For Jackie Ramos and Bank of America, two wrongs didn’t make things right

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For Jackie Ramos and Bank of America, two wrongs didn’t make things right

By Lauren | December 10, 2009

The Huffington Post reported this week that Bank of America fired one of its “customer advocates,” Jackie Ramos, for helping customers who were deeply in debt qualify for the bank’s loan modification programs. Why? Because Ms. Ramos reportedly told customers who didn’t qualify for the programs, but desperately needed help managing their debt, to misrepresent their status to Bank of America so they’d be permitted to participate.

Ms. Ramos has since told the world her side of the story on YouTube (note to employers: nothing is confidential these days), describing some of her former employer’s techniques for nickel-and-diming credit cardholders. According to Ms. Ramos, Bank of America has set mind-numbingly high interest rates on some of its cards and imposed double-digit fees for various services, practices that tortured her kind heart. In her video, Ms. Ramo vividly describes the anguish of one particular customer, a 24-year-old widow with cancer, who needed help paying off just $6,000 in debt but couldn’t qualify for any of Bank of America’s programs.

Ouch.

Ms. Ramos’ story demonstrates what happens when companies make inhumane decisions based on short-term goals. As a recipient of TARP money, Bank of America undoubtedly wanted to scrape up capital in a hurry - so it could pay off the TARP loan and resume giving big bonuses to its executives, perhaps? - and jacking up fees and credit card interest rates probably seemed like a great way to do it. The debt management programs that Bank of America offers likely were developed by a committee of executives who failed to consider how people who didn’t qualify for them would get by. And, because Bank of America is absolutely enormous, its mid-level employees probably have little discretion to make exceptions to its policies, even for dying widows. In the long-term, Bank of America will probably lose customers it could have had for decades, and will harden its image as a heartless corporate monolith in the process.

Trouble is, Ms. Ramos really shouldn’t have told customers to lie their way into the bank’s debt restructuring programs. Her compassion is admirable, but her alleged actions gave Bank of America ample reason to fire her. Ultimately, however, Ms. Ramos may have the last laugh. The recession will end someday, and Ms. Ramos will find another job. But people who were denied help by Bank of America when they really needed it won’t forget - and they’ll take their business elsewhere.

To read the Huffington Post article, go to http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2009/12/07/jackie-ramos-bank-of-amer_n_381940.html.

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Topics: Business Ethics, Personal Ethics, business communications, customer relations, ethics |