Twice already I have been offered a lower interest rate. Sounds good, right? That is what I thought. What they fail to point out is that your term has now been extended, if it is 40 months, to 83 or more months, from the original loan. (Realistically, I would never do that, and I do not think anyone else would.)
What is pointed out and focused on is that your payments are now lower and your interest rate was lowered. (The payments are lowered very little.)
The initial loan was for 40 months, then 84 months were added.
I did not notice it because my payments appeared to be lower, and I thought I was being rewarded with a lower interest rate for paying on time.
It was not until I went into their office to update them with new information that I was told again, now twice after 6 months, "Hey, you're eligible to have your interest rate lowered again."
I told the office worker that I was in a hurry, and he assured me that it would be really quick.
After going home, my wife and I reviewed the documents and noticed another additional 84 months added on, with the interest rate lowered only 2% from what it was before.
I went in first thing the next morning, as the office was already closed, and brought my wife with me, because she is very knowledgeable about accounting and finance.
The man at the counter was not able to produce the proper numbers to match what my wife had figured out, and he became very nervous.
He was saying that your initial 12 months are very high interest. He was also asked whether they were closing the account and reopening it as if it were new. He said no, but the account numbers looked different.
At that point a lady from the back came out and was very rude and sarcastic to my wife in front of other customers.
She went on to say out loud, "Oh, your credit isn't great!" and I mentioned that I have never missed a payment and have good standing credit.
She again blurted out in a loud, sarcastic tone to my wife, "Do you work in banking?" and "I don't have to talk to you. Your husband signed it. That's his fault."
I was honestly looking for a resolution, not a debate, an argument or tit for tat.
I just felt that Citifinancial, as a financial institution, had my best interest in mind, and that I was misled and deceived into signing something without being told that my monthly payments were being extended by years, making the initial loan double in the amount now owed.
I was told they cannot go back to the original loan, because they would have to raise the interest, and Citifinancial would not allow them to do that.
When I told them I would report them, I was told, "Go ahead, we're protected by the state of California!" My wife responded that the state of California is broke, and the man there laughed out loud and said, "That's a good comeback." Then the lady, almost as if attempting to add further problems, said, "If you stop your check we will pursue criminal actions. So go ahead!" It was provoking us to do just that and cause problems, as if that is what she wanted.
I have kept a good standing credit, and I refuse to allow someone, on a personal level, to attempt to ruin that.
I walked out feeling violated, misled and robbed, and feeling that my wife was disrespected.
I want to handle this in a professional manner. I am a service connected veteran with an excellent and long work history, and I pay all my debts and loans. I just get the impression that they are very well rehearsed in this tactic and can take advantage of other people, and when I brought my wife, who is knowledgeable about accounting, they became very nervous and extremely rude.
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