Class Action Alleges Citibank Intentionally Discriminates Against Consumers of Armenian Descent

New to ClassAction.org? Read our Newswire Disclaimer

A proposed class action alleges Citibank N.A. and parent company Citigroup, Inc. have intentionally and unlawfully discriminated against people of Armenian descent for nearly a decade.

Want to stay in the loop on class actions that matter to you? Sign up for ClassAction.org’s free weekly newsletter here.

According to the 23-page case, Citibank maintained a corporate-wide policy that subjected Armenian Americans to adverse banking actions “without any explanation or justification,” including refusing them credit, closing bank accounts, refusing credit lines and mortgages, lowering lines of credit and credit limits, blocking accounts and denying access to banking records.

The lawsuit alleges that Citibank’s actions were based solely on stereotype-driven prejudices derived from these individuals’ race, religion, ancestry, citizenship and/or immigration status that left many feeling like common criminals.

Per the complaint, the defendants carried out their discriminatory practice by targeting the credit and banking accounts of individuals with last names ending in “ian” or “yan”—the most frequently used suffixes in Armenian surnames.

The plaintiffs, two Armenian Americans residing in California, say they were long-term Citibank customers before the defendants inexplicably closed their checking and credit accounts in 2022 without prior notice.

“When [the defendants] restricted or closed these accounts, they fabricated the reasons behind the acts, then blocked account holders like the plaintiffs from access to their banking records,” the filing claims.

The lawsuit stresses that Citibank’s “reprehensible, despicable, and deplorable” pattern of discrimination against individuals of Armenian descent has led to “financial carnage” stemming from the sudden loss of accounts, damage to credit scores, missed automatic payments, lost automatic deposits, lost rewards points and forced refinancing. Victims of the defendants’ discriminatory practices have also been forced to spend hours “scrambling to mitigate the damage from suddenly having their accounts closed,” the suit says.

On top of these financial repercussions, the plaintiffs and other Armenian Americans were left “shocked, embarrassed and humiliated after being refused credit they clearly qualified for,” the complaint stresses.

The defendants’ misconduct was made public on November 8, 2023, when the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau (CFPB) ordered Citibank to pay $25.9 million for “intentionally and illegally” discriminating against credit card applicants it suspected to be of Armenian descent primarily based on their surnames, the case relays.

The CFPB found that Citibank denied credit to consumers of Armenian descent, stereotyping them as “criminals who were more likely to engage in fraud” and then fabricating documents or lying about the basis of denial to cover up their illegal activity, the suit relays.

“Worse yet, [the plaintiffs], who were told by [the defendants] that they would still have access to their banking records for 24 months after the closure of their accounts were instead permanently locked out of their accounts immediately as a further means to cover up [the defendants’] crimes,” the case contends.

The lawsuit looks to represent anyone of Armenian descent or ethnicity who is also a current or former Citibank credit card, checking account, mortgage account or line of credit account holder whose account was restricted or closed by the bank since 2015, or whose credit application was denied or credit limits reduced.

Get class action lawsuit news sent to your inbox – sign up for ClassAction.org’s free weekly newsletter here.