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U.S. Office of the Comptroller of the Currency (OCC)


Self Description

April 2004: "The Office of the Comptroller of the Currency (OCC) charters, regulates, and supervises all national banks. It also supervises the federal branches and agencies of foreign banks. Headquartered in Washington, D.C., the OCC has six district offices plus an office in London to supervise the international activities of national banks.

The OCC was established in 1863 as a bureau of the U.S. Department of the Treasury. The OCC is headed by the Comptroller, who is appointed by the President, with the advice and consent of the Senate, for a five-year term. The Comptroller also serves as a director of the Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation (FDIC) and a director of the Neighborhood Reinvestment Corporation."

http://www.occ.treas.gov/aboutocc.htm

Third-Party Descriptions

January 2013: 'What's most amazing about this isn't that Citi got so much money, but that government-endorsed, fraudulent health ratings magically became part of its bailout. The chief financial regulators – the Fed, the FDIC and the Office of the Comptroller of the Currency – use a ratings system called CAMELS to measure the fitness of institutions. CAMELS stands for Capital, Assets, Management, Earnings, Liquidity and Sensitivity to risk, and it rates firms from one to five, with one being the best and five the crappiest. In the heat of the crisis, just as Citi was receiving the second of what would turn out to be three massive federal bailouts, the bank inexplicably enjoyed a three rating – the financial equivalent of a passing grade. In her book, Bull by the Horns, then-FDIC chief Sheila Bair recounts expressing astonishment to OCC head John Dugan as to why "Citi rated as a CAMELS 3 when it was on the brink of failure." Dugan essentially answered that "since the government planned on bailing Citi out, the OCC did not plan to change its supervisory rating." Similarly, the FDIC ended up granting a "systemic risk exception" to Citi, allowing it access to FDIC-bailout help even though the agency knew the bank was on the verge of collapse.'

http://www.rollingstone.com/politics/news/secret-and-lies-of-the-bailout-20130104

July 2012: "Capital One (COF, Fortune 500) will also pay the Office of the Comptroller of the Currency a $35 million penalty and refund an additional $10 million to customers for failing to put progams in place that would prevent unfair and deceptive practices in place and for unfair billing practices. The two actions combined bring the bank's total payout to $210 million."

http://money.cnn.com/2012/07/18/pf/capital-one-refund/index.htm

November 2008: 'Concerns about the product were first raised in late 2005 by another federal regulator, the Office of the Comptroller of the Currency. The agency pushed other regulators to issue a joint proposal that lenders should make sure borrowers could afford their full monthly payments. "Too many consumers have been attracted to products by the seductive prospect of low minimum payments that delay the day of reckoning," Comptroller of the Currency John C. Dugan said in a speech advocating the proposal.'

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2008/11/22/AR2008112202213.html

March 2005: The Office of the Comptroller of the Currency (OCC) recently issued residential real estate lending standards to prevent national banks from being involved in abusive, unfair or deceptive residential mortgage lending practices.

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2005/03/24/AR2005032402982.html

September 2005: The Office of the Comptroller of the Currency issued a broad rule in 2004 determining that state law protecting consumers from abusive lenders was preempted by the National Bank Act. It also eliminated the authority of state attorneys general to enforce state laws over national banks and their subsidiaries, such as mortgage companies.

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2005/09/26/AR2005092602022.html

Relationships

RoleNameTypeLast Updated
Owned by (partial or full, past or present) Treasury Department/Department of the Treasury Organization Sep 24, 2004
Organization Head/Leader (past or present) Charles A. Bowsher Person Aug 29, 2006
Employee/Freelancer/Contractor (past or present) Sen. Roland W. Burris Esq. Person Jan 20, 2009
Organization Head/Leader (past or present) John C. Dugan Person Nov 26, 2008
Organization Head/Leader (past or present) John D. Hawke Jr. Person Sep 24, 2004

Articles and Resources

Date Fairness.com Resource Read it at:
Jan 04, 2013 Secret and Lies of the Bailout:The federal rescue of Wall Street didn’t fix the economy – it created a permanent bailout state based on a Ponzi-like confidence scheme. And the worst may be yet to come

QUOTE: Not only did [the 2009 banking system bailout--Ed.] prevent another Great Depression, we've been told, but the money has all been paid back, and the government even made a profit. No harm, no foul – right? Wrong. It was all a lie – one of the biggest and most elaborate falsehoods ever sold to the American people. We were told that the taxpayer was stepping in – only temporarily, mind you – to prop up the economy and save the world from financial catastrophe. What we actually ended up doing was the exact opposite: committing American taxpayers to permanent, blind support of an ungovernable, unregulatable, hyperconcentrated new financial system that exacerbates the greed and inequality that caused the crash, and forces Wall Street banks like Goldman Sachs and Citigroup to increase risk rather than reduce it. The result is one of those deals where one wrong decision early on blossoms into a lush nightmare of unintended consequences.

 Rolling Stone
Jul 18, 2012 Capital One to pay $210 million in fines, consumer refunds

QUOTE: Cardholders who enrolled in a payment protection or credit monitoring product -- or who tried to cancel one of these products but were persuaded by a call center representative to keep it -- on or after August 1, 2010, will be refunded the money they paid for the product, as well as any finance charges, over-the-limit fees or interest paid....The latest action marks the first enforcement for the bureau since it began regulating credit cards, mortgages and consumer reporting agencies as part of the Dodd-Frank regulatory reform last year.

 CNN/Money Magazine
May 09, 2010 Banks Lobbying Against Derivatives Trading Ban

QUOTE: Democrats surprised the industry by adding the “push-out” provision in mid-April, transforming the final rounds of an epic prize fight. The industry has been forced to set aside the issues that were its greatest concerns, including its opposition to a requirement that almost all derivatives trades be recorded on public exchanges.

 New York Times
Apr 03, 2010 How Washington Abetted the Bank Job

QUOTE: Mr. Bernanke said the Fed had known nothing about this....The collapse of Enron back in 2001 revealed that the biggest financial institutions, here and abroad, were busy creating products whose sole purpose was to help companies magically transform their debt into capital or revenue.

 New York Times
Aug 11, 2009 Bankruptcy Judges, Justice Dept. Rip Mortgage Companies

QUOTE: Judges have found that major mortgages servicers regularly mess up basic accounting, improperly credit payments and charge unwarranted fees.
Nov 23, 2008 Banking Regulator Played Advocate Over Enforcer: Agency Let Lenders Grow Out of Control, Then Fail

QUOTE: When Countrywide Financial felt pressured by federal agencies charged with overseeing it, executives at the giant mortgage lender simply switched regulators in the spring of 2007. The benefits were clear: Countrywide's new regulator, the Office of Thrift Supervision, promised more flexible oversight of issues related to the bank's mortgage lending. For OTS, which depends on fees paid by banks it regulates and competes with other regulators to land the largest financial firms, Countrywide was a lucrative catch. But OTS was not an effective regulator.

 Washington Post
Jun 01, 2007 Investors looking for high yields should use caution

QUOTE: If you come across a financial or banklike offer that piques your interest but also makes you wonder even a little bit if it's legitimate, Stevenson urges you to contact your state banking supervisor or federal regulators before sending money.

 Bankrate.com
Mar 21, 2007 Lender won't cancel hazard insurance

QUOTE: Once you've established that you do in fact have duplicative coverage, and that you didn't agree to purchase the coverage arranged by the lender, you're ready to start complaining.

 Bankrate.com
Jul 20, 2006 Dueling views on home lending discrimination

QUOTE: when it comes to most types of high-priced home loans...black and Hispanic borrowers were more than 30 percent more likely to receive expensive subprime home loans than their white peers with similar finances.

 Bankrate.com
Sep 27, 2005 Agencies' Rules Quietly Enable Tort Reform

QUOTE: Embedded in proposed federal regulations are provisions that would preempt lawsuits the Bush administration says conflict with federal standards... "The fact that manufacturers and drug companies want unconstitutional protection is nothing new," Suggs said. "The fact that this administration is complicit with it is a new development and a scary one."

 Washington Post
May 03, 2005 Good news, bad news: credit card minimum payments doubling

QUOTE: "People are now in a revolving debt cycle that they'll never escape," says Adam Brauer, a debtor advocate....regulators with the Office of the Comptroller of the Currency began pressuring credit card companies to hike up minimum payments.

 Bankrate.com
Mar 05, 2005 Government Issues Rules to Protect Borrowers From Predatory Practices

QUOTE: The Office of the Comptroller of the Currency (OCC) recently issued residential real estate lending standards to prevent national banks from being involved in abusive, unfair or deceptive residential mortgage lending practices.

 Washington Post
Sep 23, 2004 Feds Warn Banks About Credit Card Practices: "Repricing" of Accounts, Unrealistic Promises, Short-Term Promotional Rates

QUOTE: "The OCC expects that customers be given adequate information and fair choices in the selection of credit products,"...

 ConsumerAffairs.com
Jul 15, 2004 Riggs Bank Hid Assets Of Pinochet, Report Says: Senate Probe Cites Former U.S. Examiner

QUOTE: Riggs Bank courted business from former Chilean dictator Augusto Pinochet and helped him hide millions of dollars in assets from international prosecutors while he was under house arrest in Britain...the bank attempted to use offshore and other accounts that were misleadingly named to obscure their connection to Pinochet.

 Washington Post
Mar 13, 2004 Lenders Peddle Protection, at A Hefty Profit: Debt Coverage Unregulated And Pricey for Consumers

QUOTE: ...Borrowers Protection Plan -- or Account Guard or Credit Protector, among other names....consumer advocates and some state regulators say the products offer little protection.

 Washington Post