Complaint Review: Citi Mortgage - Internet

I have to say this in regards to your complaint, please understand that I'm not siding with Citi. Our mortgage was also bought by Citi Mortgage from the original company that we have financed through. Citi did send us a letter advising us on the change in mortgage companies. The letter provided us with the new account number and also stated the due date and the different options to making the monthly payments. That letter also gave you an alotted amount of time to find another mortgage company or you had the option to call Citi to ask them of how they do business. This letter states that Citi will be sending you a monthly statement, not a payment book, and that you also have the option of going online to review your account with them. Unfortunately for us as consumers, the statement coupon booklets are becoming a thing of the past, mostly due to the internet. I don't get a payment booklet with my vehicle or house either, just a monthly statement. However, I have worked in customer service with different financial institutes and being a consumer, it is our responsability to read all documents or letters given to us so that we have an understanding of what we are getting into. If you don't understand it be sure to ask. Its very important for us to not ever assume anything, especially something that you need to thoroughly understand. Seems to me alot of people have become so busy with their lives, that they are not taking the time to read these letters about these changes taking place. Whether you like Citi or not does'nt matter. All mortgage companies have the right to buy and sell your loan out. I personally don't think this is right. But as far as your due date, you do have a grace period before it is considered late. Most companies allow between 10-15 days before you are billed a late fee. At the end of that grace period your next statement will be generated and sent out. Take a look at any utility bill or phone bill, its the same process there as well, regardless of when the due date is.

I've had a mortgage for 13 yrs and since the beginning of our first month it has been taken out of our checking account by direct deposit. Consequently we have never been late and have a perfect payment history. This simple procedure would solve this. It is not that complicated unless you are trying to play bat the check game.

I accept that these terms are as you stated, but if you return to my original complaint, it is that the payment slip for one month isn't generated until the previous payment is received.... My payment center never settled on Columbus OH until the 6th month under Citi (oh and for the Lasalle Bank Customer... your bank didn't sell your mortgage to Citi, Citi bought your bank, then sold off assets to ABN AMRO (my former Mortgage holder) in exchange for ABN's Mortgage holdings Citi makes money off the interest on loans, and off the excess charges they levy against customers.... ABN was in need of funds, Citi needed more loans, it's how a corporate financing gets done... in my book, Citi really "owns" both ABN & Lasalle, (and other banks), but doesn't change the name because of bad reputation and potential loss of customers If Citi would simply abandon the practice of reciept billing I would stop pursuing action with my AG.... the nature of this practice is designed to delay payments from being sent timely, and constitutes a greivous disregard for fair debt collection practices Please read the whole thread not just the most recent posts, and you will understand the nature of my complaint.... just as an aside, the payment in question which was supposedly nearing 30 days late which caused me on a Saturday evening to pay an additional $20 plus late penalty and interest charges..... I got word from my bank that it cleared their processing the following Monday, the same day they posted my Saturday payment to my account (they got 2 payments that month, and one was already pending in their ledger before I got the threatening call that they would turn in a "30 day late" notice at close of business on Monday) I never was given any opportunity to pay online without a fee or penalty, as this option is not available on the link I have for my loan....perhaps it has updated since the rash of complaints in 2006-2007. Much to my dismay I do not have enough principal left on this mortgage to both refinancing, and after 6 unsuccessful attempts to show proof that PMI was not necessary (my prior mortgage bank would have accepted 4 of the 6 pleadings as sufficient to release this obligation), I have now outlived this arbitrary penalty as well, so refi would not be prudent --- thank heaven Citi can't monkey around with my interest rate -- if they could I am sure they would have, and it is low enough to require a significant drop in the prime rate before I get a better deal that is worth closing costs and the trouble of getting a new loan (only to risk it being sold to Citi again......)

As a current employee of CitiMortgage, I would like to set some things straight regarding our payment options. A phone payment made with a representative is $20 - we try to steer our clients in alternative directions to save them money, as well as to lower our potential call volume by empowering you all to do this on your own. A phone payment made through our automated system is $15 - some of our clients use this method because they do not want to wait on hold to process a payment with a representative. A payment can be made online through CitiMortgage.com for free or up to $10 - the payments are accepted with the following criteria in mind... Your due date plus up to 8 days out (If your payment is due the 1st, then you can make your payment between the 1st and the 9th), and that type of payment can be made for no charge. The same criteria also governs our automatic draft (EzPay). Drafts or payments that are setup to occur after that 8 day window will incur the $10 charge for the payment. There are also various other methods available - Mail (With or Without Bills), BillPays through various banks, CitiBank branches if they are in your states - the methods thus far are for no charge. Those that serve in the military have the option to set up an allotment, and those are done at no charge on our end, and I doubt that the individual finance offices charge for that option. My last argument is that many of our clients sign a mortgage, and agree to make payments for up to 40 years, and they do not know the due date for their payments. 98% of the loans that I have had access to all have the same due date, which is the 1st of each and every month. Whether or not your loan is being transferred to another lender, your payments are still due the same exact date. The statements do get sent out, we have no reason not to send them, but regardless of that fact, your payments are still due, and they will continue to be due for whatever time frame your loan is active for. I am not trying to come off as being rude, I am purely using common sense with that last statement.

As a current employee of CitiMortgage, I would like to set some things straight regarding our payment options. A phone payment made with a representative is $20 - we try to steer our clients in alternative directions to save them money, as well as to lower our potential call volume by empowering you all to do this on your own. A phone payment made through our automated system is $15 - some of our clients use this method because they do not want to wait on hold to process a payment with a representative. A payment can be made online through CitiMortgage.com for free or up to $10 - the payments are accepted with the following criteria in mind... Your due date plus up to 8 days out (If your payment is due the 1st, then you can make your payment between the 1st and the 9th), and that type of payment can be made for no charge. The same criteria also governs our automatic draft (EzPay). Drafts or payments that are setup to occur after that 8 day window will incur the $10 charge for the payment. There are also various other methods available - Mail (With or Without Bills), BillPays through various banks, CitiBank branches if they are in your states - the methods thus far are for no charge. Those that serve in the military have the option to set up an allotment, and those are done at no charge on our end, and I doubt that the individual finance offices charge for that option. My last argument is that many of our clients sign a mortgage, and agree to make payments for up to 40 years, and they do not know the due date for their payments. 98% of the loans that I have had access to all have the same due date, which is the 1st of each and every month. Whether or not your loan is being transferred to another lender, your payments are still due the same exact date. The statements do get sent out, we have no reason not to send them, but regardless of that fact, your payments are still due, and they will continue to be due for whatever time frame your loan is active for. I am not trying to come off as being rude, I am purely using common sense with that last statement.

As a current employee of CitiMortgage, I would like to set some things straight regarding our payment options. A phone payment made with a representative is $20 - we try to steer our clients in alternative directions to save them money, as well as to lower our potential call volume by empowering you all to do this on your own. A phone payment made through our automated system is $15 - some of our clients use this method because they do not want to wait on hold to process a payment with a representative. A payment can be made online through CitiMortgage.com for free or up to $10 - the payments are accepted with the following criteria in mind... Your due date plus up to 8 days out (If your payment is due the 1st, then you can make your payment between the 1st and the 9th), and that type of payment can be made for no charge. The same criteria also governs our automatic draft (EzPay). Drafts or payments that are setup to occur after that 8 day window will incur the $10 charge for the payment. There are also various other methods available - Mail (With or Without Bills), BillPays through various banks, CitiBank branches if they are in your states - the methods thus far are for no charge. Those that serve in the military have the option to set up an allotment, and those are done at no charge on our end, and I doubt that the individual finance offices charge for that option. My last argument is that many of our clients sign a mortgage, and agree to make payments for up to 40 years, and they do not know the due date for their payments. 98% of the loans that I have had access to all have the same due date, which is the 1st of each and every month. Whether or not your loan is being transferred to another lender, your payments are still due the same exact date. The statements do get sent out, we have no reason not to send them, but regardless of that fact, your payments are still due, and they will continue to be due for whatever time frame your loan is active for. I am not trying to come off as being rude, I am purely using common sense with that last statement.

As a current employee of CitiMortgage, I would like to set some things straight regarding our payment options. A phone payment made with a representative is $20 - we try to steer our clients in alternative directions to save them money, as well as to lower our potential call volume by empowering you all to do this on your own. A phone payment made through our automated system is $15 - some of our clients use this method because they do not want to wait on hold to process a payment with a representative. A payment can be made online through CitiMortgage.com for free or up to $10 - the payments are accepted with the following criteria in mind... Your due date plus up to 8 days out (If your payment is due the 1st, then you can make your payment between the 1st and the 9th), and that type of payment can be made for no charge. The same criteria also governs our automatic draft (EzPay). Drafts or payments that are setup to occur after that 8 day window will incur the $10 charge for the payment. There are also various other methods available - Mail (With or Without Bills), BillPays through various banks, CitiBank branches if they are in your states - the methods thus far are for no charge. Those that serve in the military have the option to set up an allotment, and those are done at no charge on our end, and I doubt that the individual finance offices charge for that option. My last argument is that many of our clients sign a mortgage, and agree to make payments for up to 40 years, and they do not know the due date for their payments. 98% of the loans that I have had access to all have the same due date, which is the 1st of each and every month. Whether or not your loan is being transferred to another lender, your payments are still due the same exact date. The statements do get sent out, we have no reason not to send them, but regardless of that fact, your payments are still due, and they will continue to be due for whatever time frame your loan is active for. I am not trying to come off as being rude, I am purely using common sense with that last statement.

This is taken directly off of CitiMortgage's website under the Online Payment Options. I guess I've never had to pay the fee because I usually make my payment 1-2 weeks before my due date... "Single Online Payment (Web Pay) Enjoy the convenience of making your payment each month online. Enrollment is not required and you can initiate a one-time deduction from your bank account with our Single Online Payment Plan (Web Pay). Web Pay is free for the first 8 days after your payment due date. Payments made after that time will incur a $10.00 fee. With Single Online Payment Plan (Web Pay) you can make a payment today or schedule a payment in the next 30 days."

but $10 fee for online payment is correct, I even considered it when setting up payments for utilities, but the only way to avoid the charge is to set up an autodebit, which can be a bit wicked when money is tight cause it will draw even when you don't want it to draw, because you know the money won't be there,

I have to agree with Noir, something is not right if you are being told it will cost $10 for an online payment or $20 for a mailed payment. I don't believe any company can charge you to mail them a payment, unless that is a late fee. My mortgage was sold by LaSalle to CitiMortgage about six months ago. I didn't even wait for a first payment slip. When I received the notice letter from CitiMortgage I went online, set up my account and began paying online every month via my checking account. I have never been charged anything to make an online payment. ABN AMRO/LaSalle did charge, so I made my payments to them via the My Check Free website, which is a site that is completely free and makes secure payments on your behalf to a large variety of creditors. I use this site to pay any creditor I have that charges me to make payments directly on their websites. More and more companies are waiving fees for online payments, so eventually it will probably be hard to find one that does. I suggest you look deeper into the online payment options at CitiMortgage, as it does not make any sense that some customers would be charged for the service when others are not.

We too are customers of CitiMortgage via the Standard Federal/ABN AMRO/LaSalle/Citi route. I wasn't happy either when LaSalle sold our mortgage, either.. That aside, I don't understand why you are being charged $10 for an online payment or $20 for a mailed payment. Is your mortgage held with CitiMortgage or CitiFinancial? I pay our mortgage online every month. I don't pay a $10 processing fee -- I don't pay any fee for an ACH tranaction. I can pay up to the due date without penality and I can schedule my payment in advance (i.e. I can set up the payment on the 10th of the month to pull on the 30th when the payment is due). No problems so far. But I do check my account monthly because of all the negative press about Citi. I agree that their left hand doesn't know what their right hand is doing regarding mailing addresses. Everytime I call I get a different address, which is why I will not mail my payment. But my experiences with their online payment process has been problem-free so far. N-

If this is true, why didn't my initial payment slip(mailed to me prior to the change-over) generate a timely billing the following month?? I have asked for a procedural change from the lender, as their method is very nearly an unfair collection practice according to sources in the AGs office. The lack of timely processing once payment is received has been documented by USPS and Fed Ex (which offer return receipt for a little extra cost)... this delay also would delay processing of the next billing slip, which naturally will generate a later payment the following month, until the practice itself makes a late payment inevitable As it stands, Citi is swallowing up little banks, leaving little competition to borrow from, other than big national banks like themselves. Even if I can get a loan from a local lender or brokerage, it is likely it will end up sold to Citi or Chase, or some other Megabank, so I am back in the same boat, perhaps with a bit less interest, but still the problem persists I have no problem facing off against this lender and seeking a just resolution, as I have plenty of equity and could easily jump ship to Chase anytime if they don't want to bother....

If this is true, why didn't my initial payment slip(mailed to me prior to the change-over) generate a timely billing the following month?? I have asked for a procedural change from the lender, as their method is very nearly an unfair collection practice according to sources in the AGs office. The lack of timely processing once payment is received has been documented by USPS and Fed Ex (which offer return receipt for a little extra cost)... this delay also would delay processing of the next billing slip, which naturally will generate a later payment the following month, until the practice itself makes a late payment inevitable As it stands, Citi is swallowing up little banks, leaving little competition to borrow from, other than big national banks like themselves. Even if I can get a loan from a local lender or brokerage, it is likely it will end up sold to Citi or Chase, or some other Megabank, so I am back in the same boat, perhaps with a bit less interest, but still the problem persists I have no problem facing off against this lender and seeking a just resolution, as I have plenty of equity and could easily jump ship to Chase anytime if they don't want to bother....

If this is true, why didn't my initial payment slip(mailed to me prior to the change-over) generate a timely billing the following month?? I have asked for a procedural change from the lender, as their method is very nearly an unfair collection practice according to sources in the AGs office. The lack of timely processing once payment is received has been documented by USPS and Fed Ex (which offer return receipt for a little extra cost)... this delay also would delay processing of the next billing slip, which naturally will generate a later payment the following month, until the practice itself makes a late payment inevitable As it stands, Citi is swallowing up little banks, leaving little competition to borrow from, other than big national banks like themselves. Even if I can get a loan from a local lender or brokerage, it is likely it will end up sold to Citi or Chase, or some other Megabank, so I am back in the same boat, perhaps with a bit less interest, but still the problem persists I have no problem facing off against this lender and seeking a just resolution, as I have plenty of equity and could easily jump ship to Chase anytime if they don't want to bother....

As a former employee, please allow me to explain the billing method used. Citi uses a bill/receipt method, which means that a billing statement is produced upon receipt of your payment. So, if they receive your February payment on the 1st, the statement for you March payment will be generated on the 1st. You control when they generate your statements based on when you make your payments.

I thought about photocopying the billing slip, but so far in the 5 months they have managed my mortgage, they have had 3 billing addresses on this account (as they acquire banks and mortgage lenders they change servicing centers. First it was St Louis, then Somewhere in IL, just outside of Chicago (i recognized the zip code) now it says Columbus OH, which I hope is the last change. If I send it to the wrong location, I'm afraid they will claim it was not timely, or they are unable to assign payment to the correct account, since it went to a center that no longer handles my account (I have been reading others reports of similar excuses made for checks they have cashed and yet never attributed to the correct account (apparently they have thousands of dollars they deposit to an unassigned account and attempt to determine later what loans they are to service with these payments. even with proof from mortgagees' checking accounts, they have sought late fees and foreclosures against customers. and then they buy the rights to the Rose Bowl I guess they see themselves as the "Grand-daddy of them all" (inconsiderate lenders, that is). I have file complaints with State AG and RESPA, but don't expect any action on my situation, but I hope others complaints improve the performance of this lender

I don't see what is so complicated here. If you don't get a payment coupon early enough to send your payment in on time, here is a simple solution. Make several photocopies of the next statement you get from your Lender. You know what your payment is normally supposed to be right? Then just send in your check with a hand notation for the correct date on one of the photocopies and be done with it. If you always send it early enough then you shouldn't have any issues, right?

thanks to John, but RESPA cannot compel a change in standard processing practices of a lender who is not under sanction or a court-ordered injunction. apparently Citi has not violated enough people's rights to warrant this level of action, despite the vast number of complaints on various websites all over the net unite and fight the big bully banks! We're not gonna take it! Hell no we ain't gonna take it we're not gonna take it, anymore.

I believe you want to look into RESPA laws if I remember correctly. Look at other mortgage complaints and there may be info in them.

I believe you want to look into RESPA laws if I remember correctly. Look at other mortgage complaints and there may be info in them.

I believe you want to look into RESPA laws if I remember correctly. Look at other mortgage complaints and there may be info in them.

I believe you want to look into RESPA laws if I remember correctly. Look at other mortgage complaints and there may be info in them.