The pyramid that calls itself a shelter… Primerica: Citigroup's dirty little secret. Early last week I had thought my troubles might be over, I had a chance at a job that might get me somewhere in life, and might solve all the problems that I worry so much about on a daily basis… instead, I was almost caught in a net made specially to catch others like me. I was introduced to PFSL (Primerica Financial Services Ltd.) by someone my girlfriend knew from school, someone who would not usually be involved in a business that feeds on the poor, debt riddled, month to month families, couples, and just normal everyday people who are interested in having a good, honest retirement. After a meeting with the "representative" of PFSL and the "financial representative in training" I was sure of what I had stumbled upon, and it took only 10 minutes in chatrooms and using search engines to find that it was a very dark, and secretive bunch I had been introduced to. Primerica Ltd is a subsidary of CitiGroup, also known to be tied in with CitiBank, CitiCorp, CitiFinancial, and as of late last year officially merged with "The Associates First Capital Corporation". Citigroup is well known these days, being the worlds largest Financial Corporation, reaching assets of an estimated 1 trillion dollars, with over 100,000 representatives it is a substantial player in the current business world, and has many friends in high places beyond just north america. But our inflated corporate entity has some explaining to do, it seems that PFSL (PFSI in USA, Mexico) is north americas largest Multi Level Marketing agency, pulling in top level profits higher than even Amway ever had. Hold on a minute bubba, Multi Level Marketing? Yep, that's what they call it these days, it seems that Pyramid schemes became illegal not so long ago in the world of law, right along with boiler rooms, and predatory lending, but guess what, that's exactly what Primerica has been charged with. Last year, The Federal Trade Commission slapped the organisation with charges ranging from "Predatory lending" to breaking the "Truth in Lending Act", the "Fair Credit Reporting Act", and the "Equal Credit Opportunity Act". So lets get or feet back on the ground level here, its obvious that Primerica has some big friends, and many lawyers, but how come people keep trusting these schemes? Easy, the people who get you in are usually your friends, who have been led in by their friends, and so on, and have paid the entrance fee or "cost of education" as they sometimes call it, and have to recruit more people in order to make money until they finish their training and become a "registered financial assistant". Basically, they tie people in by giving them high hopes of big profits, and then tell them what they must do to earn it, which for most "representatives" ends at being a recruiter, and not the trusted financial aid giver they were told about. Interesting scheme eh? You bet bubba, and that's why CitiGroup is looking so good these days. They have more investigators and economists watching them than a Colombian drug lord, and they still strut along, paying no attention to the publicity that is creeping out in bad places. After the Director of The Federal Trade Commissions Bureau of Consumer Protection (nice title) said publicly that "they hid essential information from customers, misrepresented loan terms, flipped loans, and packed optional fees to raise the costs of the loans" and that Primerica Representatives "primarily victimised consumers who were the most vulnerable -hard working homeowners who had to borrow to meet emergency needs" the spokepersons for the company shrugged and said that "People have the right to choose what kind of financial future they want", which is easily the most evasive and ignorant answer to a statement Ive ever heard. When it comes right down to it, we are looking at a very greedy and legally evasive corporation, not to say that most corporations aren't greedy, but this one take a bigger piece of the rip-off pie, and doesn't seem to mind anyone standing up and fighting them. In cities across north america there have been and still are legal battles going on with Primerica on the defensive every time, but with a backbone like Citigroup and easily as many lawyers as they have representatives its not an easy cookie to chew.