a feature story last month, "The Dispossessed," we wrote about a Bayview homeowner named Geary Brown who was on the verge of getting evicted.He had been foreclosed on after he missed several mortgage payments while seeking to modify his loan.Bank of America, which owned his mortgage, had put his ... More >>

Occupella Music Group to Entertain Bank of America With Sing Along

If public transportation is part of your daily routine, chances are you've already heard a few ditties from Occupella, the group known for riffing off traditional American folk songs to make them 99 percent unique. But tomorrow, the ensemble will take a break from its cavernous stage at th ... More >>

Cops, Bank of America Mum on Bomb Scare

In mid-April, police shut down Market and Montgomery in the middle of the day after a suspicious electronic device was discovered in the Bank of America at 33 New Montgomery.San Francisco Police Lt. Simon Silverman told SF Weekly at the time that bank employees found a curious item the size of ... More >>

Occupy Our Food Supply ... Today

Occupy Wall Street, Occupy Bank of America, Occupy San Francisco -- now occupy your diet, too. Today is Occupy Our Food Supply Day, a nationwide series of actions and articles hoping to raise awareness about how corporate interests have taken over the world's food supply. As Anna Moore Lappé and ... More >>

Wild Old Women Breathe New Life into the Occupy Movement

Courtesy of occupybernal.orgWild takes on a whole new meaning when you are 80​Last week we regaled readers with a story about a small group of seniors who successfully shut down a Bank of America in Bernal Heights -- a tale that seems to have re-energized San Francisco's Occupy movement. Since the ... More >>

Occupy Geriatrics: Seniors in Walkers Shut Down Local Bank of America

​What some healthy and spry Occupy Movements across the nation couldn't quite accomplish, San Francisco geriatrics have! KCBS reports that a small group of senior citizens between the ages of 69 and 82 successfully shut down a Bank of America in Bernal Heights on Thursday with nothing more than wa ... More >>

Occupy Tent for Sale -- Contact Bank of America

Another forclosure​Another dwelling was foreclosed on in the city's Financial District yesterday: An Occupy SF tent. The tent that was erected yesterday inside Bank of America where dozens of protesters stormed as they marched through downtown is now up for sale on ebay.Seriously, if you really wa ... More >>

OccupySF: Protesters Occupy Bank of America

Ellen Huet​Update (4:05 p.m.): Protesters are being led out of Bank of America in handcuffs amid cheers from supporters around. Update (3:15 p.m): SF Weekly's Ellen Huet is at the scene and tells us that about 50 protesters set up a tent inside the Bank of America on California Street. Police are ... More >>

Move Your Money Day: San Francisco Residents to Dump Their Banks

​In what could be the first practical request by the Occupy Movement yet, protesters are asking everyone across the nation to take part in the "Move Your Money Day" tomorrow and divert their investments from big banks. It might seem ambitious, but considering how the mass exodus of customers from ... More >>

Has Bank of America Been Hacked over New Debit Card Fee?

​In yet another possible sign that hacking is the most popular pastime among antisocial American youth since Magic: The Gathering, the Bank of America website is experiencing technical difficulties that some are speculating could be part of a reprisal for its announcement of a new fee on debit-car ... More >>

Occupy Wall Street Protest Expands to San Francisco

12 days, plus interest ​Today marks the 12th day of the Occupy Wall Street protests in New York City -- and unlike BART protests, there's no sign that this demonstration is dying down. In fact, it's spreading -- all the way to the West Coast, where California is suffering from a staggering 12 perc ... More >>

Mayor Ed Lee's New Port Commissioner Clarifies Role in 2009 S.F. Bank Failure

What did Doreen Wu Ho Know About Tommy Wu? And When Did She Know It?​Earlier this month, Mayor Ed Lee appointed a new port commissioner, which raised many eyebrows here, given that Doreen Woo Ho was a top official at the failed United Commercial Bank. In November 2011, United Commercial Bank was s ... More >>

Buster Posey to Hand out Giants Tickets at Bank of America

Buster Posey​Bank of America isn't always a favorite among those on the political left. (Or on the right.) But Buster Posey is -- at least in San Francisco, where the baby-faced Giants catcher is revered by fans for his role in the team's 2010 World Series win. Posey's hitting helped propel the Gi ... More >>

The Mad Quest of Mr. Wu

How a wannabe banking magnate from S.F. built an empire on deception.

Jerry Brown Announces $2 Billion Settlement with Wells Fargo

Hope you've got room in there for the billions you owe Californians...​The office of Attorney General Jerry Brown announced today that Wells Fargo has agreed in a settlement to offer home-loan modifications worth $2 billion, and will also pay $32 million in restitution to borrowers who lost their ... More >>

Jacob Peter Schlildgen, 'Scarf Bandit' Busted: Suspected of Three Bank of America Heists

Not our man...​San Francisco Police and the FBI are claiming that 43-year-old Jacob Peter Schildgren, arrested yesterday shortly after allegedly knocking over a Bank of America armed only with a "gray plastic bag,"  is the "Scarf Bandit" responsible for three BofA heists. A teller says Schild ... More >>

San Francisco's Most Stylish Bank Robber Arrested, Police Say

Police believe they've nabbed this sartorially gifted bank robber​A woman who knocked over a pair of San Francisco banks while decked out in knockout attire that caught the eyes of witnesses has purportedly been arrested, San Francisco and Daly City cops report. The woman -- whose name has not yet ... More >>

Anthony Gardenal, 'Agitated' Dementia Patient, Still At Large

Anthony Gardenal, who demonstratively exited his assisted living facility on Saturday​Anthony Gardenal, the 73-year-old dementia patient who went missing from his Mission District assisted care facility on Saturday, is still missing. According to staff at the Araville Residential Care Home at 1506 ... More >>

San Francisco's Most Stylish Bank Robber (Pics)

Yesterday we reported on a bank robber who -- counter-intuitively for someone who is pulling a gun and breaking the law -- was wearing open-toed shoes and dressed so distinctively that witnesses at two San Francisco banks were able to describe her appearance from head to toe. Now we've got some pict ... More >>

No Justice

Despite Obama's promises of change, corporate crooks are still going unpunished for their roles in the financial collapse.

City Attorney Dennis Herrera Ups Ante in S.F.-Minnesota Credit Card Credit-Hogging Dispute

Don't worry, hypothetical Michigan Tech alum Chris L. Martin! Dennis Herrera has got your back.​When Minnesota Attorney General Lori Swanson hogged credit last month for attacking a loophole companies use to prevent consumer lawsuits, observers said San Francisco City Attorney Dennis Herrera was g ... More >>

Bluegrass Festival Backer Hellman Sifts Through Ruins of Global Collapse Seeking Capital Sufficient To Bring Back Emmylou Harris

Joyce GoldschmidWarren Hellman, banjo messiah? With just a half-year to go before Golden Gate Park's Hardly Strictly Bluegrass festival, free-concert backer Warren Hellman is combing the wreckage of the global financial collapse, seeking to augment the fortune that keeps his massive three-day music ... More >>

San Francisco's Slave-Disclosure Ordinance Reveals Little

The Parmalat Syndrome

How U.S. financial firms -- including Bank of America -- allegedly abetted a multibillion-dollar fraud, and how U.S. regulators are letting them get away with it

Best New Downtown Public Space

JP Morgan Chase Building

Four Best Bars With a View

Cleaning House

To work against terrorism, new money-laundering laws will have to be enforced in the world headquarters of cash-washing: the U.S. of A.

Support Your Local Embezzler

Hometown thieves we'll tolerate, but not southern sexists

The Grid

The Grid

Letters

The Great Bank Thievery

The city and state say the Bank of America stole hundreds of millions -- even billions -- of dollars from the government. But didn't San Francisco finance officials know what was going on? And shouldn't B of A executives be under criminal investigation?

Dog Bites