James Worthy
delivers financial
words of wisdom !
BY TEVIN STINSON
THE CHRONICLE
More than 200 business professionals,
elected officials and other members of the
community had a lunch they will never
forget on Wednesday, Sept. 14, as they
enjoyed a meal with basketball legend and
member of the Hall of Fame, James
Worthy, at the Benton Convention Center.
"It's imperative in our community that
we teach our kids early. We have to teach
them about living within your means,"
Worthy said.
A native of Gastonia, Worthy's talents
earned him a scholarship to play for the
UNC Tar Heels. After earning the Most
Outstanding Player award for the NCAA
Final Four in 1982, Worthy was drafted by
the Los Angeles Lakers where he would
go on to have a stellar career, complete
with three NBA championships in 1985,
1987 and 1988. He was also named the
NBA's Most Valuable Player in 1988.
At the time of his retirement in 1994,
Worthy was known as one of the most dec
orated players in NBA history. In 1996 he
was selected as one of the leagues top 50
players of all time, along with other greats
such as Michael Jordan, Magic Johnson,
Wilt Chamberlain and Bill Russell.
Worthy's visit to the city was part of
the Financial Pathways of the Piedmont's
(FPP) annual luncheon designed to raise
funds for the non-profit agency that pro
vides professional consumer education
and comprehensive financial and housing
guidance to all members of the communi
ty
Over the years, FPP has directly helped
more than 10,000 families resolve debt,
learn to budget, and to use credit wisely.
As he stood before the hundreds of
people in attendance to deliver the keynote
address, Worthy applauded FPP for every
thing they do to ensure residents know
how to deal with debt, lost jobs or low
wages, and most importantly, how to save.
He said as a member of the LA. Lakers
coaching staff, he tries to instill the same
lessons into young up and coming talent in
the NBA.
"The NBA needs a program like
Financial Pathways. I hate to see young
kids get a contract and the first thing they
do is buy five Mercedes Benz," continued
Worthy. "They think they're making a mil
lion dollars, but they don't understand that
after taxes that's only about $490,000."
Worthy noted his college coach, the
legendary Dean Smith, understood that
and prepared his players for life after bas
ketball. He said Smith would say all the
time that making it to the NBA was the
easy part, staying there and managing your
finances was the hard part.
"Finances are things that trickle down.
If you are somewhat financially sound and
your credit score is good, you are a health
ier person," said Worthy. "But if you are
struggling a little bit or spending outside
of your means, it's always a challenge.
You get stressed."
Before leaving the stage, Worthy said
when dealing with finances, you have to
listen, learn, understand, and put forth
some effort. He said, "No one expects us
to be tax returners, but we should know
what we want and what our goals are. That
requires a lot of commitment to the philos
ophy," he continued. "When you talk to
your financial adviser, you have to take
time to understand what the play is.
Sometimes listening is the most important
thing."
Using his playing days with the Tar
Heels as an example, Worthy said Smith
was real big on listening. He said when
you listen, you get details, and knowing
the details allows you to put a plan in
motion to reach your goal.
"I didn't understand everything Coach
Smith asked me to do, but I had to commit
to something, even without understand
ing," he said. "That's the same way you
should be when talking with you financial
adviser."
After his address, Worthy took ques
tions from the audience about his playing
career and the current state of professional
basketball. Following the event, Ashley
Rusher, member of the FPP Board of
Directors thanked Worthy for his words of
encouragement.
"We are grateful that Mr. Worthy took
the time to come speak with us today. I
took a lot of things away from his speech
that I will look to implement into my
everyday life."
For more information on Financial
Pathways of the Piedmont or to learn how
to become more financially stable, visit
their website at www.financialpaths.org.
Basketball legend and member of the NBA Hall of Fame James "Big Game"
Worthy delivers the keynote address during the Financial Pathways of the
t tedmont annual luncheon held at the Benton Convention Center.
Procedures used in scandal
not in Winston-Salem,
Wells Fargo managers say
BY CASH MICHAELS
FOR THE CHRONICLE
It is a scandal that takes
the veil off of greedy bank
ing practices that set unsus
pecting customers up for
the fleecing, and now
many are suing.
However, at least one
branch manager assures
that the problem is not in
Winston-Salem, while
another says she works
hard with her team to
deliver straightforward
services to help their cus
tomers.
The Wells Fargo bank
ing scandal is far from
over, even though 5,300
employees - including
bank managers and super
visors - in the community
banking division of one of
the nation's major financial
institutions have been fired
for reportedly setting up
unauthorized sham bank
and credit card accounts in
the name of customers who
had no idea what was hap
pening.
Many of those cus
tomers were subsequently
hit with unexplained insuf
ficient funds fees. A federal
class action lawsuit against
Well Fargo, accusing it of
fraud and reckless behav
ior, was filed last week in
Utah, and hundreds of
thousands of customers are
expected to join it. It could
be the first of many law
suits to come.
The incentive? Earning
sales bonuses and incen
tives for the over 2 million
unauthorized accounts
opened, 565XXX) of them
credit card, just to meet
sales quotas. The practice,
which yielded only a
reported $2.4 million in
fees, allegedly happened
over a five-year period.
North Carolina State
Sen. Paul Lowe (D
Forsyth-District 32) said,
"The Wells Fargo bank
scammed many of its cus
tomers with new accounts
and hidden fees. The bank
was only fined a little less
than $200 million. Further,
the bank also had the privi
lege of not admitting they
were at fault. Poor people,
working people and honest
citizens were hurt by this
egregious action. It would
be interesting to know how
much the bank really made
off of this scam."
Moody's Investors
Service determined that
Wells Fargo encouraged,
"...pervasive inappropriate
practices" and its managers
didn't provide oversight of
employees.
The Chronicle called
five local Wells Fargo
branches Tuesday for com
ment from their head man
agers, in an effort to clear
up any questions our read
ers might have.
Out of the five, which
included the main branch
at North Main Street in
downtown (a spokesperson
there said the branch didn't
have a manager and they
wouldn't be commenting),
two were available to
speak on the record.
One branch manager,
Tamelia Keaton of the 701
N. Martin Luther King
Drive Wells Fargo branch,
was available to speak, and
she assured that despite the
headlines, none of those
5300 fired Wells Fargo
employees worked at her
branch, or even in
Winston-Salem.
"Our customers
shouldn't be concerned,"
Keaton told The Chronicle. )
Here at Wells Fargo, we i
strive to make sure that all
of our customers are taken I
care of financially, and the J
situation that happened, ?
happened in [other areas], i
Those employees that were i
there have already lost ]
their jobs within the- past j
five years this has been
going on. So all of those i
are out of the company
now, so there shouldn't be
a concern because we're
going to make sure that we
take care of you guys
financially."
Keaton reiterated that
none of her branch's cus
tomers were affected by
the scandal because the
phony practice did not take
place in the Winston
Salem market. Nor should
there be any concern about
their local Wells Fargo
bankers "... because they
have relationships with
[them], and they are still
here."
Keaton added that she
has been with the company
for seven years.
Paula Williams is man
ager at two Winston-Salem
Wells Faigo branches, one
at 300 S. Hawthorne Road.
She told The Chronicle that
she's not aware of any
local customers having any
of the problems that have
been reported in the press,
but she's glad to meet with
any who come in and want
to review all of their
accounts "on at case-by
case basis" to ensure that
everything is in order.
"That's our commit
ment to our customers all
of the time," Williams,
who says she's been with
the company for 10 years,
told The Chronicle.
Some critics are saying
given the large number of
Wells Faigo employees ter
minated, there is little
question the problem was
systematic, proving that
this is what happens when
banks become "too big" to
manage and regulate.
Customers eventually find
themselves paying large
fees for services they liter
illy have no control over in
many cases.
Wells Fargo, which is
headquartered in San
Francisco, reportedly
earned over $86 billion in
total revenues in 2015. In
terms of total assets, Wells
Fargo is the nation's third
largest bank.
Because of the scandal,
the company has been
fined $185 million in
penalties by the Consumer
Financial Protection
Bureau and two other
banking regulators, and
will pay $5 million to
affected customers. It
reportedly has been sub
poenaed by U.S.
Attorney's offices in North
Carolina, New York and
San Francisco, indicating
that criminal prosecution
could be forthcoming, if
not civil fraud charges.
Several Democratic
US. senators, led by Sen.
Elizabeth Warren [D
Massachusetts] and Sen.
Sherrod Brown [D-Ohio],
have demanded an investi
gation.
Brown has called this
"a massive fraud."
Warren says, "Wells
Fargo proved that giant
banks still think the rules
don't apply to them. They
think they can cheat their
customers, stuff their pock
ets with money, and still
walk away."
At press time Tuesday,
the Senate Banking
Committee was conducting
a hearing , where Wells
Fargo CEO/Board
Chairman John Stumpf
apologized. The House
Financial Services
Committee is also looking
into the matter.
While Stumpf says
while he's sorry for what
happened, he will not
resign because of it, and
will lead any corrective
action. According to pub
lished reports, the Wells
Fargo senior vice president
in charge of the unit that
allegedly committed the
fraud, will be retiring at the
end of the year, taking with
her a whopping $125 mil
Lion in stock options and
retirement funds.
Published reports indi
cate the Wells Fargo board
of directors could "claw
back" at least $17 million
of that compensation from
unvested stocks.
Richelle Messick, a
spokes person for Wells
Fargo, called The
Chronicle to assure that
any customer impacted by
the scandal has already
been contacted, and
refunded any fees they
were erroneously charged,
generally an average of
$25.00
Messick could not say
whether the scandal
involved any North
Carolina customers or
employees, but asked any
customers who have ques
tions about their accounts
to come into their local
branch for a full review.
TRANSPORTATION RUNNERS SOLICITING
PUBLIC COMMENTS ON PROPOSED
TRANSPORTATION PRIORITIES
Local transportation planners would like citizens to comment on
proposed priority lists for transportation improvements in the
Winston-Salem area. Local ranking of priorities is part of a new
process the state is using for funding transportation projects.
Separate proposed rankings have been created for division highway,
bicycle & pedestrian, transit and aviation projects.
Citizens can review the proposed rankings and
make comments at a drop in session:
Tuesday, September 27,4 p.m. to 7 p.m.
Bryce Stuart Municipal Building,
3rd Floor Conference Room, 100 E. First St.
Citizens unable to attend the drop-in session can revtew the rankings online
at 00T.CityofWS.org. Citizens have until October 19th to submit a comment
Only written comments will be accepted. MaiL e-mail or fax comments to
Fredrick Haith, Planning Development Coordinator
City of Winston-Salem DOT, P.O. to 2511, Winston Salem, NC 27102
E-mail: fredrickh@cityofws.oig, Fax: 336-748-3370
Public notice of public participation activities and time established for
public review of and comments on the TIP will satisfy the program of
projects (POP) requirements.
Any person who believes they have been
aggrieved by an unlawful discriminatory practice
regarding the Winston-Salem Urban Area MPO I ' g
programs has a right to file a formal complaint M
with Frederick Haith,Qty of Wlwton-Salem, Igl
PO. to 2511, Winston-Salem, NC 27102,
within 180 days following the date of the
alleged discrimination occurrence. VVinStDfl'SfllCITI
/ '
The Chronicle (USPS 067-910) was established by Ernest
H. Pitt and Ndubisi Egemonye in 1974 and is published
every Thursday by Winston-Salem Chronicle Publishing
Co. Inc., 617 N. Liberty Street, Winston-Salem, N.C.
27101. Periodicals postage paid at Winston-Salem, N.C.
Annual subscription price is $30.72.
POSTMASTER: Send address changes to:
The Chronicle, P.O. Box 1636
Winston-Salem, NC 27102-1636
v'1 *