OpenGov - Open Government Brainstorm

Why Is This Idea Important?: Why we need it - Now that the banks have borrowed huge amounts of money, we, the American people, are among the largest shareholders in the industry. Though they would not want to acknowledge it, we, the American people, have every right to the accountability not previously given. This accountability is not just in dollars and cents but also in fair banking practices. Banks that do well with the trust and finances of the American people deserve our continued business. Those who continue to abuse, extort, and mismanage to the benefit of a selected few need to be held accountable. The American people are not only the major shareholders through the influx of the bailout money, but, twice over, through the deposits we make and interest paid that fund the loans and services they provide. Whereas, once they borrowed from the foreign governments and have avoided accountability they now are twice over a debtor to the American people. This idea is consistent with the government’s goal to provide transparency with the funds and budget spending. It’s our money and we should have the ability to know whom we are dealing with from the customer’s perspective. Personal experience - I was 30 days late on a $20 line of credit payment and WAMU/Chase attempted to start foreclosure proceeding on my home and when I paid the amount they erroneously reported that I was late on my mortgage payment. This has lowered my credit score by over 100 points. There is now a red flag on my credit report that prevents me from refinancing the property with any other lender. All over $20! I have contacted Chase many times to get this resolved and have spent six weeks and hours being routed through their push button system only to be eventually cut off. When I have been able to reach a real person they have run through their scripted speech only to be told no. It took me four requests to even get an address to file a written complaint. I’m sure they actually have very few or only a percentage of complaints on file because they don’t want to provide their address or phone numbers so that any follow up can be done. All over $20! In contrast I have banked with Sterling Savings for many years and they have always been helpful, fair, and friendly. When a situation has come up they are more than helpful in finding a resolution. Highly recommended. Summary – The website should contain a list of banks and the opportunity to vote on either good service or unsatisfactory. It would also need to have a way to add a bank not listed. A comments section would allow consumers to provide more information if desired. Right now the banks and other businesses have the ability to know almost everything about us through the credit report. It’s time we had a place to have a report on their service. If this idea is not implemented I plan to start a blog to accomplish purpose but believe the impact would be much greater if done in conjunction with the Open Government site. Thank you for your review of the idea.