Monday, October 3, 2011

Citibank Ripping Off Consumers with Staggering $15 Monthly Debit Card "Extortion" Fee Says Consejo


EAST LOS ANGELES, Calif.Sept. 30, 2011 /PRNewswire/ -- Consejo de Latinos Unidos, a national consumer advocacy group and public charity which educates and assists Latinos and others, slammed Citibank today for imposing a $15.00 flat monthly fee against EZ Checking Debit Card holders beginning November 10th.
"Instead of controlling their greed, Citibank is ripping off consumers with a staggering $15 monthly debit card fee," declared K.B. Forbes, Executive Director of the Consejo de Latinos Unidos. "Citibank has placed a loaded gun on the temple of Citibank consumers demanding they maintain a $6,000 balance or pay $180 a year in extortion fees. In this economy, how many working-class families have $6,000 to cough up to the goons at Citibank?"
Forbes added, "We demand that Citibank immediately and unilaterally reverse this outrageous decision to extort the earnings of hard-working, tax-paying Americans. I call on Citibank's CEO Eugene M. McQuade to immediately end this racket especially since taxpayers bailed out his institution with $20 Billion in TARP funds."
Forbes noted that Citibank operates in key cities with heavy numbers of working-class Latino families, including Los Angeles,MiamiNew YorkChicagoLas Vegas, and the District of Columbia. "We have a Citibank branch just up the street from our headquarters in the heart of East Los Angeles," Forbes added.
Since 2001, the Consejo has published ten investigative reports on hospital price gouging, pharmaceutical company abuses, religious intolerance, and police abuse. The investigative reports and efforts of Consejo de Latinos Unidos have provoked several U.S. congressional probes including hearings by the U.S. House Energy and Commerce Committee and the U.S. Senate Finance Committee.
K.B. Forbes is the founder of the Consejo de Latinos Unidos and has testified or provided documentation to several governmental bodies and agencies including the U.S. House Energy and Commerce Committee, the California Legislature, the Pennsylvania Civil Rights Enforcement Division, the Colorado Civil Rights Commission, the Chicago City Council, and the Florida Legislature.
"We will hold Citibank accountable for their egregious behavior," Forbes vowed.

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