Worst Company In America Round One: Wells Fargo Vs. Citi

Welcome to Day 2 of corporate carnage in the Worst Company In America Octagonal Steel Cage! Starting things off for today is another pair of bloodthirsty bankers out to prove they are just as astoundingly inept as any other business in the bracket.

Wells Fargo may look like it just stepped off a bus from the prairie, but don’t mistake this bruiser’s “aw shucks” facade just masks what must be a concerted effort to not give a good damn about customers.

Or maybe Wells changed its terms of service to prevent customers from suing the bank because it didn’t want you to get your hopes up that you’d win in court?

And perhaps it sent thousands of statements to the wrong addresses so that the world could share in customers’ joy of being a Wells Fargo patron?

Of course those fees Wells Fargo continues to test are really all about keeping you on your toes to make sure you’re reading your statement every month.

Or maybe it’s just a badly run business that merits a shot at the Golden Poo.

Then there’s Citi. Call it Citibank, Citigroup, Citimortgage or Citi Citi Bank Bank. This one’s a contender no matter what name you use.

It earned it’s spot in the WCIA bracket the old-fashioned way, by sucking in very, very public ways. Like having such bad security that hackers were able to steal credit card info for 360,000 Citi customers.

The bank also misled investors about the mortgage-backed securities they were buying, all while making a nice $160 million profit for themselves. And when Citi was caught by the SEC it managed to convince regulators it should only have to pay back $285 million — and not have to admit it did anything wrong.

Maybe Citi can pay that back using the nearly $500 billion in bailout money it received from taxpayers.

Neither of these brawlers made it out of the first round in 2011. But one of them is now destined to make the Sweet 16 where it will face the victor of yesterday’s battle between Bank of American and Chase.

So let’s bang a gong and get it on (with the voting):
(Voting for this poll will close at 11:59 p.m. on Thursday, March 15)

This is a post in our Worst Company In America 2012 series. The companies competing for this honor were chosen by you, the readers. See the entire WCIA 2012 bracket and schedule of match-ups HERE.

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