CitiFinancial Auto
Total Loss Left $4,000 Balance, Conflicting Answers From Staff

Working with CitiFinancial Auto turned into a complete nightmare. After a crash, my insurer ruled the car a total loss and said it would pay CitiFinancial the car's value. That sum fell short of my loan balance, and with no Gap insurance I was left owing $4000.

CitiFinancial and I were both told of the ruling on one day. I rang them straight away to ask how they proposed to handle the four thousand dollars. My idea was a fresh loan that would absorb the leftover amount, similar to what dealerships do for a trade-in toward a new purchase.

Failing that, I asked whether the $490 monthly payment could come down to a more affordable figure. A replacement vehicle was going to need financing, and I did not want to carry two heavy car payments, especially when one covered a car that had ceased to exist. Because the amount at stake was small, all I asked for was some flexibility.

Twenty minutes on hold got me to a person who could help, since the first representative could not. They then transferred me through seven departments and nine people, each offering information that clashed with the last. The final message was that cases like mine are routine, that they would happily lower my payments, and that new arrangements had to wait until the insurer's check came in.

A week later I called to set up the new terms. The check had just arrived, they said, and it needed to post to my account, so I should ring the next week. With the month ending, I demanded a supervisor or manager so the matter would be resolved.

The line rolled to voicemail, so I left a message and stopped for the day. Five days went by without a return call, and when I rang once more, a different employee told me that no payment arrangements are offered and that my loan contract had to be honored.

I was thunderstruck. When I requested a supervisor, the representative repeated that he could handle my questions and I had no need for one. We argued for roughly ten minutes until I flatly insisted, and I ended up in somebody's voicemail box, where I left a message.

I was too angry to think straight, so I held off and phoned again after calming down the next day. Getting a supervisor proved just as hard, but after another ten minutes on hold, a representative advised that I should ask for a modification of my loan.

I wondered how that would help, as modifications are based on income and require proof of hardship. My new car was still unbought, so no hardship existed yet. I was simply preparing for the strain I knew would arrive after buying it. Again I got the line that this was just paperwork and the sole way to reduce my payments.

The representative asked about my expenses for the modification and I gave the answers, after which I was promised a decision in two days. I also checked whether I owed the payment currently due, and was told I did not, as the modification process was underway. No call came for a week. When I contacted Citifinancial to ask where the request stood, they said it was rejected.

The explanation was that I had no hardship and was able to keep paying. I replied that I was aware of that, since I had not bought a car, but I could not delay arranging things with them any further. I passed on what the supervisor had said, that the process was a formality and was how they assist customers like me. They told me firmly that this was untrue, and that I had to satisfy the modification criteria to get reduced payments.

Next I asked if their records showed my calls and the advice I had earlier received, and whether an appeal was possible. He confirmed seeing my calls but said nothing could be done, and that I should carry on paying according to my loan agreement.

Why had nobody phoned me with the result as I was promised? I was told that following up on my account was up to me. I then asked whether a late fee would apply, given that an earlier representative had said I need not pay. The answer was yes: no payment had been made, so I was late and the fees had to be added.

Once more I requested a supervisor to report all these contradictory statements. My call went to voicemail again, and the automated voice (you have 15 seconds) interrupted my attempt to explain. So I have accepted that this company is rigid, cold and unprofessional, and does not stand by what its staff wrongly tell people.

Company: CitiFinancial Auto
Country: USA
State: Texas
City: Coppell
Address: P.O Box 9575
Phone: 8004861750

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