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This may be old news by Internet standards, but I continue to be quite annoyed by Citigroup's behavior, and not entirely for second-hand reasons:
As the housing market began its collapse, Wall Street firms and sophisticated investors searched for ways to profit. Some of them found an easy method: Stuff a portfolio with risky mortgage-related investments, sell it to unsuspecting customers and bet against it.
Citigroup Wednesday agreed to pay $285 million to settle a civil complaint by the Securities and Exchange Commission that it had defrauded investors who bought just such a deal. The transaction involved a $1 billion portfolio of mortgage-related investments, many of which were handpicked for the portfolio by Citigroup without telling investors of its role or that it had made bets that the investments would fall in value.
Granted, my reasons for disliking Citigroup are unrelated to their aforementioned efforts at bilking investors, but it definitely relates to their greed: when I was in debt consolidation roughly 5 to 9 years ago, I had to dispose of credit card debt I ran up as a result of a lack of steady work (sound familiar?) and some typically American dumb ideas about how that debt wouldn't affect me when I eventually paid it back.
Four out of five of my creditors seemed completely okay with the consolidation agreement and monthly amounts they'd be getting as a result. All except one, of course.
Citigroup/Citibank reneged in a matter of months and then insisted on calling me personally about how they needed more money even though my consolidation agreement expressly forbid them from doing so. All they got for their efforts was a quick hangup when they got my answering machine. The people they were supposed to contact was my consolidation agency in New Jersey, and the only way they were informed was when I emailed them about the phone calls. Apparently, the geniuses at Citibank made no effort to contact them at all before then.
The stupidest element of this story is that out of all the people I owed money to, I owed Citibank the lowest amount. As a result of their highly effective efforts to piss me off, they were the last creditor to get paid off in 2006. Even though I thought I had succeeded in closing the Citibank debt down to the last cent, an unpleasant surprise arrived in the mail when I was about to head off to Reactor that year; namely, a bill for less than $2 for accrued interest even though my consolidation agency stated I had closed all accounts!
And bank CEOs continue to have the audacity to wonder why people hate them so much.
As the housing market began its collapse, Wall Street firms and sophisticated investors searched for ways to profit. Some of them found an easy method: Stuff a portfolio with risky mortgage-related investments, sell it to unsuspecting customers and bet against it.
Citigroup Wednesday agreed to pay $285 million to settle a civil complaint by the Securities and Exchange Commission that it had defrauded investors who bought just such a deal. The transaction involved a $1 billion portfolio of mortgage-related investments, many of which were handpicked for the portfolio by Citigroup without telling investors of its role or that it had made bets that the investments would fall in value.
Granted, my reasons for disliking Citigroup are unrelated to their aforementioned efforts at bilking investors, but it definitely relates to their greed: when I was in debt consolidation roughly 5 to 9 years ago, I had to dispose of credit card debt I ran up as a result of a lack of steady work (sound familiar?) and some typically American dumb ideas about how that debt wouldn't affect me when I eventually paid it back.
Four out of five of my creditors seemed completely okay with the consolidation agreement and monthly amounts they'd be getting as a result. All except one, of course.
Citigroup/Citibank reneged in a matter of months and then insisted on calling me personally about how they needed more money even though my consolidation agreement expressly forbid them from doing so. All they got for their efforts was a quick hangup when they got my answering machine. The people they were supposed to contact was my consolidation agency in New Jersey, and the only way they were informed was when I emailed them about the phone calls. Apparently, the geniuses at Citibank made no effort to contact them at all before then.
The stupidest element of this story is that out of all the people I owed money to, I owed Citibank the lowest amount. As a result of their highly effective efforts to piss me off, they were the last creditor to get paid off in 2006. Even though I thought I had succeeded in closing the Citibank debt down to the last cent, an unpleasant surprise arrived in the mail when I was about to head off to Reactor that year; namely, a bill for less than $2 for accrued interest even though my consolidation agency stated I had closed all accounts!
And bank CEOs continue to have the audacity to wonder why people hate them so much.
