Jackie Ramos was fired from her Bank of America job in Georgia around Thanksgiving, after she helped customers who didn’t qualify for the bank’s account modification programs. Ramos worked as a “customer advocate,” calling credit card customers and either urging them to pay or modifying their accounts to help them out of a jam. According to a video the 23-year-old Ramos uploaded to YouTube, she soon realized, “There was something inherently evil about my job . . . So I stopped denying people, I helped people get on programs that they didn’t necessarily qualify for but who definitely needed the help.” Bank of America fired Ramos for “misrepresenting customer information” and “encourag[ing] customers to misrepresent their information.”
Ramos says she’s not trying to get her old job back, nor does she think BofA is any worse than other credit card companies. She just think the whole system is scandalous, which, of course, it is. “There’s a real credit problem in this country, too many people are complacent,” Ramos says, “Slavery was also legal at one point. . .Now we have 30 percent interest rates, $39 late fees and over-limit fees. I want the laws changed. I want the federal government to protect its people and do what it’s supposed to do.”
To which we say, Amen. Jackie Ramos’ actions remind us of the non-violent acts of civil disobedience used during the civil rights movement. In this writer’s view, Ramos should be considered a national heroine – a regular citizen standing up for other regular Americans against the nasty reaming that’s being carried out these days by the financial industry. Here’s Ramos’ YouTube video.
This article appears in Dec 1-7, 2009.
It’s people like this Frank Griffin who’ killing our society. Your facts are so messed up. If someone’s mortgage is 1000 a month and they make 800, then you don’t just shut the door on them and say no one can help you. The point of the article is that we need people willing to help because so many are in this situation and need assistance in order to take care of their bills. If we left it up to ‘Frank Griffin’, the world would be worse off than it is. No help = no life.
You are the fool you sorry white son of a bitch. I work for a living and know people who need help and can’t always rent, you bastard. Just like a piece of white trash to call a black woman a fool. If I could see you, I would slap your damn white face. You make me sick.
You can’t have her arrested. If you said those things to a woman and she slapped your face, then you deserve it. Just because you are a white republican, doesn’t mean a damn thing. Your rants against John Grooms are useless.