I have never been treated so poorly in my life as I have been by Citi Bank. I need help.
I will try to make this brief.
My wife Heather and I had a credit card with a balance of $2100. After I lost my job and was 30 days late on a couple of occasions on my Citi card, I was looking for a way to help myself out of debt. I called Citi Card and discussed my options, because the interest rate was 29% or something like that. They talked about settling the debt by making three payments of $565.11, after which the debt would be settled. I could save myself $500. I have been trying to get my credit straightened out so that I could refinance my house and lower the interest rate.
I talked to Robert Price at Price Daniels group (a credit repair person), and he advised me not to do that. I called them back and told them that I did not want to settle the debt. I agreed to make a $565.11 payment, which they took, to get my account current. I also set up automatic payments of $200 until the debt was paid in full. Citi had been taking the payments for 3 months: May, June and July. They also agreed to lower the interest and penalties as long as I set up auto drafts for $200 until the account was paid in full.
Everything was fine until my neighbor received a phone call from a collection agency trying to locate me. (Citi had my contact information.) They did not disclose who they were; however, they left contact info and said it was of a personal nature. I'm sure he called the number to make sure it was real and then called me and told me about the phone call. I was embarrassed when I found out that it was a collection agency, and I had no idea what it was about.
I wanted to get to the bottom of what was going on, so I called the collection agent, and they told me that it was the Citi Card account. I told her it was a mistake because I had an auto draft set up. I then called Citi Bank card services and spoke with a customer service rep, who told me they saw the payments and were not sure what was going on. I spoke with a supervisor, and they were not sure why they had turned it over to collections. After I was on hold for 30 minutes, they came back on the line and told me that I did not meet the terms of the settlement, that they had turned it over to collections, and that there was nothing they could do about it. This was July 3rd, and they took the auto draft payment on July 7th. I am a little confused, to say the least.
I called back to speak to a supervisor, and they refused to talk to me. The collection person called again, and I told her about the payments I had made, and she basically called me a liar. I sent her a fax and proved that I had made all of the payments just as I stated. I called back, and she stated that she had received the fax and was going to talk to her boss and find out what happened and why. I called every day to see what she had found out. She found out nothing. She called yesterday and wanted to work out a payoff plan and even tried to settle the account. I responded, "This is wrong!" She stated that it was not reported on my credit report and that we could settle it and it would say "paid as agreed." I asked if it had not been reported to the credit bureaus, and she said no. I have this conversation recorded.
The balance now on the account is approximately $935. I have paid $1165 on the account since April, and then they turned it over to collections. I don't get it.
The collection agency sent a letter yesterday saying they were going to obtain a judgment.
All I want is for this to be corrected. Let's be very clear: I did not have to make the $200 payments; I elected to do so. I did not agree to a settlement, which they say that I did. Why would Citi Card turn a customer over to collections for paying more than the minimum payment? I was trying to do the right thing. I owed the money, and it was only fair that I pay the bill.
All I want is for this to be made right. I hope I don't get a form letter response.
I have every document if you would like to see them.
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