We all know that many in the political arena believe that there are some institutions, manufacturing and financial, that are “too big to fail,” but in the case of some banks (e.g. Bank of America, J. P. Morgan Chase), they may be too big to succeed. I have been hearing stories of seemingly straightforward transactions that are botched or not otherwise completed successfully. Mortgage applications on the west coast that dissappear into a “black hole” in a state more than a thousand miles away with the resultant collapse of the property sales contract (in property transactions timing is everything); refinancing papers that disappear for weeks.
A common thread seems to be a total lack of information (even the local branch managers seem to be unable to check the status of any of these processes) about where the loan or refinancing applicant stands and a total disregard for timely action. For these “too big” banks, it would seem that the only thing that matters is loaning money to each other, not to their depositors. The local branch associates are usually helpful in the initial stages but once the transaction is set up the paperwork moves to a location often far from the point of origin. Since banks susposedly make money by loaning money to other people this seems like a crazy way to do business. Deals that aren’t completed bring no money into the bank’s coffers, but apparantly they feel that they don’t need it (“too big to fail” remember?)
