Comments on: CitiBank Has a Solution to the Bank Crises http://cogdogblog.com/2009/03/20/citibank/ Alan Levine's space for barking about and playing with technology Mon, 13 Feb 2012 07:01:38 +0000 hourly 1 http://wordpress.org/?v=3.3.1 By: Carl Anderson http://cogdogblog.com/2009/03/20/citibank/comment-page-1/#comment-68750 Carl Anderson Mon, 23 Mar 2009 18:06:56 +0000 http://cogdogblog.com/?p=3431#comment-68750 Citibank quietly bumped my APR from 14% to 30% with no due cause (so did quite a few of my other creditors). Not a small inconvenience seeing as for a number of months a few years ago my wife and I were forced to draw on these accounts considerably as we were both out of work. I finally secured stable employment and worked out a repayment plan based on the terms I agreed to when I started using the card. This action on Citiban's part forced me to sign with a credit counseling agency. What these companies are doing is criminal at best. In your case they reached into your wallet and stole $104, in my case they tried to pull me into perpetual indentured servitude. <abbr><em>Carl Anderson’s latest blog post...<a href="http://carlanderson.blogspot.com/2009/03/animated-explanation-of-disruptive.html" rel="nofollow">Animated Explanation of Disruptive Innovation in Education</a></abbr></em> Citibank quietly bumped my APR from 14% to 30% with no due cause (so did quite a few of my other creditors). Not a small inconvenience seeing as for a number of months a few years ago my wife and I were forced to draw on these accounts considerably as we were both out of work. I finally secured stable employment and worked out a repayment plan based on the terms I agreed to when I started using the card. This action on Citiban’s part forced me to sign with a credit counseling agency. What these companies are doing is criminal at best. In your case they reached into your wallet and stole $104, in my case they tried to pull me into perpetual indentured servitude.

Carl Anderson’s latest blog post…Animated Explanation of Disruptive Innovation in Education

]]> By: Carrie Trudden http://cogdogblog.com/2009/03/20/citibank/comment-page-1/#comment-68742 Carrie Trudden Mon, 23 Mar 2009 13:00:55 +0000 http://cogdogblog.com/?p=3431#comment-68742 Hi Alan, I enjoyed reading your post about Citibank. I had a similar experience with BOA when I closed a checking account. I ended up with a $200 some odd bill that was sent to collections. Like you it was my own fault for not opening my electronic statements, which they had told me I would get for two months after the account had been official closed.....it's just procedure I was told.....however the real quick was from the collection agency when I received a notice that they were going to garnish my wages if I didn't pay up. I mean really over $200? When I called them and explained this was the first I heard about this bill and wanted to know what it was for and why they hadn't contacted me sooner, they told me they had been trying to call me since it was received in their office. I then told them I received no voicemail. Their response.....oh we aren't allowed to leave voicemails because it's not protecting my privacy. (BTW, I checked my cell statements for incoming calls and turns out they only called me one time in over 6 months.) The CSR promptly told me that I should do what she does and call back any and all missed calls from numbers I don't recognize. I mean really? They also told me they had no record of what the charges were for, only that they were to do with my checking account. I ended up paying it, but only after a long cat and mouse game to get proof that these charges were mine. I would have been much more willing to just pay the bill up in front had they have been nicer about it and provided me with the documentation I requested. The whole situation makes me worried about other things I may or may not be getting through no real fault of my own. Hi Alan,

I enjoyed reading your post about Citibank. I had a similar experience with BOA when I closed a checking account. I ended up with a $200 some odd bill that was sent to collections. Like you it was my own fault for not opening my electronic statements, which they had told me I would get for two months after the account had been official closed…..it’s just procedure I was told…..however the real quick was from the collection agency when I received a notice that they were going to garnish my wages if I didn’t pay up. I mean really over $200? When I called them and explained this was the first I heard about this bill and wanted to know what it was for and why they hadn’t contacted me sooner, they told me they had been trying to call me since it was received in their office. I then told them I received no voicemail. Their response…..oh we aren’t allowed to leave voicemails because it’s not protecting my privacy. (BTW, I checked my cell statements for incoming calls and turns out they only called me one time in over 6 months.) The CSR promptly told me that I should do what she does and call back any and all missed calls from numbers I don’t recognize. I mean really? They also told me they had no record of what the charges were for, only that they were to do with my checking account. I ended up paying it, but only after a long cat and mouse game to get proof that these charges were mine. I would have been much more willing to just pay the bill up in front had they have been nicer about it and provided me with the documentation I requested. The whole situation makes me worried about other things I may or may not be getting through no real fault of my own.

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