Last Friday, Bluestem posted Walz on JPMorgan: "weakest testimony I've ever heard in this committee," relating an episode that occurred during House Veterans Affairs Committee hearings about the giant banking concerns' treatment of military customers.
The bad publicity in the national arena that BSP's post reflected must have threatened to get to the firm's bottomline. Or maybe the bank executive just went through the same experience that friends felt after they were dressed down by Walz when he was their First Sergeant.
Today, the banking corporation issued this release: JPMorgan Chase Announces New Programs for Military and Veterans:
Commits to lower SCRA rate and increasing modifications, jobs, training, and home ownership assistance for military and veterans
“The programs we are announcing today are a start, but in no way a finish," said Jamie Dimon, Chairman and CEO of JPMorgan Chase. “This company has a great history of honoring military and veterans, and the mistakes we made on military foreclosures are a painful aberration on that track record. We deeply apologize to our military customers and their families for these mistakes. We cannot undo them, but we can take accountability for them, fix them and learn from them. Today we want to begin a new way forward with the military and veteran community to make serving them a core part of how we operate our business every day. Our servicemen and servicewomen deserve nothing less.”
Today, Congressman Tim Walz released the below statement following JPMorgan Chase’s announcement that they will enhance programs for military and veteran customers.This announcement comes after a hearing in the House Veterans Affairs last week where Walz fiercely criticized the financial institution for overcharging service members and accidentally foreclosing on their homes, some of them while deployed.“I am pleased JPMorgan Chase is taking responsibility for their actions and is working to improve their services for both service members and veterans. If they can issue a 65-page, complicated credit card statement, I am confident they can figure out how to adhere to the letter and the spirit of the law designed to protect the brave men and women who serve our nation in uniform. I am glad the VA Committee addressed this wrongdoing last week and I want JPMorgan Chase to know that I am committed to continuing that vigorous oversight for our veterans as these programs are implemented.”In last week’s hearing, JPMorgan Chase claimed difficulty reading and understanding deployment orders as part of the reason soldiers had been wronged by their institution. Rep. Walz pulled up a JPMorgan Chase credit card agreement over 60 pages long on his iPad and stated that was the weakest excuse he had ever heard in his four years on the VA Committee.Walz served in the National Guard for 24 years, retiring as a Command Sergeant Major. He is the highest ranking enlisted soldier to ever serve in Congress.
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