Citigroup Must Use A Chase Visa To Pay Their $7B Fine

As it turns out, things can get worse for Citigroup.

After the government handed down a massive $7 billion dollar fine to settle a federal investigation into the mortgage securities the bank sold in the days before such securities melted down the U.S. economy, they decided that injury just wasn’t enough—and that a little insult was also merited.

Therefore, the already embattled bank has had to admit that to pay off its debt, it will have to use a Chase Visa card.

Citigroup tried valiantly to avoid being forced to use a competitor’s card to pay out the settlement, and offered to admit to an even wider swath of wrongdoing, in return for an expanded line of credit and a better interest rate on its own Citi Visa card.

The federal government’s response?  A loud and resounding no.

“We have no interest in listening to what other egregious wrongdoing that Citigroup may or may not have participated in,” Attorney General Eric H. Holder Jr. said in a statement, reports the NY Daily News Metro. “What matters to us is that with this settlement, we are sending a clear message that no bank is above having to buy itself out of trouble with another bank’s credit card.”

The ruling sets the state for the DoJ’s currently on hold negotiations with Bank Of America.

“I think the Citigroup agreement sent a message to all the banks,” said Bank of America’s chief executive, Brian T. Moynihan, reports the source. “And that is, if you are a bank, you are only as good as your credit.”

“What’s Hot” is aggregated content. PYMNTS.com claims no responsibility for the accuracy of the content published by the original source.