Student Loan Consolidation - Citizens Bank
Imagine my surprise as I was browsing through documents related to the recent flurry of student loan and student loan consolidation scandals when I saw my bank in the list of institutions mentioned in a report by the Senate Health, Education, Labor and Pensions Committee chaired by Senator Edward Kennedy.
Citizens Bank is cited several times for various questionable practices including giving Duquesne University in Pittsburgh $2,900 in 2006. This "marketing fee" is equal to 0.5 percent of outstanding private loans from the campus and violates the law as it gives an educational institution an incentive to recommend the bank for student loans and student loan consolidation.
Continuing to support the argument that Citizens was engaging in unethical and illegal activity there are internal emails discussing the offering of massages, free ice cream, and temporary staffing in order to receive preferential treatment.
There are many other accusations of wrong doings in regard to Citizens Bank but I personally am angry that it is MY bank doing these things that I despise. I am planning a call to the corporate office and my local branches just to let them know how I feel about it.
The student loan and student loan consolidation industry must be regulated. Human beings draw no line in the sand when pursuing the almighty dollar, even when the future of our society is at stake.
