Thomas
South Milwaukee,#2Consumer Comment
Wed, January 05, 2005
About eight years ago, having to pay rent and the credit card bill at the start of the month was killing me, so I contacted Citibank and had them move my "billing time" to the middle of the month. After that, even though I had always been a customer in good standing, they started charging me $35 late fees whenever I made a late payment. I thought that was pretty cold.
Lydia
Atlanta,#3Consumer Comment
Thu, December 25, 2003
I also have been a long time customer of Citibank credit card service. (About 16 years). I also always paid on time both by mail and online. I never had a problem with them until 1 1/2 years ago. I was laid off and was trying to keep up with my bills while finding a new job. I paid my bill online but was 1 minute late! I received a late fee of $29.00 AND had my interest rate raised from 9.9% to 19.9%. I called Citi and told them the problem I had with being laid off and missing the payment by 1 minute and asked them to change my interest rate back to 9.9% as I had been a long time customer in good standing. They refused and said "I know exactly when you made your payment, it was at ---- Maybe you should try harder to pay your bills ontime! As for your interest rate, that is the penalty for being late and it will only change if you pay ontime for the next 6 months.!! I was so pissed off that I said "fine then just close my account and I will make sure to inform others not to use your services. In the meantime, I will continue to pay "ontime" and my interest better go down after six months". She side, "fine, your account is now closed. Goodbye" and she hung up on me! After one day I called back Citibank and talked to a much nicer representative. She said that since my account was closed they would never lower my interest even after six months. She offered to reopen my account so that I would have the interest lowered at the end of six months. She discovered that she could not reopen the account. The obnoxious women I spoke to the day before made sure I could not reopen the account!!! Needless to say they never could or would correct the problem even after 1 1/2 years of paying them ontime! They have become very heartless and rude. I used to "praise" this company but now I despise them!!! If I weren't a concientious consumer I would probably refuse to pay what is left (but that just isn't how I "operate").
P.S. If you may have noticed, Citibank is slowly taking over the other credit card companies like Shell Oil, Radio Shack, Sears and many others. I had a problem with my shell card at that time and closed that card too (Shell cards showed available credit of $300 but whenever I went to gas station it showed as no credit available!!). Its ridiculous how such a rotten company can take over like that. As for me, I will never get another credit card they own again. I just pay cash and use my banks credit card for emergencies.
Lydia
Atlanta,#4Consumer Comment
Thu, December 25, 2003
I also have been a long time customer of Citibank credit card service. (About 16 years). I also always paid on time both by mail and online. I never had a problem with them until 1 1/2 years ago. I was laid off and was trying to keep up with my bills while finding a new job. I paid my bill online but was 1 minute late! I received a late fee of $29.00 AND had my interest rate raised from 9.9% to 19.9%. I called Citi and told them the problem I had with being laid off and missing the payment by 1 minute and asked them to change my interest rate back to 9.9% as I had been a long time customer in good standing. They refused and said "I know exactly when you made your payment, it was at ---- Maybe you should try harder to pay your bills ontime! As for your interest rate, that is the penalty for being late and it will only change if you pay ontime for the next 6 months.!! I was so pissed off that I said "fine then just close my account and I will make sure to inform others not to use your services. In the meantime, I will continue to pay "ontime" and my interest better go down after six months". She side, "fine, your account is now closed. Goodbye" and she hung up on me! After one day I called back Citibank and talked to a much nicer representative. She said that since my account was closed they would never lower my interest even after six months. She offered to reopen my account so that I would have the interest lowered at the end of six months. She discovered that she could not reopen the account. The obnoxious women I spoke to the day before made sure I could not reopen the account!!! Needless to say they never could or would correct the problem even after 1 1/2 years of paying them ontime! They have become very heartless and rude. I used to "praise" this company but now I despise them!!! If I weren't a concientious consumer I would probably refuse to pay what is left (but that just isn't how I "operate").
P.S. If you may have noticed, Citibank is slowly taking over the other credit card companies like Shell Oil, Radio Shack, Sears and many others. I had a problem with my shell card at that time and closed that card too (Shell cards showed available credit of $300 but whenever I went to gas station it showed as no credit available!!). Its ridiculous how such a rotten company can take over like that. As for me, I will never get another credit card they own again. I just pay cash and use my banks credit card for emergencies.
Lydia
Atlanta,#5Consumer Comment
Thu, December 25, 2003
I also have been a long time customer of Citibank credit card service. (About 16 years). I also always paid on time both by mail and online. I never had a problem with them until 1 1/2 years ago. I was laid off and was trying to keep up with my bills while finding a new job. I paid my bill online but was 1 minute late! I received a late fee of $29.00 AND had my interest rate raised from 9.9% to 19.9%. I called Citi and told them the problem I had with being laid off and missing the payment by 1 minute and asked them to change my interest rate back to 9.9% as I had been a long time customer in good standing. They refused and said "I know exactly when you made your payment, it was at ---- Maybe you should try harder to pay your bills ontime! As for your interest rate, that is the penalty for being late and it will only change if you pay ontime for the next 6 months.!! I was so pissed off that I said "fine then just close my account and I will make sure to inform others not to use your services. In the meantime, I will continue to pay "ontime" and my interest better go down after six months". She side, "fine, your account is now closed. Goodbye" and she hung up on me! After one day I called back Citibank and talked to a much nicer representative. She said that since my account was closed they would never lower my interest even after six months. She offered to reopen my account so that I would have the interest lowered at the end of six months. She discovered that she could not reopen the account. The obnoxious women I spoke to the day before made sure I could not reopen the account!!! Needless to say they never could or would correct the problem even after 1 1/2 years of paying them ontime! They have become very heartless and rude. I used to "praise" this company but now I despise them!!! If I weren't a concientious consumer I would probably refuse to pay what is left (but that just isn't how I "operate").
P.S. If you may have noticed, Citibank is slowly taking over the other credit card companies like Shell Oil, Radio Shack, Sears and many others. I had a problem with my shell card at that time and closed that card too (Shell cards showed available credit of $300 but whenever I went to gas station it showed as no credit available!!). Its ridiculous how such a rotten company can take over like that. As for me, I will never get another credit card they own again. I just pay cash and use my banks credit card for emergencies.
Terrance
Torrance,#6Consumer Suggestion
Wed, May 21, 2003
I've been using Citibank's online payment service for a few years now. I submit the payment when they said to (yes, sometimes several days before it was due), and I've never been charged a late fee.
As the "employee" posted previously, their site does now say that your payment will be posted same day if you make the payment before 1:30 Eastern time.
T
Kc,#7UPDATE EX-employee responds
Mon, May 19, 2003
your payment if made online may take up to 3 days to actually post to your account because your checking account information has to be verified as good every time you pay. that is why citi suggests you pay at least 3 days before your duedate if you're paying online. however it's been updated and now if you pay your payment before 1:30pm eastern time it will post same-day. no body is trying to trick you or rip you off just make sure you're paying ontime and you won't get a late fee. it's that simple.