Citibank, Others to Forgive $50 Million in Credit Card Debt to Poor Consumers
June 11th, 2005 at 9:29 pm by Preston Taylor HolmesCitibank, in conjunction with American Express, Bank One and Discover, has agreed to forgive $50 million in credit card debt to poor American consumers who can no longer afford the minimum payments on their credit card bills.
Vice President of Consumer Affairs for Citibank, Joey Joe Joe Jr. Shabadoo, was quick to point out at a press conference earlier this week that consumers shouldn’t be held responsible for decisions they may have made in-between paychecks or under the influence of drugs, alcohol or poor impulse control.
Shabadoo added, “Who are we to make moral judgments on their personal habits or spending preferences? It’s not their fault they spent money on things that they knew they would never be able to afford. Didn’t they deserve those consumer goods? I say yes. With a capital S.”
Predatory lending and persuasive advertising campaigns are also to blame, adds Shabadoo.
“When consumers repeatedly see the same television commercial for the car they’ve always dreamed of, how can you possibly deny them the right to purchase that vehicle, regardless of their income or previous catastrophic financial debt? You can’t. It’s that simple,” said Shabadoo.
“This news has saved my life,” said credit-card victim Jenny Young, who stands to have more than $17,000 in credit card debt forgiven with one stroke of the pen when the agreement is finalized next month.
“Now I can really upgrade this shitty engagement ring my husband bought me when we were paupers – now we’re rich, rich, rich!” Young added.
In a related story, Finance Ministers from the world’s wealthiest nations have agreed to cancel up to $55 BILLION in debt owed by the world’s poorest (read: Sub-Saharan African) nations.
Those countries — many in sub-Saharan Africa — owe about $40 billion to the World Bank, the International Monetary Fund and the African Development Bank.
The G8 ministers also said 20 other countries could be eligible for debt relief if they meet targets for good governance and tackling corruption — bringing the total package to more than $55 billion.
British Finance Minister Gordon Brown called the accord a “new deal” for relations between the rich and the poor countries.
“What we have decided today, conscious of the poverty that we face, is a decision of 100 percent debt cancellation for the poorest countries backed up by greater trade justice, by a doubling of European aid, by a commitment to provide AIDS treatments for people by 2010,” said Brown.
Bono could not be reached for comment – he was busy snorting coke off of some hooker’s rack somewhere in Europe. Now that this historic deal has been reached, the world is on pins and needles, looking to Bob Geldof, hoping that Live Aid II can now be cancelled.
Cross-posted at Conservative Thinking
UPDATE:
Kate at SDA has the best plan for African aid I’ve seen to date. (via the Cotillion)
June 11th, 2005 at 9:55 pm
Citibank, Others to Forgive $50 Million in Credit Card Debt to Poor Consumers
Citibank, in conjunction with American Express, Bank One and Discover, has agreed to forgive $50 million in credit card debt to poor American consumers who can no longer afford the minimum payments on their credit card bills. Vice President of…
June 11th, 2005 at 11:00 pm
all right! i’m SO using my credit card this weekend……
oh, wait. you were just making a point. dammit!
June 12th, 2005 at 12:04 am
You can never satisfy the beast.
Cancelling Ethiopias debt was the best idea, seeing how they treat Christians so well there. What a freakin’ joke.
Blood money does no good.
June 12th, 2005 at 11:12 am
Awesome!! Trip to the Caribbean (NOT Aruba), new car, boat, house…I can’t wait!
“But, I’m a POOR student!” (the previous statement is not untrue)
June 12th, 2005 at 2:04 pm
The Copenhagen Consensus: Throwing Good Money…
The poor, underdeveloped nations of the world present a puzzle for those of us with a conservative bent: how can we balance our desire to spread democratic, free-market principles with our humanitarian instincts to ease suffering of people living on …
June 12th, 2005 at 2:20 pm
You may be a poor student now, but you’ll eventually be one of those evil rich doctors who got rich off the backs of the poor.
June 12th, 2005 at 3:41 pm
On Debt Relief
So the G7 has embraced the proposal to cancel all foreign debt owed to the World Bank and the International Monetary Fund by a select group of 18 mostly African nations. The amount totals some 40 billion dollars immediately, $50…
June 13th, 2005 at 9:09 am
Is this retroactive? I used to be poor and owed Citibank money. But oh geez, I worked hard and bettered myself and paid off what I owed them.
Silly me…I should have known better. If I’d just hung in there eleven more years…