Filed under: Internet, Scandals, Citigroup Inc. (C)
In June, I wrote a nice rant about credit card offers I was receiving with the words “Remove contents before you discard.” I thought, and others agreed, that the offer implied that I needed to open the envelope to avoid the risk of identity theft.
Now Citibank is attracting controversy by mailing 3.5 million credit cards to department store customers who didn’t ask for them. The cards are being sent to customers who who have had inactive accounts for more than two years.
According to CNN, “A federal law dictates that banks can issue credit cards only when customers request them or they replace existing cards. Citi considers the cards replacements to the Macy’s cards already accepted by the customers.”
Calling new cards sent to customers have been inactive for two years seems pretty aggressive, and consumer advocates have expressed concern that the personal information of customers could be breached.
Citi is playing pretty fast and loose with the law here. Customers shouldn’t receive credit cards in the mail that they didn’t ask for and don’t want — and that is exactly what is happening here.
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