citibank investigated by ftc on HUD/Predatory lending

http://www.counterpunch.org/martens10122009.html Suit was brought forth On March 6, 2001 so the abuses predated it... Wow! Fax dated December 30, 2000: ‘…The manager must personally attempt to sell the loan while the customer is still on the phone if our offer is rejected when the employee pitches it. No call backs. Manager must get on the phone immediately. I expect to see notes from the managers... [more]

http://www.counterpunch.org/martens10122009.html Suit was brought forth On March 6, 2001 so the abuses predated it... Wow! Fax dated December 30, 2000: ‘…The manager must personally attempt to sell the loan while the customer is still on the phone if our offer is rejected when the employee pitches it. No call backs. Manager must get on the phone immediately. I expect to see notes from the managers on the results of their attempt. It makes sense for managers, our best salespeople to pitch the most difficult sales…’ While the Federal Trade Commission was receiving gut-wrenching documentation of predatory lending abuses at a unit of Citigroup, the Federal agency mandated to level the playing field for low income homeowners, the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development, was quietly awarding 19,968 mortgages of homeowners in distress to Citigroup to dispose of as it saw fit. HUD legally became Citigroup’s joint venture partner in at least two of the deals, retaining a minority interest. On March 6, 2001, the FTC brought suit against Citigroup, CitiFinancial Credit Company and two firms it had acquired (Associates First Capital Corporation and Associates Corporation of North America) charging them with engaging in deceptive and illegal lending practices. The FTC had substantive evidence that a culture of incentivizing an aggressive sales force to pile predatory loans onto unsophisticated borrowers was an enshrined business model at Citigroup’s consumer lending unit. [less]