Joho the Blog
An Entry from the Archives

Ragrdless of the answer to that question: get rid of your Citibank card. Really. You can't find a scummier company operating in the US. Really. Really.

Scummiest is Webster Bank & Services, hands down. I would boil them all in Mt. Aetna if only I could. Corporate arrogance from top to bottom.

I suspect that, like so many promotional campaigns, security was not even on the agenda - let alone considered. This applies to anti-phishing 'products' as much as any other.

Your 'behaviour' probably confused the call centre staff. They're used to people just doing as they're asked.

Otherwise, the most basic social engineering scams would never have worked.

Three months ago I requested a payoff amount for my Citi Upromise Account over the phone and in the same conversation authorized payment for the entire balance due with a check-by-phone. Since that time I have been billed for interest fees. I ignored the bills because I was no longer interested in using their card and I thought that they would figure out their error....you know, how much interest accrues on a zero balance anyway. "Dilbert" must work there. They haven't figured it out yet! Now they have "suspended my credit privileges" which I was not interested in partaking of anyway. So...I tried to call them, but their muti-million dollar business obviously can't allocate enough money in their budget to man the phone lines 24 and 7. You would think that after charging people interest on a zero balance that they would be doing well enough financially to provide that service.

There is nothing worse than trying to deal with someone (person or corporate entity) who has a severe knowledge deficit which they are totally unaware of, and, instead, views their self as superior in knowledge and intellect.

Tomorrow, I will call them again. I am preparing "to engage in a battle of wits with an unarmed man"

Or maybe I am being way too charitable in my summary of their situation...It could be just one more scummy, slime-bag, scam to perpetrate on their customers who may not be watching their statements closely enough. I may not have noticed if I had continued to use the card and had ongoing monthly transactions on my statement.

I just received my credit report, Citi Cards check my credit every month. I called customer service, they said they credit check for business reasons every month for every one of their customers. And, customer service for Citi Cards is in India. I have nothing against Indians, but your credit cards info remains overseas outsourced to India!

The worst company is Washinton Mutual which was Providian. We have never missed a payment but because we have a lot of credit which we are not behind on, our interest went up to over 22% after being at 7.99 then 10. We never miss a payment as they take it out of our account. I don't see how this is legal. I am dumping everyone of my credit cards and will buy nothing but essentials so the economy will show no growth from me and my family. BTW, when they sent me new terms I couldn't even understand it, so I called to see if the rate was going up and was told no, but lo and behold a few months later, they did raise it.
Death to credit cards, miserable pieces of plastic!

Citi cards.. nothing but trouble. I have always paid my balance in full for about 8 years. Not good business as MBAs must have surmised... so they started sending my bills late enough so when I received them there was no way I could send in my payment in time. Voila, I get interest fees. No matter to whom I spoke, same story. So I decide to cancel. I want no one, no one, having access to my number. Guess what, I have a credit (heavens knows how) of $1.61... and still get their statements. I call today and the service rep just slams the phone on me when I request a complete closure to my account. I call again, ask for a supervisor and whoa, I am told a check for $1.61 is in the mail for me. Can I sleep assured that my account is not active? I don't think so......

A couple of years ago I took advantage of a Citi Cards promotional rate of 1.9% and consolidated a bunch of balances from other cards to my Citi Card account. I knew that they would try to bump up my rate at the first opportunity, but I decided to take the chance. As it turned out, my business slowed down in the second half of last year, and I was late on several payments, but never missed a month. The first time Citi Cards bumped my rate to 24% I appealed to a Customer Service supervisor and she was very understanding and reinstated the promotional rate. A couple of months later they bumped the rate up to 32% -- essentially a life sentence to involuntary servitude.

This time, the customer service supervisor was a pig. She had no interest in my situation whatsoever and obviously had no concern for the challenges faced by independent business people. At that point I closed my account with Citi Cards and have refused to pay them one more cent. They continue call several times a day but I refuse to speak with them. As far as I'm concerned they will never collect anything from me as long as they try to charge these usurious rates. If everyone did the same thing when confronted by these immoral credit practices, we could force the industry to back down. They already have the Congress in their hip pocket. Consumers need to force the issue with massive collective resistance.

Thank you for including the phone number that you were asked to call. I received the same thing and found your blog when I typed the phone number into "Google"

Interest is billed a month behind, you got the payoff for what was owed at that point in time. you accrue interest every day! you people are so stupid, i am so glad i don't have to take calls from you idiots anymore!