The Department of Justice said that GE Capital Retail Bank, a division of General Electric, excluded tens of thousands of Spanish-speaking credit card customers from a debt-reduction program it ran for two years, a pattern of discrimination that will cost the bank $169 million in fines, the Washington Post reported today. The bank ran two programs from 2009 to 2012 that helped cardholders with low credit scores and high balances catch up on their payments. During that time, prosecutors say, the bank sent out offers to 400,000 people but did not inform 108,000 cardholders with mailing addresses in Puerto Rico or whose accounts indicated a preference for communications in Spanish.
