New York NY, to support American businesses and households, the Federal Reserve Board on Sunday announced it will make available additional funding to eligible depository institutions to help assure banks have the ability to meet the needs of all their depositors. This action will bolster the capacity of the banking system to safeguard deposits and ensure the ongoing provision of money and credit to the economy.
Justin Jennings, the new Executive Vice President, Operations Officer of Columbia Bank. Image Courtesy of Columbia Bank.
the staff of the Ridgewood blog
Fair Lawn NJ , Columbia Bank is pleased to welcome Justin Jennings, the new Executive Vice President, Operations Officer, effective immediately. Jennings, who replaces Brian Murphy upon his retirement in April 2022, is responsible for the Operations division including Card Services, Deposit Operations, Loan Servicing and the Customer Service Center.
Daria Torres ,Image Courtesy of Columbia Financial, Inc.
the staff of the Ridgewood blog
Fair Lawn NJ, Columbia Financial, Inc. (NASDAQ: CLBK), the parent company of Columbia Bank, is pleased to announce that Mount Laurel, New Jersey resident, Daria Torres has been appointed to the Boards of Directors of Columbia Financial and Columbia Bank effective July 27, 2021. Ms. Torres will also serve on the Audit Committee of the Company and the Bank. Ms. Torres’ appointment brings the Company’s total number of directors to ten, nine of whom are independent non-executive directors.
RIDGEWOOD & GLEN ROCK NJ , Blue Foundry Bank, a financial institution that offers a full service, crafted banking experience, announced the opening of two reimagined branches. The new Ridgewood branch is located at 235 East Ridgewood Avenue and the recently renovated Glen Rock branch is located at 217 Rock Road. The transformed branch locations, both designed by DMR Architects, reflect the bank’s reinvention and commitment to building relationships with like-minded, hardworking individuals in the communities it serves.
Washington DC, Technological advances are driving rapid change in the global payments landscape. The Federal Reserve is studying these developments and exploring ways that it might refine its role as a core payment services provider and as the issuing authority for U.S. currency.
Improving the operations in your bank doesn’t have to involve a complete revamp of your fundamental processes. Improving your bank operation starts from the minor everyday changes; improving on these minute ones would have spillover effects on the overall performance of the bank system.
Washington DC, the FDIC named Sultan Meghji as its first Chief Innovation Officer, charged with leading the agency’s drive to promote the adoption of innovative technologies across the financial services sector.
So, are you interested in learning about how to become a loan officer, or have you, perhaps, stumbled upon this article by accident? Whatever the case may be, in this article, you will find out everything that it takes to become a loan officer. Basically, when it comes to loan officers, these professionals play a very important part in helping buyers find different thighs that are right for them and the situation that they are in financially. That is by no means an easy task, but in order for you to understand this better, we have listed the most important things that you need to know about to become a loan officer yourself.
Westwood NJ, according to Bank of America , on 11/20/2020, the financial center at 1 Westwood Avenue, Westwood, NJ is closing in an email the bank said ,
We’re sorry for the inconvenience this closing causes. Keep in mind, your account remains the same, and there are other ways to continue banking with us.
Ridgewood NJ, The New Jersey Bankers Association is confident in the banking system and the resiliency of the economy. Customer service and safety and soundness are the twin pillars of the banking system. New Jersey’s banks are safe and sound and ready to help our customers during this trying time.
Customers faced with distress should contact their bank if they have concerns or are experiencing a financial hardship due to the health crisis caused by coronavirus, known as COVID-19. Banks in New Jersey are working with their customers to develop solutions that best meet each individual’s needs. “Our banks are well positioned to assist our customers during this trying time,” said John E. McWeeney, Jr, President and CEO of NJBankers.
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Ridgewood NJ, Attorney General Gurbir S. Grewal announced today that Wells Fargo has begun a consumer redress review program through which customers who have not already been made whole through other remediation programs can seek to have their inquiry or complaint reviewed by a Wells Fargo escalation team for possible relief.
The consumer redress review program was a key component of Wells Fargo’s overall $535 million settlement with New Jersey, 49 other states and the District of Columbia in 2018 to resolve claims that the bank violated state consumer protection laws through multiple unlawful actions.
Those actions included (1) opening millions of unauthorized accounts and enrolling customers into online banking services without their knowledge or consent, (2) improperly referring customers for enrollment in third-party renters and life insurance policies, (3) improperly charging auto loan customers for force-placed and unnecessary collateral protection insurance, (4) failing to ensure that customers received refunds of unearned premiums on certain optional auto finance guaranteed asset/auto protection (GAP) products, and (5) incorrectly charging customers for mortgage rate lock extension fees.
TRENTON NJ, Attorney General Gurbir S. Grewal announced today that New Jersey is among the states joining a settlement agreement with Wells Fargo Bank that resolves allegations the company engaged in a variety of sales, lending, and other improper business practices for more than a decade.
Under the settlement terms New Jersey will receive nearly $17 million. Wells Fargo’s total payment under the agreement is approximately $575 million, including distributions to other states, attorneys’ fees, and other payments.
The alleged consumer protection violations in Wells Fargo’s sales, auto-lending, and mortgage-lending practices include (1) opening millions of unauthorized accounts and enrolling customers into online banking services without their knowledge or consent, (2) improperly referring customers for enrollment in third-party renters and life insurance policies, (3) improperly charging auto loan customers for force-placed and unnecessary collateral protection insurance, (4) failing to ensure that customers received refunds of unearned premiums on certain optional auto finance products, and (5) incorrectly charging customers for mortgage rate-lock extension fees.
Through this settlement with 50 states and the District of Columbia, Wells Fargo will also create a consumer redress review program through which consumers who have not been made whole through other remediation programs already in place can seek to have their inquiry or complaint reviewed by a bank escalation team for possible relief. To date, this settlement represents the most significant engagement involving a national bank by state attorneys general acting without a federal law enforcement partner.
Wells Fargo has identified more than 3.5 million accounts where customer accounts were opened, funds were transferred, credit card applications were filed, and debit cards were issued without the customers’ knowledge or consent. The bank has also identified 528,000 online bill pay enrollments nationwide that may have resulted from improper sales practices at the bank. In addition, Wells Fargo improperly submitted more than 6,500 renters insurance and/or simplified term life insurance policy applications and payments from customer accounts without the customers’ knowledge or consent.
“Wells Fargo’s corporate culture led to repeated breaches of its customers’ trust,” said Attorney General Grewal. “This settlement should send a message to all financial institutions that they need to take steps to avoid similar consumer protection violations, because we stand ready to hold the financial industry accountable.”
The states allege that Wells Fargo’s senior management exerted significant pressure on middle management and line employees to generate sales, through the establishment of unrealistic sales goals and an incentive compensation program. These sales goals became increasingly hard to achieve over time, the states allege, and employees who failed to meet them faced potential termination and unfavorable reviews. As a result, employees routinely enrolled customers in checking and savings accounts, credit cards, debit cards, unsecured lines of credit and online bill pay services without their knowledge or consent.
The states also contend that Wells Fargo employees wrongly charged more than two million auto financing customers premiums, interest, and fees for forced-place collateral protection insurance, even though this insurance duplicated coverage the customers already had in place. As a result, Wells Fargo has agreed to provide remediation of more than $385 million to approximately 850,000 auto finance customers. The remediation will include payments to over 51,000 customers whose cars were repossessed.
According to the states, Wells Fargo also failed to provide proper refunds to auto finance customers who had purchased Guaranteed Asset Protection insurance policies, designed to address situations in which a car buyer/borrower ends up owing more than a vehicle’s value. As a result, Wells Fargo has agreed to provide refunds totaling more than $37 million to certain auto finance customers.
Finally, the states alleged that Wells Fargo improperly charged residential mortgage consumers for rate lock extension fees. With rate lock extension, borrowers could “lock in” an ostensibly favorable interest rate, for a fee, even if their loans did not close within the defined rate lock period. The states determined that some bank branches were charging rate lock extension fees even when the delay was caused by Wells Fargo, a practice contrary to the company’s policy. The bank has identified and contacted affected consumers and has refunded or agreed to refund over $100 million of such fees.
Wells Fargo has previously entered into consent orders with federal authorities – including the Office of the Comptroller for the Currency (OCC) and the Consumer Finance Protection Bureau (CFPB) – related to its alleged conduct. Wells Fargo has committed to or already provided restitution to consumers in excess of $600 million through its agreements with the OCC and CFPB as well as through settlement of a related consumer class-action lawsuit, and will pay over $1 billion in civil penalties to the federal government. Additionally, under an order from the Federal Reserve, the bank is required to strengthen its corporate governance and controls, and is currently restricted from exceeding its total asset size.
As part of its settlement with the states, Wells Fargo has agreed to implement within 60 days a program through which consumers who believe they were affected by the bank’s conduct, but fell outside the prior restitution programs, can contact Wells Fargo to be reviewed for potential redress. Wells Fargo will create and maintain a website for consumers to use to access the program and will provide periodic reports to the states about the program’s progress.
More information on the redress review program, including Wells Fargo escalation phone numbers and the website address will be available on or before February 26, 2019.
The $17 million Wells Fargo payout to New Jersey is the sixth highest amount recovered among all jurisdictions participating in the multi-state settlement
ENGLEWOOD—The bank robbery occurred at the Citibank branch in a quiet North Jersey suburb.There were no alarms, no guns, no menacing notes and no threats of violence. More than $52,000 was taken and the bank in Englewood didn’t even know it had been robbed until long after the cash went out the door.
That same day in December 2012, just a week before Christmas, the same guys hit another Citibank in Florham Park. And over the next three weeks they would target additional branches of the bank in New Jersey and New York—walking away with more than $1 million in cash taken from Citibank ATM machines through hundreds of counterfeit bankcards encoded with personal information stolen from unsuspecting customers.