Leave it to the slimey financial industry to create new problems for tomorrow. It only proves yet again that the industry needs heavy-handed regulation from Washington. If they are incapable of regulating themselves - and it's obvious that this is the case - then they're going to have to learn to live with whatever government regulators dish out.
Dick McLane of Seattle discovered last week that a Citibank credit card had been opened in his name when his credit-monitoring service notified him of activity on his account. When he pulled his credit report, a new Citibank credit card account was listed.
Citigroup Inc., which bought Macy's credit card accounts in 2005, sent letters to about 3.5 million account holders in early August telling them that their inactive Macy's department store cards would be switched to a general-purpose MasterCard.
Customers had to opt out in order to decline the offer. Those who didn't opt out got a special MasterCard that could be used anywhere, not just at Macy's department stores.
"It's bordering on fraud when they do an opt-out and say, 'You opt out or we'll open an account in your name,' " said McLane, a retiree who worried about how it would affect his credit score. "I'm appalled that somebody, a legitimate company, would do that."
He continued: "If I got the letter, I must have treated it as junk mail and thrown it away."
McLane said he hasn't received his MasterCard in the mail and can't cancel it because he doesn't know the account number.
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