I got this letter in the mail today. I knew as soon as I touched it that it couldn't be good. It just felt wrong. Since it was a dance night and I had a headache, I set the mail down and proceeded to feed my kids and take a couple of pills for my head. I should have just opened the letter. When I got around to it, I was so pissed I picked up the phone and dialed the 800 number.
Let me take a minute to say that the rest of this post will be full of expletives and a poor man named Alfred that answered the phone. Customer service is not the easiest job to do, but when letters like this one go out, I do not envy the person that answers the phone. That was Alfred. If you are sensitive in any way, pass on by. If not, read on. If you're here to watch the train wreck, pop some corn.
The letter stated that my interest rate would be raised to 29.99%. Are you kidding me? You cannot be serious. Oh, but they were. There was an opt out option. I could close my account, pay off the balance according to the current terms, and not ever use my Citibank account again. All these years of paying on time, paying above the minimum, and being a great customer straight down the drain. Now, it is for new purchases only. All of my previous purchases would not be affected. They can still kiss my ass.
Alfred was the name of the man with heavily accented English that answered the phone. I wasn't even calling the freakin' US. I was calling to bitch to a call center in India, or Abu Dhabi, or wherever they can pay people a buck 0 five an hour to listen to prissy, pampered, spoiled Americans gripe about their credit card rates. I asked Alfred what the hell the problem was and why my rate was being changed. Guess the magic answer. Due to the current economic situation, Citibank felt it necessary to raise rates for many people not just me. Oh, Alfred, you poor man. You do not even know who you are speaking to. Bless you heart (which in this case DOES mean "You're so stupid").
I fucking own Citibank. The American public paid for Citibank to get them out of this jam. What did they do with their money? They paid bonuses to the same idiots that got them in this trouble. Why? Because they are a bunch of dumb asses that are greedy and have no clue how to run a business, much less a bank. My current economic situation has me paying my bills on time and still struggling it out like every good American should be doing.
Hubby has worked his ass off all summer so we could dig ourselves out from under this load of shit. We have not qualified for one damn incentive that the Obama administration has instituted. We can't refinance because we aren't behind on our mortgage. The $4500 for a new car doesn't apply to us because we couldn't find a new car big enough for all of us that got better gas mileage than what we have now. Hubby probably made too much money for us to be able to qualify for money to send me back to school. And now this crap.
I can opt out of the program. Here's what happens when I do that. I kiss all my hard work and my good credit standing good bye. It reduces my available credit, which lowers my credit score. Hubby and I have not always had the best credit. We used to have incredibly bad credit. We have worked really hard to get it where it is. Alfred said it wouldn't reflect negatively because they wouldn't report it to the agencies. You are a stupid man, Alfred. I told him that was what I do. I do credit. I have worked with credit for many years and was even a credit manager at one time. No, they won't report bad credit to the agencies, he was right about that. But it takes several years worth of credit and throws it out the window. It takes all of my hard work and screws me with it. No kiss, no rub, no foreplay, no lube. Just a hard pounding. And I don't even get a good orgasm out of it.
I told Alfred he was the lucky man that answered the phone. I told him that his job was not easy. Then I told him he could take that letter and shove it up his ass. I told him that the American public bailed Citibank out, but they could only continue to fuck up. I unloaded on him and made the reputation of Americans to those overseas that answer these call a reality. Poor Alfred will probably learn more English cuss words over the next few days than he will ever want to know. I taught him a couple myself. Say it with me, Alfred. It just proves to me that once again, the little man gets taken for a ride. I told him if he was smart, he would cut up all his cards.
I could vent for days. I think I am going to close the account and just pay it off. As much as it kills me, it would hurt me more to give them any more of my money than I already owe them. 29.99% is insane. Stupid Citibank. My advice to you: it's coming. Do what you can to pay it off before it does. Just don't bend over or you might get reamed, too.
5 comments:
Ditto!! Ditto!! Ditto!! Oh, yeah, and DITTO!!!!
I already commented on your Facebook post, but I didn't get to hear the whole story until I read your blog post. This does seriously suck, and not in a good way. I'm glad you closed your account, but maybe it doesn't completely nullify all of the good work that you have done. Opening new credit may not be as difficult, but the question is... do you want to? Usury should be a crime in all states, not just in Delaware and South Dakota and all the places that will let companies charge such high interest rates. I think it's a good idea for us all to cut the cards and use debit cards and keep one card for emergencies/reservations.
I had a come-to-Jesus meeting with myself about a week ago and was heartsick to discover that Jeff and I had run up just over $36K in credit card debt. He had handled the bills and I stepped back and didn't get too involved. This was partly due to us having a huge fight one time after I checked the mail and I put a bill in the wrong place. So I never touched the damn bills again until we broke up, and I realized what a mess I was in. So, I figured it was either CCCS or bankruptcy, and I think CCCS is the better option. They are negotiating with my creditors on my behalf and they believe they will be able to cut my payments by more than half, and I'll be completely out of credit card debt by 2013. Sure, it may affect my credit adversely, but it's already in bad shape because of the high balances. I'm learning the value of living a simpler life.
Love you!
Scott
I got the same letter... just opened it tonight. I see no reason why they need to gouge -- greedy bastards. The decision makers don't care about anyone but themselves, and getting a short-term return to line their f***'n pockets.
It reminds me of the many companies who've laid folks off and cut salaries, so they can still make a large return for their organization, and therefore themselves. This is just another message that we should be supporting local, little guys, and not give our hard earned dollars to big corporations.
Big business has our "elected" officials in their pockets too. If they were representing you and I, we'd never see this crap.
Citibank's customer service is terrible.
I just wasted a significant amount of time trying to make them understand their mistake.
join citibank sucks on facebook: http://www.facebook.com/group.php?gid=45491121732
and follow Ariana’s advice and move your money: http://www.huffingtonpost.com/arianna-huffington/move-your-money-a-new-yea_b_406022.html
Hi,
I would just like to share my bad experience with Citibank.
Basically if you close your citibank account, you will lose all your thank you points within 30 days. They do not tell you this and will refuse to reinstate the points even if you rejoin.
Because of this I will never do business with Citibank ever again. I spent over 50k on the card and even with the loyalty, they refused to honor my Thank you points.
On top of that the Thank you program reduced the value of the points where 1 point = $1. I would rather get a cashback card of 1% where you are guaranteed 1% back.
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