Bad Debt

In 2022, Goldman Sachs agreed to a $5.1 billion settlement with federal and state governments over its role in the housing crisis. As part of the deal, $1.8 billion was earmarked specifically for homeowner relief. That’s in line with what J.P. Morgan Chase and Bank of America agreed to in their own settlements. But there’s a problem: Goldman Sachs doesn’t originate many loans.

Lenders like Chase and Bank of America can pick up the phone, call their borrowers, and reduce payments or adjust interest rates. That’s simple enough when you already have a book of loans on your balance sheet. Goldman, on the other hand, lacked an inventory of mortgages to modify.

So, what did they do? They went shopping.

The Goldman Strategy

To meet its obligations, Goldman Sachs purchased a majority of loans made available through Fannie Mae’s auction—roughly 8,000 mortgages with unpaid balances totaling $1.4 billion. That debt had to go somewhere, and Goldman saw an opportunity.

By modifying the terms of these loans—offering relief, restructuring debt—they not only satisfy the $1.8 billion relief requirement, but they also set themselves up to profit. Once homeowners are current on their payments, the bank can package and resell those loans to investors.

The best part? They’re buying this bad debt at a discount, anywhere from 50 to 90 cents on the dollar. According to Amherst Capital Management, firms can net an additional 5 to 15 cents of profit per dollar when those loans are flipped. So yes, this was a legal obligation—but also a pretty good investment.

Performance Reviews & Pizza Trackers

Meanwhile, at JP Morgan Chase, the HR department decided traditional performance reviews are outdated. Instead of scrapping them, though, they opted for more of them—all the time.

Enter the 360-Review, a peer-to-peer feedback system mixed with real-time updates. It’s like Yelp, but for your coworkers. Once considered too political or arbitrary for consistent use, peer reviews are making a comeback… not because people missed them, but because they weren’t fast enough.

Blame Amazon. We’re so accustomed to tracking everything—packages, pizza, food orders—that we now want the same constant feedback about ourselves. When Domino’s launched their mobile tracker showing your pizza’s journey from oven to doorstep, we all watched. (Admit it—you watched.)

Chase’s platform works the same way, but for you. Your performance is constantly monitored, rated, and reported. That’s a lot of pressure—especially for the one “making the pizza,” so to speak.

The bank says it’s a millennial thing: “Many workers, especially millennials, crave constant feedback instead of a traditional once-a-year performance review.” Fair enough. But let’s be honest millennials don’t want feedback, they want praise. And those aren’t always the same thing.

As a millennial, I can say this: the real world doesn’t always offer gold stars. Sometimes feedback is silent. And sometimes, it’s just… not great. That’s part of growing up—even in an age of apps and alert

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