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31 May

TIME FOR BANKS TO BE HELD ACCOUNTABLE

General

Posted by: Tracy Luciani Price

An article in The Financial Post Saturday May 28th entitled, “THE FIXERS”, referred to the manipulation of the gold market worth trillions of dollars per year where bankers collude and conspire to manipulate the price of gold stock before they place buy and sell orders designed to maximize profit. Folks, we need to wake up and understand that as Canadians we need to stop living up to our stereotype as mild mannered, polite, law abiding, and naïve citizens who continue to put trust in our banks. We are the envy of much of the world, but more and more we get the short end of the stick. We are being taken advantage of in almost every way by our big powerful, self serving banks who too many of us continue to put on a pedestal and with blind faith continue to believe that they are good and to be respected.

Banks Profits Continue to Increase, Canadians Continue to Struggle

Let’s face it. The banks represent an ‘oligopoly’ which by definition is a small group with like interests who band together for maximum results. Canadians are being taken advantage of to the nth degree as the banks have acquired a permanent hunger for ever increasing – record setting – profits, year after year.  This is true with investing, lending and banking in general. It has gone too far and nothing is being done about it. Our federal government has no resolve in this matter.

What Can We Canadians Do to Help Our Financial Well-Being?

It would appear that class action lawsuits are the only thing that can work as a tool to force the banks to behave more responsibly and within limits that are just and fair. Three areas that should be brought to action by us Canadians and that will make a large impact to our financial well-being are: ‘Collateral Mortgages’ which we continue to warn about; ‘Mortgage Penalties’ which have become unconscionable; and ‘Life Insurance’ which is little more than a scam, all these are documented by CBC Marketplace. It takes awareness and anger for that matter, to muster up the energy to look for a resolution. Unfortunately, at times the only resolution is a class action lawsuit, and it all starts with a petition against such wrongdoing.

Having published articles weekly now for almost 12 years, we have taken on the role of consumer advocate. We are doing our best to expose and bring awareness to ‘the people’ about bank practices which we have witnessed the troubles encountered first-hand dealing with our clients. But it is not enough. The injustices we are seeing must be stopped and made right going forward for us Canadians so that we can rest assured that our hard earned dollar does not continue to be eroded by usurious fees and non-transparent banking practices.