US – Friday, July 30

Sales pressure seen hurting consumers

Consumer and labor groups demanded Bank of America Corp. and other lenders reform their sales practices so that workers under pressure to meet sales quotas do not saddle customers with costly and unnecessary products.

The whistleblowing campaign was announced yesterday as the U.S. Treasury Department unveiled legislation to create a Consumer Financial Protection Agency, as part of the Obama administration financial regulation overhaul.

People who said they were former Bank of America employees, alleged their supervisors drove them to burden consumers with needless debt and fees to fatten the bank’s earnings and the paychecks of senior executives, and threatened to retaliate if they complained.

A Bank of America spokeswoman rejected the allegations, saying the bank is “pro-associate” and is committed to ensuring that customer fees are “transparent and predictable.”

Christopher Feener was among the former workers who spoke out.

He complained that the bank sometimes pushed workers to falsely threaten legal action against customers and said his team was sometimes pushed to call customers’ neighbors about delinquent accounts, “to embarrass the customer.”