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Parody site puts Bank of America in your hands

By Laurie Segall @CNNMoneyTech April 20, 2012: 2:57 PM ET

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A page from YourBofA.com asks visitors for their ideas on building a better bank.

NEW YORK (CNNMoney) -- What would Bank of America look like if it were owned by its customers?

YourBofA.com, a parody site launched this week, lets the crowd take a stab at answering that question. Mimicking the real Bank of America site's look, it takes scathing aim at the bank's missteps and invites visitors to share their ideas about what a taxpayer-owned Bank of America should do. Several thousand contributors have already sent in suggestions.

The site's creator is Yes Lab, an organization that helps activist groups launch what it calls "media-getting creative actions."

America's second-largest bank was an obvious target, Yes Lab director Andy Bichlbaum says.

"Bank of America is sort of the low-hanging fruit," Bichlbaum told CNNMoney.

The bank is part of the recent $26 billion settlement with federal and state governments over "robo-signing" and other abusive foreclosure practices. Last year, it struck a deal with the Justice Department and agreed to pay $335 million to settle discriminatory lending charges.

A spokesman from Bank of America emphasized that the YourBofA.com site is not affiliated with the company.

"We have no other comment," he said.

In collaboration with activists from Occupy Wall Street, BreakUpBofA.com, the Rainforest Action Network and others, the Yes Lab crew worked on the site concept over the past three months. It launched Thursday morning, coincidentally coinciding with Bank of America's latest earnings report, during which the bank revealed a $653 million profit in its latest quarter.

Enter the YourBofA.com and you'll be greeted with a fake "Dear Fellow American" letter purportedly from Bank of America CEO Brian Moynihan.

"It's time to acknowledge that our Bank isn't working anymore -- not just for the market, but for people, our real customers," the fake letter declares.

The letter, and other sections of the parody site, suggest that Bank of America's financial fortunes have crumbled so much that it might need taxpayer help to stay afloat -- in which case it really would be a collectively owned "Bank of America."

But that far-fetched scenario is even less likely than it was a few months ago, when Yes Labs began working on its site. YourBofA.com refers to Bank of America (BAC, Fortune 500) stock trading "not far from $5," a level the it hasn't been near since late 2011. The stock rallied and is one of the market's best-performing stocks in 2012.

Bichlbaum shrugged off that quibble. The site's goal is to become a forum for people to trade ideas on how a bank should be run, he said.

"When we bailed them out in 2008, you would think we'd get some say in how they've run, but now they continue behaving how they were, doing the same things that got them into the mess," he said. "Ordinary people have much better ideas about how a bank should be run than bankers do."

Those ideas -- some serious, some satiric -- are pouring in. The site has 185 pages of crowdsourced suggestions so far.

"Let's have greater transparency and accountability in your lending practices," one visitor suggested."Everyone in a tough spot appreciates a cheap loan, but when you make too many bad ones we all suffer."

Another wrote: "I want my bank to not be run by clinical psychopaths."

Bichlbaum says he hasn't heard any feedback from Bank of America -- or its lawyers -- about the site.

Yes Lab has more plans for Bank of America's shareholder meeting, which will take place May 9 in Charlotte, N.C. Bichlbaum wouldn't go into details, but said offline protests are in the works. The Rainforest Action Network, a Yes Lab affiliate, is advertising on its website for attendees at a rally and protest march.

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z2rock, 20 minutes ago

I have acounts at BofA and I like them. But, of course, I pay back my loans. BTY I have never payed an ATM fee or a bounced check fee. Of course I can add and subtract, something our borrow 4 Billion a day president either can't or won't do. Do you know that 4 Billion a day would buy over 4,000 bridges to nowhere every year! And you...

real13man liked this

Redcedar2, 36 minutes ago

The opening picture is a joke. Let grandmas stay in houses they own. If they own the house, no mortgage, BoA or any bank cannot affect the grandmas. If the grandmas have a mortgage, with BoA or other bank, then the grandmas own a portion of the house but have no right to full ownership.

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z2rock and 1 more liked this

z2rock, 29 minutes ago in reply to Redcedar2

I Know. No thinking by the "Journalist".

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1 person liked this.

Guest, 37 minutes ago

When I first went to work in banking back in the late 1970s the banks and savings and loans WERE owned by their customers, that is what the word "mutual" was in many of their names. Then in the early 1980s Congress monkied with the laws put into place during the Depression and now we have the mess we have.

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CriticalThinking77 and 2 more liked this

LevonTostig, 39 minutes ago

Banks should, "let," people stay in homes when they don't pay the mortgage? Really? If you want YOUR bank to do that, by my guest! It would be YOUR money that's being *given* to, "grandma," instead of earning interest. I am not arguing against those of you who agree with this: Please, feel free to slit your own throats. Have at it. Dance in the streets when you...

1 person liked this.

CriticalThinking77, 24 minutes ago in reply to LevonTostig

I see your point, but man, can you make it without being so nasty?

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kenkatzen liked this

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Parody site puts Bank of America in your hands

Join the Conversation (6 comments)

Parody site puts Bank of America in your hands

Join the Conversation (6 comments)

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