Citibank N A Credit Cards Consumer Reviews - Page 2

HILLIARD, OHIO -- So this is some really shady business practices going on. Citibank raised my interest rate on my card from 8.24% to 25.99% for no reason after I have had the account open for 18 years. I have a 765 credit score. I accepted the rate increase because I don't want them to close my account which would negatively affect my credit score, and they know that. That would allow more creditors to raise my interest rates and lower my limits.

Needless to say, I am not ever going to use a credit card with a 25.99% interest rate if it will EVER carry a balance. But now that it has a $0 balance, if I don't use it somewhat regularly, they will close it for inactivity. So I get a letter in the mail yesterday that I can sign up for this "new program" where they will "reward me" with 10% of my finance charges back in the form of a statement credit if I pay just the minimum balance each month. How crazy are they?

So, hypothetically, say I have a $5,000 balance. Before they raised my interest rate I would have paid about $34.33 a month in interest (8.24% / 12 * $5,000). My minimum payment is $68.00 a month on a $5,000 balance. But now with their "new reward program" and the friendly interest rate increase, I pay about $108.29 in interest every month (25.99% / 12 * 5000). My minimum payment is still $68.00 a month. But if I pay just the minimum, they will "reward me" with 10% of my finance charges back. So I will get a statement credit of $10.83 a month. Woo hoo.

So by paying just the minimum, I get to give them $98 a month in interest and my balance will just continue to grow and that $98 a month will grow exponentially. Unfortunately there are probably many people that think Citibank is giving them a great deal. They are desperate. They should be imprisoned.

POOLER, GEORGIA -- It is so different from read about all the credit card companies (Citibank) creating this mess to being involved in the mess. I made my payment in March on my Feb. statement. I paid over the min. limit. Like many of you out there, I am carrying a balance. It came up to and just over the limit. I paid the statements min. payment plus extra. This brought the amount below limit.

Now other charges came through, in March, after I received my statement. These charges were then applied to the current statement that I had just paid. Like I said, after I received my statement these new charges then put me over the limit, they raised my interest to 29.90%. The service people, 2 of them, could not understand why this happened.

My understanding is that any charges incurred after the statement is sent are then put on the next month's statement. If then I do not pay the amount on that statement, I will then have my interest raised. Obviously it did not happen fast enough for Citicards so they raised it themselves. I wish I could change the rules mid-game, then I too could become rich and get stupidly large bonuses for bad decisions.

All I asked was a simple question, "What did I do wrong?". I have never received an answer. It will be paid within the month. I just can't believe that these institutions are making the people pay for there inept management and ill advised decisions, (sub-prime mortgage mess).

I also have a car loan with Citi Auto Financial. Not by choice, they bought it out from the original bank, AmTrust. Now after almost a year I receive a letter today, Apr. 19, 2008. It states that I need to provide them with proof of collateral insurance protecting their investment. The letter was dated Apr. 07, 2008. It also states that I have "15 days from the date of this request". Here is the fun part, the letter was date stamped Apr. 15, 2008 - 12 DAYS AFTER IT WAS PRINTED!!!

Today is Saturday, oh but the insurance companies are closed. I will have 1 day to see this matter resolved. I will do it by internet (**). Gee "service unavailable". If I do not prove insurance, they will provide it and charge me $3823.00, tacked onto my current loan, not including bodily injury or property damage liability.

Oh yes I very much would like to hear from this company regarding this matter. But gee, all I can talk to is an automated answering service. I can understand this because they know that they are screwing the people. They refuse to talk.

DES MOINES, IOWA -- Citibank made me an offer to settle my account balance of $7131.35 for approx. $2100. Citi Bank sent me the agreement for 3 separate payments. Citibank proceeded to charge my account 3 weeks prior to my agreed payment date. I then demanded my money be refunded as it caused me overdraft fees as I was not ready to make their payment yet.

Once they refunded the money due to their mistake, they terminated our agreement stating I broke the agreement by having my money refunded, which I was not told when my money was being returned. On top of that, they added the refunded money of $1000 to my credit card balance, making my balance approx. $8100.

This company has been not pleasant, leave you on hold for 10-20 minutes while they check with "management". Then they tell you that they have done nothing wrong and it is all your fault. They lied about our agreements, essentially stole my money by taking it out of my account without authorization and are very defensive when I call. Citibank actually breached our verbal contract, which they also put in writing and mailed to me. Citibank uses dirty and unethical tactics to hurt people already in a difficult economic time.

A few months ago, I was informed my APR would be raised to 29.99%!!! I was shocked, and made plans to pay off the card as soon as possible and then close the account. Unfortunately, as these things go, I haven't been able to pay off the balance and I'm still stuck with the card.

The other day, while paying my card online, I noticed a "late payment warning" link (I was paying my card online a week before the due date, as is typical for me). I clicked on it for the heck of it, and it said if a payment is received late, that could result in my interest rate being raised to the "penalty APR" of 29.99%. Well, isn't that funny? I'm at the penalty APR but haven't ever been late with a payment, AND I've had the card since 1995! As soon as I can get rid of this card, I will!

THE LAKES, NEVADA -- My husband and I were in Home Depot and a floor manager asked us to sign up for a Home Depot Mastercard. In exchange, he gave the small purchases we had in our cart free. A year or so later, we tried to use the card and it didn't work. We had a small balance and made our payments on time. I called the number on the credit card bill and it turned out to be Citibank… yes, the same Citibank that has received vast federal government giveaways.

The woman told me that Citibank decided to discontinue all of the Home Depot credit cards. She would not give me an answer as to why. I called Home Depot and spoke to a manager; she said “it was a corporate decision” and that the local managers were not privy to why. I called the corporate office. The customer service person didn't know why either, but she said she would call me back.

I probably will never know why. I only had two cards…Discover, which I can't use in a lot of places, and this card. Now, back to the drawing board…try to get a card that won't cancel low interest cards, won't raise interest rates, and won't do whatever else they decide to do to make it hard for consumers. I can't recommend doing business with Citibank or Home Depot.

I just got off the phone with a Citibank collections department manager. Several days ago my Mom called in on my behalf about a card I had canceled after I moved that was being charged late fees on a credit protector charge that was placed after I had canceled the card. They said she had no right to call them. The next day, my family was prank called five times by Citicard. We knew this because caller ID identified them and each time they answered the phone they'd hear a click. My family thought it was sort of funny but I was furious that Citibank felt it was acceptable to let an employee harass my family.

I called in today to find out information about the employee and file a complaint. After being transferred several times, I spoke to this manager who told me she could not give me any information about the employee and that the calls were not in fact "prank" calls but that they were caused by a phone system that automatically calls a house and if it doesn't think someone is on the line, will hang up on them.

She told me I couldn't file a complaint because this was just an innocent automated calling happening and there was nothing to complain about. Tell me this is not completely absurd! I'm at the point where I am just going to pay whatever is left on my statement (although completely fraudulent charges!) to finally put an end to my Citibank experience.

RALEIGH, NORTH CAROLINA -- In North Carolina there are over 700 open and active investigations at the Consumer Affairs Protection Division of the NC Attorney General Office. They cut credit lines on people even though their credit report and debt load has not changed and customers have never miss a payment.

Avoid this company - when I ask for a written explanation, I got a false form letter. They are just as bad as the Discover Card. I was able to pay off one account the day I got the email. My second account had a zero balance. I was sent over to Customer Retention where they offered to raise the limit on the zero balance card and reinstate the former line of credit. So how did I go to 'not worth' to 'more than worthy'? I closed both accounts, I hope this company gets investigated by the Federal Government.

Recently I attempted to purchase a new washer/dryer from my local Home Depot because they had 0% financing for card holders. I tried my card but was told the account had been CLOSED. No problem. I applied for credit again and was refused and was told I would be receiving a letter explaining why I was refused. Easy enough. Right Wrong.

The reason for refusal was sent to me with a bill showing a balance of $250.54 in addition to a letter from a collection agency. Upon a closer look I saw that the Late Fees & Interest for the Year totaled $250.14. I NEVER RECEIVED A STATEMENT or used the card this year. Now lets do the math. The difference between the fees/interest and the current balance is $0.40. Yes 40 cents. Citibank decided to accrue late fees and interest on 40 cents from the beginning of the year totaling over $250. The folks at Citibank are a BUNCH OF CROOKS. BEWARE!!!!!!! And check your statements carefully.

Citibank raised my interest rate to 29.99% for no good reason. This all happened just before the Obama Credit Card Act passed and went into effect. I was a long-term good customer and paid each month on time and more than amount required and had a rate of 12.99%. A little high but, oh well, I paid. Then for no good reason, they raised my rate and closed my account. The only reason they will give me is that I am a "potential risk".

So I refuse to pay anything at all to them (!!) and have told them so!!! My credit is borderline anyway because of them. They call me every other day asking for payment and I tell them 'no way' until I have in writing a better rate than 29.99%. So far no one from Citibank will help me. It's outrageous that banks can get away with this. A lot of good the Credit Card Act did consumers. It just gave the credit card companies the time which they used to review and raise rates.

Be careful in using Mastercard for paying your foreign currency transaction, because you don't have idea how much they will charge you in your country rate. I have charge about Rp 8,995 per SGD 1. I have never known that SGD will be so high. In my experience the exchange rate always Rp 7,000 something. I did 2 transaction in same time, for 1 transaction was using right rate (about Rp 7,138) but the other with Rp 8,995.

How come the rate fluctuated about Rp 2,000 in a few minutes? I called Citibank but I didn't satisfy with they answer. They said I can't complain about the exchange rate. I have to just received whatever they charge. So with the experience, I think I will never use Mastercard again for all my foreign exchange transaction. It's kind of I buy something without knowing how much they will charge me.