BofA's 'George Bailey' Axed

Just in time for the holidays, a worker in Georgia who tried to get the same kind of help for bank customers that banks got from taxpayers has been fired—by Bank of America. Jackie Ramos, 23, fudged information on behalf of clients to help them qualify for credit repayment programs. "I helped people get on programs that they didn't necessarily qualify for but who needed the help," said the real-life version of kindly movie banker George Bailey. "There was something inherently evil about my job," she explains on her You Tube video.

Customers didn't have the income to qualify for repayment plans but were charged 29% interest rates and repeatedly dunned $15 "convenience fees" to make payments on bills they were already struggling to pay. Ramos was fired because she "encouraged customers to misrepresent information," said an official for the bank, which collected $45 billion in federal bailout bucks to pay off creditors.
(More Bank of America stories.)