5th October, 2005
Hurricane Katrina Citigroup Response
October 05, 2005
Hurricane Katrina Citigroup Response
The Citigroup Foundation, Citigroup and its Employees Donate Up To $11.2 Million to Hurricane Relief and Rebuilding
In the wake of Hurricanes Katrina and Rita, Citigroup is committed to helping the affected communities recover and rebuild. Our employees are donating money in support of local needs, and our businesses are finding ways to help employees and customers cope in the aftermath of the disaster.
Citigroup Giving
Citigroup and the Citigroup Foundation donated $2 million to Habitat for Humanity International in support of "Operation Home Delivery", Habitat for Humanity's effort to provide housing for families displaced by Hurricane Katrina.
In addition to a $1 million immediate donation, the Citigroup Foundation will match any eligible donation made by a Citigroup employee dollar for dollar to the American Red Cross to support its relief efforts up to $3 million for a potential total of $7 million.
Citigroup donated $1 million to the National Urban League's Hurricane Katrina Fund, which is primarily focused on providing direct assistance to displaced, low-income evacuees of Katrina with job training, job placement and housing through the Urban League affiliates working in the affected communities.
Banamex will donate up to $1.2 million through a matching program to support the relief efforts in the Gulf Coast.
Citigroup Impact
Citigroup has more than 1,000 employees in 173 offices and more than 3,300 independent Primerica Financial Services agents in the states of Louisiana, Mississippi and Alabama.
CitiFinancial: 653 employees in 151 branches
CitiFinancial Auto: 16 employees in 3 branches
Smith Barney: 405 employees in 18 branches
Primerica: 3300 agents in 95 offices
Citigroup has approximately 70 employees in 14 offices and branches in the Texas areas most affected by Hurricane Rita.
Citigroup Employee Actions
Citigroup is linking employee volunteers to many opportunities including staffing call centers and food banks, and fundraising for the Red Cross and other charities. Citigroup Corporate and Investment Banking alone is organizing over 100 volunteers to staff Red Cross call centers in New York City.
During the week of September 26, hundreds of Citigroup volunteers are building and helping to organize the Habitat for Humanity build in Humanity Plaza where NBC News' ‘Today' show currently is hosting the construction of Habitat homes for future partner families as part of Make a Difference Today. And many other Citigroup employees are in Rockefeller Center all week collecting donations for Habitat for Humanity International.
To help the Red Cross in its nationwide telethon on Friday, September 9, calls were routed to Citigroup call centers in St. Louis, Dallas and Jacksonville. Over 900 Citigroup employees volunteered to take calls and administer pledges of support during the telethon. Employees answered more than 8500 calls and helped raise over $900,000.
In October and November, the Red Cross will use Citigroup office space in Long Island City to train hundreds of Red Cross volunteers to work in the affected areas.
With thousands of evacuees in Texas, we are mobilizing our 16,000 employees there to play a leadership role in volunteering in those communities. All of our Citibank financial centers in the United States are accepting cash/check donations to the American Red Cross to fundraise among our customers.
Citigroup is organizing drives to collect materials needed by the shelters in our major office buildings and are making lists of resources on how to donate goods, funds and volunteer time available to all employees. Employees in the New York area collected 105 boxes of supplies that are being shipped to Texas Houston Food Bank.
How Citigroup is Helping Our Employees
In addition to ensuring job security for all affected employees, Citigroup ensured the provision of food and supplies to employees in affected areas via local branches.
Global Consumer Group and Smith Barney are establishing relief funds that will be allocated to specific affected employees in each of their respective businesses.
Corporate Benefits is working with our benefits administrators and carriers to support employees and retirees living in Louisiana, Mississippi, Alabama, and the panhandle area of Florida through September 30. These initiatives include:
Suspending the termination of health and welfare benefits coverage due to non-payment for employees on leaves of absence and retirees who are billed directly for the cost of their benefits.
401(k) loan balances won't go into default status for failure to make a payment for employees on an unpaid leave, involuntarily terminated employees, or retirees who have outstanding loans.
If retirees who receive pension payments contacts Citigroup Retirement Services, we'll resend a pension check to an alternate address on an expedited basis.
In partnership with our third party providers, employees and retirees will receive approved requests for out-of-network medical services and lifted requirements for medical pre-certification, referrals, medical necessity reviews, and notification of hospital admissions. Out-of-network visits will have the same cost as in-network visits.
Prescription by mail services will work with customers to hold shipments into affected areas until contacted by participants, replace lost or stolen prescriptions, and deliver prescriptions to patients who need them.
Employees or retirees who have questions about benefits or payroll-related matters should call ConnectOne at 1-800-881-3938. From the main menu, select the option for the appropriate service center. Individuals also can contact the health plans directly at the following numbers:
Aetna- ChoicePlan/Health Plan 2000: 1-800-545-5862-
Aetna of FL: 1-800-821-3808
CIGNA (all plans): 1-800-794-4953
Empire Blue Cross/Blue Shield (all plans): 1-866-290-9098
Medco Health: 1-800-987-8369
UnitedHealthcare (all plans): 1-877-311-7845
How Citigroup is Helping Our Customers
Citigroup is committed to working with affected customers to alleviate the temporary financial impact of this disaster. We are implementing business specific initiatives for customers in FEMA designated Individual Assistance areas, including deferred and eliminated interest and payments, elimination of fees, no foreclosures on mortgages, and other solutions as appropriate. We will continue to assess our response based on customer needs. The following actions by business, will be reviewed every 30 days:
Citi Cards
No payments due
Waiving of interest and fees (current and delinquent accounts)
Suspension of collection calls
Suspension of negative credit bureau reporting
Implementation of disaster credit line increases
Cash advance fees will be waived
CitiFinancial / CitiFinancial Mortgage / CitiFinancial Auto
Automatic deferral of payments for 90-days, which may be extended beyond 90 days on a case-to-case basis.
Suspension of collection calls
Suspension of negative credit bureau reporting
Suspension of direct debit activity for payments
Foreclosure/repossession suspended for mortgage and auto portfolio
Waive fees relating to Speed pay, late charges, prepayment charges etc.
CitiMortgage / Citi Home Equity
Automatic deferral of payments for 90-days, which may be extended beyond 90 days on a case-to-case basis.
Suspension of collection calls
Suspension of negative credit bureau reporting
Suspension of direct debit until communication with the customer is established
All late fees will be waived
Foreclosure sales and bankruptcy procedures suspended
For Citi Home Equity customers, all unused lines will remain available for emergency access
Citibank
Defer payments up to 90 days
Stop accrual of late fees and charges for 90 days
Suspension of collection calls
Suspension of negative credit bureau reporting
Suspension of direct debit until communication with the customer is established
Foreclosure actions suspended
Developed emergency account opening procedures for hurricane victims in Citibank branches
ATMs
Providing four portable ATMs and a Citibank Van with two ATMs at the Astrodome in Houston, Texas
Waiving Citibank ATM fees for customers and non-customers when using the FEMA Assistance Card
Citibank ATMs in the United States and customer websites include messages informing our customers how they may contribute to the American Red Cross
Financial Centers
Providing support to customers and non-customers in our Financial Centers
Easing check-cashing restrictions on customers without identification by asking for single identification. If not available we will accept business risk and cash the check
Student Loan Corporation
Granting of 90-day administrative forbearance (i.e., no payment due for 3 months)
Waiving of late fees
Working with schools to minimize impact on their students and the funds disbursement process
Commercial Business Group (CitiCapital)
Granting of extensions upon customer request, on a case-by-case basis
Waiving of late fees
Suspension of collection calls
Information is available via customer statements, customer service numbers and pertinent websites, and through the media.
Customer service representatives are available for assistance. If a customer mentions any impact personally or a desire to support a victim, our representatives have been instructed to support them. If the request is not within the representative's authority they have been instructed to raise the issue to the next level management. Customer service personnel will have state and local emergency assistance contact numbers available as well. A list of customer service numbers is below:
Citi Cards
CitiCapital
1-800-428-6569
1-800-233-9712
1-800-736-9033
CitiFinancial
CitiFinancial Branch 1-800-249-2181
Monday through Friday 8am-6pm ET
CitiFinancial Retail Services 1-800-643-5607
CitiFinancial Mortgage 1-800-753-3673
Monday through Friday 8am-8pm ET
CitiFinancial Auto 1-800-486-1750
Monday through Friday 8am-9pm ET
Saturday 9am-5pm ET
CitiMortgage
1-800-283-7918
Monday through Friday 8am-8pm ET
Saturday 9am-6pm ET
Citibank
Student Loan Corporation
1-800-967-2400
Monday through Friday 8am to 11pm ET
Smith Barney
1-800-698-9721
FMA Client Service Center 1-800-634-9855
The calls to the following branch offices that are temporarily closed are being routed to alternative SB offices. The #800 to each is noted below.
New Orleans, Branch Number 423
1-800-879-0089 or 501-221-6100
Mandeville, Branch Number 63A
1-800-879-0089 or 501-221-6100
Gulfport, Branch Number 265
1-800-879-0089 or 501-221-6100
Jackson, Branch Number 730
1-800-890-2774 or 713-658-2700
Hattiesburg, Branch Number 343
1-800-890-2774 or 713-658-2700
Meridian, Branch Number 780
1-800-890-2774 or 713-658-2700
Mobile, Branch Number 444
1-800-965-3168 or 770-643-7600
Primerica
Life Clients 1-800-257-4725
Securities Help Line 1-800-544-5445
$Mart Clients 1-800-997-8467
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