Our mortgage was moved from ABN Amro to Citi Mortgage, and we groaned at the news. Citi Group had already given us serious trouble once it assumed our Sears credit account, which is a Mastercard.
No payment book was issued. Citi chooses to mail each payment notice separately, and these notices always show up too late for us to pay by the due date. As an example, the slip for our Jan 1 payment came today (12-31-07), accompanied by another Citi letter that is dated 12-19-07. Mail from Dayton to their payment center in Columbus, Ohio, needs 1-2 days at the very most, yet every month since Citi assumed the account, our payments have been posted on the 16th or later.
Is this ethical? Absolutely not. Is it illegal? I guess that remains to be seen, because Citi still has approval to operate in Ohio and the majority of other states, though that may have to change.
What can I do to make Citi offer either a fair way to pay without a fee (they ask $10 for an online payment and $20 for a mailed check, which is a ripoff), or a payment book so that I can mail the payment ahead of the due date?
Do any of these practices break a statute in a way that could trigger an investigation by a state or federal attorney general?
They have not sent a 30-day late notice yet, but I will check next week to be certain. Their usual routine is to threaten a late fee, push you into paying electronically, and then send the late notice regardless.
This is a call for action: we should not let them win, and intimidation tactics of this kind cannot be tolerated.
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