To bad there are so many idiots working at this bank, here is my little problem FYI:
[bankofamericageorgiasucks.blogspot.com]

@downwithmonstercable: What are you talking about? BofA acquired Countrywide Mortgages, which were filled with subprime home loans on those overpriced plywood and duct tape assembled suburban planned neighborhoods. They had a ton of liability doing that.

Really crappy thing is that these Banks are getting US Taxpayer dollars to play with, and almost all admitted to Congress that most of their Customer Call Centers are Overseas.

Gee - wouldn't it have been better that After They Destroyed the US Economy - they kept jobs here in the US!

@Triterion: generally, the result of M&A activity is not the layoff of employees in the stronger company (BoA), but rather of the weaker company (ML)

I feel horrible for the families that are already suffering, because no one can support a family off minimum wage. At least you can't around here.

Hopefully ML CEO John "I don't know if this a good time to ask, but could I please have a $10M bonus for 'saving' Merrill Lynch?" Thain was one of them.

my sister works for the fraud department at BofA. i hope her job is ok, she's getting married in the summer and it would really suck for her to be jobless.
but then i guess it would suck for anyone to be jobless, huh?

@dwasifar:

Exactly - BoA had an investment bank, and they bought Merrill - there's going to be a huge amount of overlap there, for example.

Risky CDOs like, say... Merrill Lynch's, whom BoA acquired?

Just because they're ok now, doesn't mean they will be ok next year.

and it's simply "reducing redundancies"
when you buy 2 not-so-small companies in the space of a year, you have 3 sets of staff in certain areas, like IT, upper management, and some HR who were over these people...

but the good news is that the low-level employees are relatively safe, since they are the ones who truly "drive" the company (in this metaphor, the Execs are the ones who steer)

@ceejeemcbeegee: Well, yes, you are technically right. But was I'm referring to are the things that sank Bear Stearns, Countrywide, etc. Risky subprimes mainly. BofA avoided them, and came out top dog, along with US Bank and Wells.

@SpruceStreetPhil: Why thank you :D

I think KB is a different situation. They have been in financial trouble for years. Nasty stores, crappy customer service, high prices, and half the selection of Toys R Us. Nobody wanted to shop there, even years ago during economic booms, when they first went bankrupt.

This surprises me, because BofA, along with US Bank, never got involved in any of those risky mortgages. They're among the strongest banks in the US right now, along with Wells Fargo. I get that they're reducing headcount due to acquiring Merril Lynch, but unless the economy is hitting healthy banks now too, I don't understand why this would be happening.