Citifinancial Auto
December Skip-Pay Offer Never Posted, Account Reported Past Due

Letter to Citifinancialauto, which also details the events:

To whom it may concern,

Below are the details of a series of events that has occurred with Citifinancialauto over the course of the last few weeks.

The short version is as follows:

I contacted Citifinancialauto on 12.08.07 to take advantage of a "skip-pay" program offered to customers in good standing, which gave them the ability to skip their December payment. I called on 12.08 at 9:02am and took advantage of the program. I was told that my next payment would be due "on 01.15.08."

Citifinancialauto made an error and failed to post the "skip-payment" for December, which caused my account to go "past due." After multiple failed calls, meaningless conversations, poor customer service, and the failure of your management to return ANY promised phone calls, my account is now showing as past due on my credit report.

Citifinancialauto is now in violation of the federal lending laws which govern the fair and accurate handling of account information and credit practices, including the FCRA. Failure to correct the error may result in further action by me, as appropriate.

The long version is as follows:

12.08.07, 9:02am EST. During the month of December, I received a letter stating that I could "Skip my December Payment." The letter contained a number (866-917-7842, shown on my phone bill below) which I called on 12.08.07. I spoke to a "Chris," who said that my account was noted and that my next payment due was going to be 01.15.08. (I still have a copy of the letter with a note regarding the person's name and the next due date communicated to me.)

Call details to your skip-pay office, per AT&T, are as follows and are hereby documented.

Fast forward a few weeks: On Saturday, 01.05.08 at approx. 3:15 pm, I received a call from Citifinancial Auto (in India?) stating that my account was past due. I advised the rep that my account was NOT past due, and I explained the letter. He stated he had "no record of the skip-payment and that I would continue to receive calls until I made a payment."

01.07.08: I called Citifinancial Auto at 800-486-1750.
- At 10am I spoke to a "Jessica" and explained what happened. She promised to connect me to someone who could help, and hung up on me.
- At 10:10am, I called back and spoke to a "Ms. Berry," explained again what had happened, and asked to speak to a supervisor. She blind-transferred me to someone's voicemail.
- At 10:15am, I called back and spoke to a "Laura" and again explained the situation. She advised me that she was in the collections area and that she could arrange a deferred payment, but it would have to be based on "hardship." I explained that I should not have to do that, that I had already arranged to have the payment skipped based on the letter I received, and that no further action should be required of me.

She connected me to a "Termaine" in the department that apparently originally handled the "skip pay promotion." Termiane indicated he would not help me and he would have to connect me to a supervisor named "Charles," who was not in.

At 10:25 am on 01.07.08, I left a voicemail with a man (apparently named Charles Fisher). Mr. Fisher never returned my call.

01.07.08, 4:00pm: I obtained from my home file a copy of the letter allowing skip-pay. It has the name of the rep I spoke to (Chris) and the next payment due date (01.15.08) quoted to me at the time of the conversation.

01.07.08, 4:42pm: The call from Charles never came, so I called back with the above letter in hand. I told Ms. Beecham the issue, and she transferred me to a Mr. Rice (supervisor). I was blind-transferred to his voicemail, so I left a brief message.

01.07.08, 4:50pm: I called back again and got a Ms. Page. I explained to Ms. Page what happened and was put on hold. Ms. Page returned and advised me that I needed to call the number on the letter. I asked her why she could not connect me, and she said that since I had been bounced around so much, she preferred that I call instead. I asked her for a supervisor, and she blind-transferred me to a number where I got a recording: "you have reached a non-working number."

01.07.08, 4:57pm: I called back again and got a "Marie." I explained the situation to her. She advised I had two options: I could give her the number on the letter and she could connect me, or she could get a supervisor there. I asked for a supervisor.

01.07.08, 5:00pm: Marie connected me to a "Chrissy," a manager? I explained to Chrissy what happened. I was placed on hold at 5:17 pm for a manager in the skip-pay department. Chrissy reached "Sydney." Chrissy stayed on the line and waited for the supervisor with me.

01.07.08, 5:20 pm: "Greta" came to the phone (in skip pay). Chrissy explained to Greta that she showed me as 22 days past due, that I qualified for skip-pay, and that she "felt it was unfair to request me to do a deferred payment when we made the error." "Greta" apparently understood the situation and said that she would send an email to "Charley." I asked her if that was the Charles Fisher who was supposed to call me back earlier that day. She said yes, and that Charley was out that day but she would send him an email. I advised her he also had a voicemail from me from 10:25am the same day. Greta explained that she didn't know if Charley could do an override since my account was now past due (??!!). Greta gave me a phone number, 972-653-9224, and her hours (she arrives at 9:30 CST). She advised me to call her back by 2 or 3 on 01.08.08 if I had not received a call from Charley.

01.08.08, 2:26 pm: I received a collection call from Citifinancialauto (from India?) from # 803.835.2505 stating that my account was "22 days past due" and that I needed to make a payment. I advised the rep of the situation, told her I was working it out with the main office, that she needed to note my account, and that she should contact the Citifinancialauto main office if she had any issues. I said "ok?" and the rep then hung up on me.

01.08.08, 2:59 pm: I called Greta at 972-653-9224 and advised her that I had not received a call from either supervisor, specifically her or Charles Fisher, regarding my issue. I asked her to call me back anytime.

01.08.08: I received another collection call. I explained the situation to the rep. He noted the account. I told him that the matter was underway and that I had sent an email to the disputes department. I called Greta at the 972 number, got voicemail, and left a message asking her to call me.

01.09.08 (Day 5), 2:30pm: Still no call from Charley or Greta to date, so I called Greta back.

01.10.08: I received another collection call today, which I did not answer. I called Greta again at the 972 number, asking her to simply call me back and let me know the status of my situation. No callback was received.

01.14.08, 10:12am: I sent a complaint to the Dispute Resolution Department at Citifinancialauto via email. No email, voicemail, or written response to date.

01.14.08, 4:09pm: I contacted the Better Business Bureau. A complaint was filed under file # 32004871. The BBB returned contact, stating the file was being processed.

01.16.08, 12 noon: I called the customer service number and got transferred to an "account manager"? I was placed on hold, then someone came to the line. They asked for account info and, without warning, put me back on hold again. Then I was transferred back into the same queue.

01.16.08: This dial-transfer comedy of errors continued for several return calls until I got a "Kim," who had to connect me to another area but gave me 888-433-5107 "in case we were disconnected."

I was disconnected again, so I called the 888 number back. After several transfers and holds, I was transferred to "JuJoe" (spelling?). I explained the entire situation to JuJoe and advised him I had filed a report with the BBB on 01-14. He said, in what can be mildly described as hard-to-understand and broken English, that "there is not record you called for a skip-pay... You did not call us until 01-07."

I explained again that that info was incorrect. I asked him, short of suing Citifinancialauto, what we could do to straighten this issue out today. His answer? Make a payment today. I asked him again why I needed to make a payment other than the current payment. He explained that I could make the current past due payment (according to him, the December payment they were supposed to defer) and he could defer my payment for the January payment. (Based on my history with Citifinancialauto thus far, I am leery of doing that. Will it go through? Will I qualify since my account is past due (their fault)? A comedy of errors.)

I asked him if he saw anything regarding a dispute. He said he saw notes that my account "had a dispute on it" and I "needed to call the dispute dept." I advised him that I had heard nothing from the dispute area. (It sounded like he was trying to get me off of his line.) He gave me 800-711-4945.

I called 800-711-4945, but the menu options do not indicate anything regarding disputes and do not allow you to do anything other than speak back to customer service.

01.18.08, 10:00 am: The comedy of errors continues. When I attempted to make the ONE payment that is now due, $570.16, I was blocked from doing so online. The message indicates I need to "call customer service."

The remedy:

I am demanding due diligence in this matter, as follows:

(1) Process the skip-pay that was originally requested, or skip any current payment to bring my account current. This should not require any action on my part.
(2) Correct the credit bureau report error, which shows my account as aging past 30 days.
(3) Re-age my account, as appropriate, to show real-time status.
(4) Refund any late fees and residual finance charges as a result of your error.
(5) Re-allow access to online payment.

It is clear to me that your process is broken. Not only is your voice-response system a confused maze of menus, but your customer service department has failed to meet my needs as a consumer. They have also failed to assist a customer who is quite clearly able to document that the error in question is the fault of their organization, and NOT the customer.

In addition, the managers named above (Charles Fisher and Greta) have no business in management. Simply failing to return a concerned customer's phone calls, specifically after promising to do so, is enough evidence that not only is customer service not a part of their organization's agenda, but it is also clearly not their strength.

As a manager with a Fortune100 financial firm myself, I can say that the constant and repeated pattern shown above, resulting in the failure of Citifinancialauto to exercise due diligence, is grounds enough for dismissal of staff. It also places your firm on shaky legal ground at best.

I am eagerly awaiting your response.

Company: Citifinancial Auto
Country: USA
State: Texas
City: Coppell
Address: PO Box 9575
Phone: 8004861750

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