BofA CEO Gets $9M Bonus-You Get $5 ATM Fee

Bank of America CEO Brian Moynihan will receive a $9 million all-stock bonus for his work in 2010, the bank said in a securities filing Monday.

In addition, Tom Montag, head of the bank's trading and markets business on Wall Street, will receive $14.3 million in a stock bonus. Joe Price, head of consumer banking, and Chuck Noski, BofA's CFO, will both receive $4.8 million in stock bonuses. The three other executives each received $900,000 cash bonuses.

Top executives also will see a raise in 2011- Noski, Price and Montag will all see a $50,000 raise in annual base salary, taking their base pay to $850,000 annually.

The awards follow a difficult year for BofA, including a number of mortgage-related lawsuits and write-downs tied to a less profitable debit-card business and bad mortgage securities. BofA lost $3.2 billion for the year, saw its stock price dip 11% and maintain its measly one-cent per share quarterly dividend.

When we screw up or perform badly, we get fired. When corporate suits screw up, they get millions of dollars.

The bonuses are sure to raise some concerns that the bank rewarded top brass despite a poor performance. But the bank's board of directors in the filing said the pay reflects "a unique and critical transition year for the company." (Corporate speak for "bullshit")

And the bank says the full value of the awards are tied to future performance and stock price. "All of the year-end compensation was deferred and tied to some measure of stockholder value," said spokesman Bob Stickler, according to an article in The New York Times.

And when the stock shares are sold after a year, the rich BofA execs pay a lesser income tax rate (capital gains) that their minimum-wage bank tellers do.

While the Bank of America executives get bonuses, you get boned with a $5 ATM fee.

(Click photo below to enlarge and print as a flier to leave under windshield wipers in parking lots.)

ABC News heard that 135,000 Change.Org members signed Molly Katchpole's petition against Bank of America's new $5 monthly fee to use a debit card. So the network tracked down CEO Brian Moynihan and forced him to respond to the petition.

The CEO was flustered and couldn't give a coherent explanation -- an embarrassing moment on national TV for the big bank (and the second night in a row that Molly's petition was a featured story on the newscast).

Bank of America is feeling the pressure from Change.Org members. As more people speak out, Bank of America will be forced to cancel its new fee -- and other banks will be too scared to create their own new fees. Although Citigroup is charging for low-balance checking (rich people don't get charged for checking, just poor people do).

Add your name to Molly's petition demanding Bank of America cancel its new $5 debit card fee. While you're signing, check out the amazing video from ABC News. It's inspiring to see one person's petition can make a bank CEO squirm on TV! Watch it here and sign the petition. Thanks.