Citi Bank Inc
Late Payments Still Reported Despite Payment Arrangement

On October 5 I applied for a refinance loan and my credit was pulled. I have over 12 months of late payments with my Citibank MasterCard showing on all 3 credit bureaus. I was concerned about this, since I entered into an agreement with them in September, and I have been paying each month, automatically withdrawn from my account, the entire time. I was unemployed and had asked to make arrangements until I could get back on my feet. Citi bank was the only bank that continued to report me. I thought that contacting them and arranging a plan to pay, instead of ignoring the debt and not paying, was the right thing to do as a consumer. I owned up to my situation and asked for help. Little did I know it did not matter, and the arrangements would not help me at all.

In October I phoned Citi bank and spoke with Tim Collins. I informed him in writing of my concern and could not understand why any late payments were being reported. He informed me I had an outstanding balance of 428.00. I had no idea I had that, since I had the arrangement in place. I paid the 428.00 on October 26th, and Tim advised me he would research my complaint and that he understood my situation since "he is a consumer too." He said he would phone me in 3 days with the outcome. He did not phone me. I had to call and talk to Dawn, Mr. Stork's assistant, who transferred me to a person named Mike, who assured me that he would call me back that day (Friday). I finally got a call back on Friday, and he stated he needed to research more and did not have the information. There was no recording or documentation of the conversation about my arrangement. He stated he would call me on Monday or Tuesday to give me the final answer. He called me on my cell phone, which is the number I asked him to call me on.

On Tuesday I got a call at my home number (which is in my record, but I had asked him to call my cell) to inform me that what they report is accurate. They will not remove the late payments from my report. I asked him if he had listened to the recorded conversations, and he told me that they did not have the recordings, as they do not keep them on file all the time. I asked him how long they are kept on file, and he did not know. I asked him if there were notes saying that they had told me I had a late, overdue payment outstanding and that I would have to pay that in addition to the arranged payments. He did not see that conversation. I asked if he had any proof that they had informed me of that, and he stated no. It was just their policy. He stated he had reviewed this with his supervisor and they determined that it was final. I asked to speak with the supervisor, and he stated that she was unavailable and would not speak to me. He gave me the name of Linda on team 8100. I then called Ken Stork's office and left him a message, and I did not receive a call back from him. I called the next day to talk to Dawn, and she transferred me to Tim Collins again. He said he met with Mr. Stork and that the decision was final. I asked to speak with Mr. Stork, and Tim stated he does not take phone calls and that he was his voice and there was no way I would be able to talk with him. I then asked if he met in person or on the phone. He told me that was none of my business, and that he would send out a letter stating the results.

I was not happy with that answer and called Mr. Stork's office again. I was transferred to a Teresa Anderson, who said she would investigate again and let me know. Well, I had to call her back since she would not call me, and they came to the same conclusion as Tim. I then told her that I was misled, that I had an agreement with Citi bank to pay my bill, and that there was no mention of any late pay. On November 9th I found my documentation from Citibank regarding my payment arrangements. It states in the letter: "Please pay the agreed upon amount even if a different amount is printed on your monthly billing statement." Teresa stated that the agreement does not say it will take care of my outstanding balance. This makes no accounting sense. They contend they will continue to show me late until I make an additional payment, which their own agreement tells me not to make. The agreement shows a balance and no mention of an outstanding balance. Teresa stated, "Ms. [removed] there is nothing we are going to do about this," and she did not even want a copy of the letter.

Since I have tried countless times to communicate with Citi bank, I am now forced as a consumer to prove that I am not guilty. I will be filing complaints with the Attorney General(s), the FTC, the Office of the Comptroller of the Currency, the FDIC, the BBB, Consumer Affairs, the US Justice Department, and the Federal Reserve (OMB). Why hasn't something been done to help the consumer, especially since my tax money helped them out of their financial mess? How come Citi Card doesn't help their customers? They have no compassion and could not care less about their customers.

Company: Citi Bank Inc
Country: USA

  <     >