Millions of Americans, and thousands of Marylanders, are struggling to escape debt. Many consumers have been hammered by credit card companies like Bank of Americawho increase interest rates retroactively, even on consumers that had never missed a payment. Many have seen home values plummet, and neighborhoods deteriorate, because borrowers could not keep up with expensive subprime loans aggressively marketed to poor communities by banks like Wells Fargo. The City of Baltimore even sued Wells Fargo, alleging that ”reverse redlining” practices were destroying City neighborhoods. And notwithstanding the fiscal crisis that has nearly destroyed the global economy, we know that Wall Street banks continue to pay record bonuses.
So why, then, do Bank of America and Wells Fargo get the privilege of holding state dollars? Why do they continue to get lucrative state banking contracts? There is an alternative. We can move our money.
In every corner of the state, there are community banks ready and eager to take deposits and perform banking services that are currently performed by the Wall Street banks. These local lenders are hungry for steady deposits that they can turn around into local lending for small businesses in our state – local loans that will turn into local jobs.
My bill, House Bill 1325, will help steer state deposits and state contracting dollars away from the Wall Street banks that have hurt our consumers and into local lenders. The bill has been featured in the Sun, the Wall Street Journal, and on Maryland Morning on WYPR. The bill is currently being heard by the House Committee on Health and Government Operations - be sure to lend your support.
Even if the bank lobbyists succeed in killing the bill, they can’t tell consumers what to do. Each of us has the power to move our own money away from banks that resist basic consumer protections, and into local lenders or credit unions that will put our money to local use.
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