I was part of the class action suit against Citifinancial, and on January 28 I received a letter from Citifinancial stating that they had received my settlement check from the FTC lawsuit and would apply it to the principal of my loan.
I spoke to two people from Citifinancial customer service and told them I was never informed that the settlement check would go straight to Citifinancial.
I then told them I would like the settlement check applied to two mortgage payments and a payment due to the escrow account, and that the rest could be applied to the principal. I was informed that this would be arranged and to expect the settlement check to be applied the way I asked.
Well, that never happened. To this date my account has only received $420.00 out of $1,429.09, which is sitting in escrow.
I have been told by Citifinancial to call every few days to check on the settlement money.
Needless to say, when I called Citifinancial today, March 4, my call was directed to the collections department. A young man there, Andre, told me that Citifinancial could do whatever they wanted with the money, that it was up to them, and that it was my responsibility to pay my payments on time. He then told me that if I did not send a payment in today, he would start foreclosure proceedings against me.
I advised him that I was deceived by Citifinancial, and his reply was that I was "misinformed." I have contacted the Federal Trade Commission and have filed a complaint.
I called Citifinancial again, and the same young man answered my call. When I asked him, "Was it you that I spoke to?" he replied, "I never talked to you today." I recognized his voice, and he was singing a different tune.
You see, when Citifinancial settled that lawsuit, they wanted to make sure all the consumers' checks were applied to their principal, so in reality Citifinancial did not lose a single dime.
If I am late on a payment, they threaten foreclosure. If I am late on my taxes, they threaten foreclosure.
Predatory lenders like Citifinancial prey on low income people, high credit risks and senior citizens, and go to any lengths to take homes away from people. They charge high interest rates so that the consumer is paying the interest on the first 10 years of the loan.
The lawsuit that Citifinancial settled was for snowjobbing people into buying credit insurance.
They have not been slammed with a lawsuit for unfair debt practices, and that is what they need. They need to be put out of business so that they cannot prey on the consumer anymore.
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