Return to Disclosure Online
Double Trouble: NPA Hits Citigroup Over Two Days for
Predatory Lending
Return to Current Issue
Citigroup received a "one-two punch" when hundreds of community leaders descended on the home of a Citgroup board member and the next day infiltrated the offices of Citgroup's top lobbyist during the 30th annual National People's Action Conference.

Eight school buses full of NPA leaders wound their way through wealthy streets lined with mansions and foreign embassies until they reached the front door of Citigroup board member, Ann Dibble Jordan, to demand she set up a meeting with Citigroup top-executive and former Secretary of the Treasury, Robert Rubin.

While Jordan was home, she wouldn't come to the door.

"She knew we were there," said Minister Frankie Freeney of Nobel Neighbors in Chicago, IL. "We will be back and we won't stop until they talk with us."

Jordan sits on two committees for Citigroup, owns $915,000 of Citigroup stock and receives $125,000 a year for sitting on the Citigroup board.

Leaders testified outside Jordan's home to the destructive and discriminatory lending practices engaged in by Citigroup and its sup prime affiliates.

Freeney added that loan sharks and mortgage companies, with Citigroup topping that list, are known for predatory lending practices that "have started foreclosures, with those numbers increasing over the years and have destroyed the communities."

Freeney's second mortgage was through the Associates, which is known as the worst predatory lender in the nation and was bought by Citigroup late last year.

The Secret Service arrived but promised that Jordan would receive a packet of information put together by NPA.

In a letter to Jordan, NPA groups explained that they would not back down.

"Without an agreement, NPA can only expect that Citigroup will continue to target our neighborhoods with predatory home loans and deny most Americans access to affordable, prime-rate loans. As a top corporate official with a history of civic responsibility, we are counting on you to take the first move in addressing Citigroup's irresponsible lending practices and policies," the letter stated.

The next day, the leadership team made it into the offices of Roger Levy, Citigroup's chief lobbyist. The team was able to travel throughout the offices unstopped and leaflet information on Citigroup's predatory lending practices and NPA's demands to stop them.
Return to Top | Return to Current Issue

Last Updated on Wednesday, July 31, 2002 19:42

A.L.L. Solutions, Inc.
Please send questions or comments to info@allsolu.com