Wells Fargo reports record profits

[Amerigo Vespucci]

Source: CNN Money

NEW YORK (CNNMoney.com) -- Wells Fargo reported record profits of $3.2 billion, the company said Wednesday, nearly doubling the amount of money it made just a year ago.

Despite facing an ongoing recession and rising loan losses, the San Francisco-based bank said its third-quarter results were lifted by strong performances in its mortgage lending business and other divisions.

"Third quarter results again illustrated the company's ability to profitably grow, even through the downward cycle despite elevated credit losses," said Howard Atkins, Wells Fargo's chief financial officer in a statement.

On a per share basis, the company said it earned 57 cents, exceeding Wall Street estimates by 20 cents a share.

Read more: http://money.cnn.com/2009/10/21/news/companies/wells_fargo/?postversion=2009102108

[rucky]

1. I'm so happy for the financial services indusry.

It makes me weepy.

[tomm2thumbs]

2. Do you doubt they are stowing it all away now in the Cayman Islands?

Building up one last nest egg before they pull the rug entirely out from under America and jump ship.

[Autumn]

3. That is so wonderful,

all of that hard work did good. The American Dream.









Fucking thieves.

[Phoebe Loosinhouse]

4. And they just raised my credit card rate by 3%

not due to anything on my part - just because.

[Amerigo Vespucci]

8. Raised mine too...and that was my FAVORITE part of the letter...

"not due to anything on my part - just because."

That's the real remedy for people struggling to pay their bills...charge more, make it tougher to pay, charge late fees, raise the rates again for having late payments...and record record FOURTH quarter profits.

[Arctic Dave]

15. Lucky you, they jacked me by six.

[napi21]

5. Whoopie for them! I would never have an account with them!

Nor any of the other leaches on society!

[CoffeeCat]

6. I don't get this...at all.

I understand "record profits" during a housing boom. We're just coming off a period
in U.S. history--where anyone and everyone could get a mortgage. Banks were giving out
mortgages like candy. Stories about "record profits" would make sense at that time.

But now, several realities exist: Banks are not lending as they once did. There are tighter
restrictions and most of the creative financing is gone. Plus, the general public is playing
it conservative. We're not moving into bigger homes, or even moving at all--due to unemployment
or fear of losing a job.

I seriously don't get how NOW could be "record profits" when we're in the middle of a huge recession--and
when a couple of years ago--we were experiencing a crazy hey-day in the mortgages.

Can anyone explain this? Are they counting the TARP money as profit?

[CatholicEdHead]

14. Pre-Existing Expectations

They are still in the short term mentality to get that 5-10% increase in profits per quarter for Wall Street's short term gain. So to obtain that loftier goal quarter after quarter they need to squeeze as much out of us as they can.

[girl gone mad]

17. Mark-to-fantasy accounting and..

lots of no-interest loans from the Fed did wonders for WFC.

[melm00se]

22. according to the article

one of the biggest positives for Wells Fargo (and for the economy) is that they decreased the amount of cash they had to put aside for loan loss:

Driving that decision were indications that loan losses might soon reach their peak. The company said Wednesday it expected consumer-related loan losses to peak during the first half of next year, while commercial real estate loan losses would crest during the second half of 2010.

[Bluenorthwest]

7. So big profits last year and this year, but in between

there was the threat of utter collapse? For a day? The banks were going to fail, but they made profit each year, without pause?
Thieves.

[corpseratemedia]

9. Personally, I know that Wells Fargo is sending out foreclosure notices

to people who haven't been late on their mortgage payments -long story (probably a way out of negotiating with NACA & mortgage cos. they bought out), but they're going to be nailed in a massive class action lawsuit someday..

democracy stops at the bank, actually it stops at your house, when you shop, essentially, when you live.

[CoffeeCat]

23. How could they foreclose if you aren't late on payments?

This is interesting. How could Wells foreclose on those who aren't late w/payments?

We have our mortgage with them. A standard 30yr fixed.

[corpseratemedia]

24. s/o hasn't been late on payments.

s/o's been negotiating for a little over a year with the lending co. through NACA to renegotiate a mortgage that NACA has found to be predatory. For some reason WF isn't counting some payments made to a lending company that was bought out by WF. They said the payments were supposed to go to another co. now owned by WF. WF also said right before this that they agreed to a couple months lower payment before they renegotiate. Then they said they needed the same documents they constantly ask for and get faxed. What they do is continuously ask for certain documents, then say the documents have not been mailed to the right dept, although that is the dept. they say to mail it to,etc.. s/o called their foreclosure dept. and they said the notarized foreclosure notice from an attorney is not a foreclosure notice. s/o looked online today, nothings been filed. s/o has gone to an attorney. The attorney said they use all kinds of tricks to stall and scare people. That "trick" doesn't sound kosher to me.

there was a thread yesterday on this site about these institutions finding it more profitable to push foreclosure than renegotiate. They know the financial situation of people trying to do this is often dire, so I think they can stall as long as possible and hope the people run out of money.

One weird thing s/o told me is that this "notice" - WF's attorney's fees to send the notice out - will be part of the missed payments charges if s/o did end up not being able to make payments.

[WriteDown]

10. Wells Fargo has always done welll....

They are one of the only ones who stayed away from subprime assets.

[gratuitous]

11. Give me $700 billion

I'll bet I could turn more of a profit than a paltry $3.2 billion. And if not, give me another $700 billion, and I'll try again.

[WriteDown]

12. WF was one of the most vocal against the TARP funds.

They were made to take it.

http://www.reuters.com/article/ousiv/idUSTRE52F64J20090316

http://valueplays.blogspot.com/2008/10/wells-fargo-forced-into-tarp-plan.html

[gratuitous]

13. Oh

In that case, I really don't want a buttload of money, no strings attached.

{Holds open wallet in expectation of money falling out of the sky, unbidden}

[toopers]

16. There were plenty of strings attached . . .

The least of which was interest charges paid back to the treasury (I wonder if that money will be distributed back to the tax payers . . . holding breath . . .). Now you know why the government would not allow the banks to pay back the debt, they were collecting interest on the money that was forced into debt.

[Angry Dragon]

18. The banks

are not recording any loses yet. My understanding is that they are just holding bad notes and do not have to claim them yet against gains.

[skoalyman]

19. didn't they lower there ratings

http://www.lmgtfy.com/?q=well+fargo+rating+lowered

[Dont_Bogart_the_Pretzel]

20. They only did what Exxon/Mobil did a few years ago...

stealing from the poor is the new way to get rich.

[harry_pothead]

21. All the while Americans are facing record unemployment

That said, Wells Fargo does deserve some credit for not delving head first into the financial bubble schemes like B of A and AIG and most of wall street did.