Citibank Makes Huge Mistake with People's Social Security Numbers

Citibank has a made a huge mistake with people's social security numbers which hopefully will not get them in trouble. By mistake they sent out over 600,000 pieces of mail with the customers' social security numbers written on the outside of the envelopes. With so much identity fraud and theft these days, they definitely should have been a lot more careful. This was a huge mistake that should have never happened, especially of this nature.

One would hope that only the people at the post office have seen this, but can you even trust those workers? I am not too sure. You hear of dishonest things happening from time to time.

Citibank sent out letters to their customers after realizing their mistake. The letter read, "We are writing to inform you that due to a processing error the nine digits in your Social Security number, along with a string of other numbers and letters all resembling a mail routing number, were printed on the lower edge of an envelope containing a year-end tax statement that we mailed to you recently. We believe there is little or no risk to you. However, we wanted to bring this to your attention, apologize and confirm that changes have been made for all future mailings." Citibank is currently offering their customers to sign up for an identity theft program for six months.

By offering this identity theft program, Citibank seems to be trying to cover up for their mistake. That may not go over too well with all customers though. If a bank could make a mistake like this, you may wonder, what other kinds of mistakes could they make in the future. Some mistakes should just never ever happen. My other thought is that it was not just a few mailings that went out. Over 600,000 is a huge number, so someone was not doing their job and did not bother to look at the envelopes. It does make you wonder.

Any person, bank, financial institute or company can make a mistake. We all make mistakes, but certain errors just cannot afford to be made. This goes for the sake of the customer and the company.