The Committee for Better Banks

New Campaign Campaigns

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  Citibank: End excessive sales goals

  Excessive sales goals put an intense amount of pressure on team members to sell financial products regardless of whether or not they fit needs of customers. Citigroup shouldn't put their employees in a position where they can't win. When a team member is evaluated based on sales goals rather the financial advice they provide to the their customers, it creates a sales culture that boarders on unethical. Sales at all costs is no way to build trust with our communities and puts unnecessary stress on Citigroup workers. Everyone has unique banking needs, and Citibank employees pride themselves on being able to deliver quality products to individuals and small businesses. But when aggressive sales goals compete with customers' needs, one side always wins. We're calling on Citigroup to immediately review its consumer and commercial banking program and lower excessive sales targets for retail bankers.

  110 of 200 Signatures

  Created by Committee for Better Banks
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  I can't do my job through a video screen

  Recently I found out that Bank of America is replacing real, in-person bank tellers with video screens. These video tellers will spend their days in front of a camera, staring at customers through a screen. The bank plans to pay these workers a lower wage than in-person tellers, with far fewer benefits. Being a bank teller is all about building a personal connection with our customers, something that I couldn’t do through a video screen. Often our customers have complex questions – a local business attempting to pay an overseas vendor, or a mother who needs to wire money to a family member. Some are elderly or speak English as a second language. My coworkers and I care about meeting the needs of our customers, and we deserve to make a decent wage while doing so. I went to work as a teller at Bank of America because I thought it would offer me the opportunities I had not received in other industries, like paid vacation days, sick pay, and a decent wage—things that are critical to me as a student trying to make my way through college. Bank of America tried to do this a few years ago, but scrapped its plans. It was a bad idea then, and it still is today – and we need to convince them of that. The fact is that you can’t downsize hands-on customer service. Bank of America’s future depends on the employees who represent the bank in our communities and meet the needs of customers every day. Photo via Charlotte Business Journal (http://bizj.us/qxg6p/i/1)

  1,062 of 2,000 Signatures

  Created by Committee for Better Banks
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  US Bank: Rehire whistleblower Israel Aranda

  Bank workers, who have worked years in the same bank are finding themselves earning less than when they started. Employees experience constant changes to sales goals, bonus incentives, and benefits, resulting in job insecurity and a loss of wealth. Rather than rewarding employees for collecting money due to the bank, US Bank punishes them for not prolonging the debt payments. This incentive system is bad for workers, bad for customers and ultimately harmful to the company's future. Investing in US employees is not only good business but also huge cost savings technique over the long haul. Rather than feeling disposable and leaving the job, employees feel more ownership over the success of the bank leading to less turnover and subsequent costs associated with training an ever-changing workforce.

  6,388 of 7,000 Signatures

  Created by Marcus Dodson
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  Bank of America: Provide adequate training that keeps jobs and customers safe

  We are Bank of America call center workers. Every day, we help customers with their daily account needs from handling deposits to opening credit card accounts. We are dedicated employees, and value giving our customers the best service possible. However, the bank often does not provide us with training that prepares us to adequately and ethically serve our customers. Much of the training call center employees do receive happens online with no facilitator and no opportunity to ask questions. At work, neither our team leaders nor company’s help desk are able to answer many of our questions that arise. What’s worse: our team leaders and managers are never held accountable when they give us inaccurate information which means that we’re the ones who end up being disciplined and even fired. Team leaders and managers should receive a higher level of training than the associates who report to them, so that they are experts in our policies and procedures. When we take leaves of absence, we’re not given enough time to be trained on new procedures to ensure we’re doing everything according to up-to-date standards. Not only is this frustrating for us as employees, it means that customers won’t get the best possible service. In fact, due to strict performance metrics for employees, we are encouraged to limit our time spent with clients instead of taking the time to answer all of their concerns. We want to be able to do right by our customers and keep our jobs. We have seen too many of our co-workers get fired for making mistakes that adequate training could have prevented. We are asking that independent, federally-guided training be implemented immediately for employees and managers alike. ** UPDATE (from March 2015)! Since we started speaking out about these issues, we’ve seen some improvements to our training. For example, Bank of America introduced a new online banking feature that allows employees to use their mouse to guide their client and navigate them through the online system. But we still need more improvements. Specifically, we would like to see more and up-to-date training on credit cards (that takes into account federal regulations and training); better online banking training; and diligent training and cross training of managers to ensure that they are fully prepared to assist us in handling any difficult situations that arise. We need this to be consistent and up to date so that it reflects the needs of customers and accountability of the bank.

  4,427 of 5,000 Signatures

  Created by Rhode Island Committee for Better Banks
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  Wells Fargo: End the Obsession with Sales Goals

  The LA Times recently reported that roughly 30 Wells Fargo branch employees in the L.A. area tried to meet sales goals by opening accounts that were never used. Lying and cheating should never be tolerated in the workplace -- especially at a financial institution. But the situation also suggests that Wells Fargo take stock of its community banking program and the sales goals employees are pressured to meet each week. According to the Times, the pressure to meet sales goals can be intense. Managers have required sales agents to stay late and call their friends and family members to open accounts in order to meet sales objectives. Sales at all costs is no way to build trust with our communities. Everyone has unique banking needs, and Wells Fargo employees pride themselves on being able to deliver quality products to individuals and community businesses. But when aggressive sales goals compete with customers' needs, one side always wins. We're calling on Wells Fargo to immediately review its community banking program and lower excessive sales targets for team members. Photo credit: http://bit.ly/16vf2lK

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  Created by Khalid Taha
• CHASE BANK UNFAIR PAY METHODS

  IT IS VERY DEGRADING TO A TELLER THAT HAS BEEN WITH THE BANK FOR ALONG TIME TO FIND OUT THAT THE NEW TELLERS WITH NO EXPERIENCE ARE BEING PAID MORE MONEY. IT IS HUMILIATING AND HARD TO STAND NEXT TO THE NEW PERSON AND HAVE A GREAT ATTITUDE. YOUR BASICALLY TELLING ME THAT ALL MY YEARS OF HARD WORK MEAN NOTHING. VERY DEPRESSING.

  4 of 100 Signatures

  Created by PATRICIA WALDMAN
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  PNC: Don't Force Employees onto High Deductible Health Plans

  PNC Bank plans to force its 56,000 employees onto high-deductible health insurance plans starting on January 1, 2014. (Source: http://triblive.com/business/headlines/4556664-74/plans-health-deductible#axzz2coL27Yib) The average high-deductible plan requires you to pay up to $2,000 out-of-pocket before insurance coverage kicks in. For a PNC bank teller earning $9-11 an hour, those costs make medical care entirely unaffordable. How many PNC employees will forgo medical care because they can't afford it? These changes to employee health coverage will have a real impact on your employees' lives. It's for that reason we're calling on you to reconsider. It’s no secret that banks made record profits in 2012. The banking industry raked in $40 billion in the first few months of 2012 alone. PNC Bank is strong and its balance sheets proves it. PNC employees have helped the bank increase the number of customers, expand commercial and consumer lending, and grow deposits to $212 billion. Last year, PNC profits were 47% higher than that same period in 2011. Why, then, is the bank punishing employees by slashing health coverage? Employees have helped PNC Bank grow to be the 7th largest bank in America. They deserve health insurance they can depend on. These changes could make health insurance for some of your employees largely unaffordable. As employees, customers, and concerned citizens, we're calling on PNC Bank to treat its employees better. Give your tellers, sales associates, supervisors and other staff health care coverage options they can count on. Creative Commons photo credit: http://www.flickr.com/people/blaineo/

  560 of 600 Signatures

  Created by brigid flaherty