I love stories about regular people standing up to the sleazy practices of corporate America, particularly banks. A recent favorite was the tale of Ann Minch, the California woman who told Bank of America to get fucked after the bank jacked up her BofA credit card interest rate to 30% for no reason other than unbridled greed. Not only did Minch tell the bank she wouldn’t pay off her balance unless it lowered her interest rate, she took her one-woman “debtors’ revolt” to YouTube in September, uploading a video that has been viewed more than 485,000 times and drawn 7,600 comments. The resulting viral buzz pressured BofA to cave and offer Minch a lower interest rate.
Now meet former Bank of America employee Jackie Ramos (video below), who was fired by the bank on Nov. 25 for helping customers who were being gouged by the bank’s policies. As HuffPost’s Arthur Delaney reports:
Ramos, of Fairburn, Ga., worked as a “customer advocate,” which involved calling people who fall behind on credit card payments and either encouraging them to pay or modifying their accounts. But not all customers qualify for modification programs that will help them, and Ramos grew tired of saying no after six months on the job.
“So I stopped denying people,” said Ramos. “I helped people get on programs that they didn’t necessarily qualify for but who definitely needed the help.”
Sort of like what banks did when they were handing out credit cards to high school kids, dogs and others who “didn’t necessarily qualify.” You’d think BofA would have promoted this young woman for taking some initiative instead of terminating her!
On the other hand, an employee who says stuff like this…
“There was something inherently evil about my job.”
…could be a real buzz kill at the office Christmas party.
Watch Jackie’s YouTube video explaining why Bank of America fired her. It’s another inside, personal account spotlighting the soulless, self-serving policies that compel corporations to abuse their customers and prey upon the weak and helpless.
