Citibank
reviews and complaints

Citibank people just sucking people's blood.After pre-closing my personal loan, citibank just taken my EMI amount and fined 200 rs.I asked to revert my money, the customer care person (V Saranya & Poornima solai rajedran) said no option to revert.Kindly Don't ever go for Citibank for any kind of transactions in future...
This is more equalvent to Crime Number "Nigerian 419"
Personal Loan NUmber : lsbmrk4152322
Citibank also dealing with fake note exchange in all cash counters.

I had taken few polices from Birla Sun Life Insurance through Citi Bank. Citi Bank had approached me for one of the single time investment policy in ULIP and I had given them approval also for investment.

Citi Bank executive has visited my office along with Birla Sun Life Insurance application form / Proposal Form regarding my signature and for the same; I had done my signature also.

They had taken this policy by explaining me single time investment later I came to know from Birla Sun life Insurance that this policy is not a single time investment you need to Pay of Rs. 5, 00, 000/- every year and without my knowledge Citi Bank had made my 2nd & 3rd Year premium amount also by ECS.

And after discussion with Mr. Sanjay M. Sharma (employee of Birla Sun life Insurance) he had informed us this policy is belongs to Mr. Jasua Gupta & Mr.Jasua Gupta is life Insured under this policy, then same time I informed Mr. Sharma that how my Son had did their signature in proposal form, because that time Mr. Jasua was not in India.

(In this concern all mail is attached for your reference)

I had asked Birla Sun Life Insurance regarding my policy delivery details and about Life Insured signature now they are not ready to even reply on it, simply they had sent mail stating that they are not going to cancel this captioned policy neither they are ready to inform me about delivery details and fake signature .

They had informed me that Free Look cancellation time has over, but how they can inform like this ones I had not received this captioned policy till date, I had received one letter mentioned single time investment /single pay only & now they are saying they had not sent that latter, Birla Sunlife & Citi Bank both are trying to manipulates my case.

Dear Sir, you are requested to please take an action on it and ask Birla Sun Life about certain things: -

1. Show the recipient details / acknowledgment of delivery under this captioned policy.

2. Who had done Life Insured signature ones Life Insured was not in India at the time proposal.

Ok, I admit that being ripped off is not the kind of thing I easily get over. . Using my Citi Advantage Card, as with all Credit Cards has dual purposes.
1) Back up from retailers who do not provide as promised
2) to build up points for travel.

Now, after Neiman Marcus took 5 weeks to process a return, and in the same day RECHARGED my credit card, and spent 20 hours on the phone, along with faxing my credit card bills to Nieman’s...the problem never was resolved. so I knew the system was not exactly consumer friendly...because That is a no brainer.

Then, my Credit Card was stolen. I had no clue-was out of town and Citi called to tell me. I thought that was great service-incredibly grateful and think they caught the thief. (They would not tell me) They also refused to remove the unauthorized fraudulent charges. HUH? Therefore, I paid an outside/inside company to take a monthly payment out of my account to force Citcards to remove the charges.

Then, as if I had not done 200 hours on the phone with them, Hertz Rental Car over charges my account by $1200. Kind of a big amount...I mean $1, 200?

I spent 6 months and 100's of hours on the phone and providing every single piece of evidence requested (no small task) for 6 months! They put my account on hold; called me 20 times a day...they terrorized me.

Then I would call, explain, again, spend an hour getting through to Fraud, as that is the department that handles Chargeback’s...regardless of how bogus the charge and how clear it is.

One evening an executive from Citi called and spoke frankly with me. Apparently, Hertz would not even discuss the charge with them and he had not seen this kind of behavior in 20 years. I appreciated his candor. But I would have appreciated Citbank treating me as their client, who was charged a random amount before any invoice was calculated or sent to me...or signed by me.

They finally told me I was stuck with the charge, the interest, and now penalties six months later. They have virtually ruined my credit and still wonder...what is going on over there?

I am in receipt of your statement in the amount of $5116.87. The last payment was made on December 23, 2008 in the amount of $119.00 as required by Citibank. On January 17, 2009, I received a statement stating that I would need to pay $386.00 for that months payment. All of a sudden interest was raised, and my payment was beyond my means. At that time, I spoke with collections who informed me that if I made my payment for $119 (as previously advised) my account would be up to date. I called back again January 26, 2009, and was advised they could not locate my account. As I was aware this account was still active, I was transferred to several people who were unable to help me. Again, I did this in February 2009, where I was told NOW the account went to collections. I have contacted Citibank several times regarding this matter and have received no resolution.

My original card was any purchase over $299 was interest/payment is deferred for 6 months. I am still waiting for the letter from Home Depot or where they added the "new purchase" and I was advised that the "new purchase" was not part of the deferred interest/payment plan. All payments were made toward the account, but it was then prorated to both the initial purchase and the "new purchase". With that system of accounting, you can NEVER pay off the "new purchase" in full without paying the entire account in full. This too was not stipulated and I was told differently EVERY time I called.

Further, there are STILL several charges that were never taken off my credit card statement. After several months of having problems with a swing and a sliding glass door, both which were promised to be refunded, I still cant get home depot to give me the credit promised by the store manager.

Its now affecting ALL of my credit and I cant contact CITI because its been sent to collections.

Today, I could not anymore log in to citibank online. It has been my habit that in any day of the way to check or track anything that goes to my citibank credit card. To my surprise, the usual password I entered is not anymore recognized. I called up their Citibank Cebu, Philippines hotline for such complain. I insisted that my laptop has never been used by anybody and I had never used any computer to open for such citibank online. I'm wondering if somebody has really breached in to my account. Does it mean that Internet Security is not anymore effective in Citibank? I was just advised by the agent that my complaint will just be raised. I did not even know what to expect cause until now I still could not log. Thus, I asked just instead for a faxed copy of the updated statement of account.

Here's another catch. Upon receipt of such statement, I was just surprised that two entries came without my knowledge; all were billed from the same vendor with one costing Php 144++ and another P844++. With my recent plight, I called up again Citibank for explanation. As verified by this another agent, such bills are already reversed and I need not to worry because these wont be part of my account anymore.

It is one of the reasons actually why I needed to open such account today to check Citibank's reply as I've already made to ask for clarification regarding such concern. Would this be a strategy for them to block the account in order to clean up the mess so that when opening again, such findings or errors never appear already?

I hope my complaint will be brought to open especially to those who experience the same. It is just unfair for a large company like Citibank to do this kind of trick.

This bank has destroyed me by sueing me over a $120 .00 credit card card payment they said they did not receive on a current account. Every time I tried to fix it either they would tell me I wasn't on their program or some awful person would call and harass me, this was one of the most awful experiences I have ever had. I was sued by them and even though I tried to pay them numerous times they made it impossible for me and the bottom line is, I am being forced to file bankruptcy over an accoun that was current for 2100. that is now up to 9000. in attorney fees, he has tried to levy my car and every thing else and has basically ruined me

Today I recieved a notification from Citibank that my two credit cards interest rates will increase to 29.99%. This increase is basically doubling my current rate. I have been a Citibank customer for 14 years and have never been late on my accounts. When I called to speak to a representative to ask why this was happening I was told that it is an across the board increase. They said they have to increase their pricing due to the economic environment and it had nothing to do with anything I did. Needless to say I am completely shocked and honestly dont know what to do. I have a significant balance on my card and dont want to opt out of the program because they will close my account. That will tarnish my credit report. If I keep the card my monthly minimum payments are going to be so high I dont know if I will be able to afford paying it. I cant believe a company that is nearly 40% owned by the american people due to the recent economic bailout would treat its customers in such a horrible way. Furthermore, it is obvious that they are doing this rate hike now because of the new law that will go into effect in February 2010 banning such interest rate increases . Why isnt there more outrage out there?

I bought some goods from saudia arabia in January 2009, and I put my credits in the next month, and now I have now any credit money in my credit card to deposit it, but what I have after 6 months, a statement from the credit card section of citibank telling me that I have to repay money as a difference in currency between egyptian pound and Saudi Ryal, is it a new way to deal with the customer to compensate your losses in the international financial crsis throught the customers.
My email is [protected]@gmail.com,
Professor of Medicine, Cairo University

My complaint is against Citibank, or more specifically, their credit card division known as Citicards. Back in the Fall they came out with a promotional flyer for the Christmas season whereby you could sign up for a program and get 10% back up to $100 at purchases made at department, discount and apparel stores between certain dates.

The first hint of trouble was that their definition of what they consider to be one of those stores was at best vague. I needed to buy a new computer so I signed up for their program. I never was credited with my $100. Why? It had nothing to do with the item I bought but where I bought it from, Circuit City.

By definition that is considered electronics store and was not eligible for the discount. The bigger problem here was this. In that promotion flyer they listed three examples of how you could save. One was a cashmere scarf for $80, you save $8. Another was a snow blower for $130, you save $13. But the other was a HDTV for $790, you save $79. Now think about this! If you were going to buy an HDTV where would you most likely go to purchase one? That’s right, an electronics store such as Best Buy or Circuit City which doesn’t qualify for the discount!

At the very least this promotional flyer was deceptive. I have cut up my Citibank card and gone with CapitalOne, a much better interest rate as well. I will make sure this costs them more than if they just would have given me my $100. The problem is, they don’t care. Just do a search on this site under Citibank and watch how many complaints come up. That in itself speaks volumes about their customer service, far more than this letter ever will.

I've had a Citibank credit card for years. I've always made my payments on time and more than the minimum balance. I signed up for their autodraft program. I went onto my online banking this month to check on my balances and noticed no payment had been drafted? I then had to go back to their website and make a manual payment 8 days after the original draft date. I received my next scheduled bill with a $39 late fee and a raised interest rate to 29%! I called them to ask to remove the fee and they denied it 3 days later. I called a second time to get it removed and my interest rate returned to its original rate. I get the run around again and am told there is nothing that can be done? What kind of company ### on it's customers who try to do the right thing and fix an honest mistake? I'll never do any business with Citi again and will do everything in my power to get my employer to drop all business with CITI world wide. If you have been burned this way too I urge you to convince as many people as possible NOT to do business with them.

I paid off my Citibank Mastercard ($360.20) and closed my account. Three weeks later, they debited my checking account $360.20. I called and they said I should of closed my autopay when I closed my account. They said they would credit my checking account. Three days later I had not received my credit and I called again. I was told that they always send checks out for refunds and do not credit checking accounts, and that my check was in the mail. Now, one week later, I am still waiting for a check and they tell me my refund is being processed.

Please do not use Citibank.

I am attempting to refinance my primary mortgage at an excellent rate, and part of the requirements is that I have to get my second mortgage with CitiMortgage to submit a subordination agreement to the primary refinancing lender.

CitiMortgage states a 75 day turnaround for a simple request - this is unheard of.

They complain of being flooded with requests - my suggestion is to get some temporary help with the taxpayer money they've STOLEN from us!

My refinancing puts CitiMortgage in a more secure position to receive its paymehts from me, but refuses to expedite subordination agreements in a timely and efficient manner.

My lock expires in a week, and there is no way it will be extended for 75 days.

Not only do I pay my mortgages on time, but I am paying for defaulted mortgages entered into by CitiMortgage.

They deserve to SINK - do you hear that Obama - SINK SINK SINK!

To Whom It May Concern

Made an enquiry a week ago wanting to find out if the following people are staff at the Citibank, Promenade Level, Cabot Place East, Canary Wharf, London E14 4QS. Have not had response to you so have inquired again.

Mrs Cynthia Baker, Citibank International Exchange, Suzzane James, Citibank Internation Remittance Department, Mr Cameron Foster, Citibank Head of Foreign Operations.

We have invested monies with a Citibank client in London. We feel that the emails we have been sent from these people are fraud.

We do not want to invest anymore monies until we have found out if it so.

As this is an urgent matter to us, we would appreciate your immediate response.

At this point we do not want to get police involved.

Thanking you.

Regards

Bruce and Barbara Dalgety

I have been a customer of citibank since 2000 and have used their online banking payments and transfers since that time.
On december 6 2008, a final auto transfer payment of 3, 250 was completed and I cancelled all future transfers to that account.
On january 6, citibank in error and without my authorization, sent another automatic transfer for 3, 250 thus debiting my account.

After I complained they refused to put the money back in my account since they could not retrieve the funds from the receipient bank wachovia. They acknowledged to me they had no idea how this happened and assured me it could not happen again. Still, they did not credit me the 3, 250.

On february 6, citibank again sent a transfer of 3, 250 to wachovia and again debited my account and told me they did not know how this could happen.

This time they credited my account with the february amount of 3, 250 but still not my january debit. Based on this experience I immediately removed my funds.

They still have never returned my january funds, never explained what happened in writing, and now have placed me in collection for 3, 250 which I removed in february despite the fact they still owe me the 3, 250 they took from my account in january.

In summary, citibank has a responsibility to protect my money on deposit. Citibank had no right to automatically remove any money from my account on january 6 or february 6. Citibank needs to prove to me the account holder that I did not cancel the january and february transfers then I will gladly take responsibility.

I am 65 and collect social security. Can you imagine having your bank acount manipulated to the tune of $6, 000 by your bank without your knowledge?

I wonder how many others have used their online system which has no integrity remove money from their accounts.

I have had a checking account with Citibank around 1999 and when I opened it my Checking Plus (overdraft) limit was $7000.
The other day I learned that they decreased my limit to $1800 due to the fact that I am behind on payments on a credit card because it is really hard to find a shift job since I am taking care of a disabled parent and the economy. Not only did they not send me a letter stating the decrease but they took $12.95 out of account every month for credit checks which I had no clue they were doing. Apparently they think this limit is for a credit card but it is an overdraft limit for my checking account. This company is being bailed out and they have the nerve to penalize me. They are a bank and are supposed to help me and not rip me off. The least they could have done was ask if they could charge me for the credit reports which has absolutely nothing to do with a checking account.

Even though we have never been late on any payment and have a credit score of 736, Citi Bank charges 24% finance charge and maxed out our card by lowering the credit line by 50%. They refused to do anything. This is how they treat their customers that pay their bills.

having problem's, with credit history, that i have, no knoledge of...i'm receiving notices, of bad credit, and have 3 creitcards, and in groove, standard's.can you people, please, check and make sure.that!there's no file, mistake, or identity, problem's.i'm having, problem, receiving order's, which i've never had.due this matter.reference#:[protected]-[protected]

We purchased full-house carpet from a reputable, well-known carpet company in Auburn California last year. We purchased it on a 90 days same as cash basis. The deal was, if we paid the entire balance due by December 12, which was apx. $9, 100.00, there would be no interest charges. I guess the store charged it with a "Citibank retail" credit card. We paid our entire balance, by check, along with our final invoice, by mail on December 1 or 2nd--plenty of time to be received and processed by the due date of Dec. 12, 2008. Citibank has been calling and harrassing us almost daily, ever since, claiming that the majority of our bill was actually due on December 5 because the Store billed THEM with two separate invoices on two separate days. We only ever received ONE invoice with ONE due date of Dec. 12, which we paid in full and ON TIME. We have our cleared payment through our Bank of America checking account that was processed on December 15. It takes 3-7 days for a payment to come through on a checking account statement, so clearly our entire balance was received by Citibank sometime between December 8 through December 12, at the latest. Citibank retail collection department calls us several times every day asking for the payment of the interest, which now totals nearly $1, 000.00 with the fees they have added on! None of this makes sense--why would be pay our entire balance of over $9, 000 on time, on or before the due date, and still have Citibank expect that we would pay the interest charges because they either delayed processing our payment when they received it, or have engaged in some sort of scam, claiming our bill was due one week prior to the due date shown on our invoice, so they could then claim we owed them all the back interest. What can we do besides file claim with the State Attorney General's office and the Federal Trade Commission?

Citibank NA had a Non Resident Indian Bank Opening Offer in 2005 where they offered zero account balance accounts for Non Resident Indians. In November 2005, I applied for the account opening with a draft of £ 300 needed. They returned my documents as they needed more documents to confirm my residential address - even though I had a running HSBC account at the same address. They did not include my draft in the returned documents. On repeated calls I was told that they don't hold drafts from people whose application for opening account is rejected.On a concerted chase with HSBC, I finally found that the amount had already been withdrawn by Citibank.

I wrote to them in the first instance on 02/02/2006:

MY APPLICATION FORM HAS BEEN RETURNED WITHOUT THE ACCOMPANYING DRAFT.WOULD YOU RETURN THE SAME PLEASE AT THE EARLIEST OTHERWISE SEND ME A RESPONSE SAYING WHY IT CAN NOT BE RETURNED.I CANNOT EXPECT THIS KIND OF PATHETIC SERVICE FROM YOUR BANK.PLEASE RETURN THE ACCOMPANYING DRAFT ASAP.

THANKS

On 25 février 2006 12:43 I wrote:

Can you please provide me with the email of your departmental head, Does an organisation exist in this bank ?

Thanks

On 25 février 2006 I wrote:

IS THERE SOMEBODY LOOKING INTO THIS MATTER AND RETURNING BACK MY MONEY?

THANKS

This was follwed by multiple calls to them where they simply said they did not hold my draft and to check with the issuing bank.

I wrote back to them on 12 February 2007:

Citibank NRI Business
Citigroup Centre
25 Canada Square
Canary Wharf E14 5LB
United Kingdom

Dear Sir,

I have been made to run pillar and posts to open an account with you. My initial request to open the account in November 2005 was not allowed and the application form was returned without the bank draft.After many communications through your phone line and emails.I was not given a clue as to what really happened with my bank draft passing the ball back to me saying that my documents were returned with the draft of £300.

After a concerted chase with HSBC involving taking time off my work and travel on numerous occassions - I have come to trace that the draft was deposited with another bank on 18-11-2005 while I was being continually told that Citibank did not have possession of my money.

I would like you to kindly refund me with my draft amount with interest to my account number ********* at HSBC Bank along with adequate compensation for the distress caused due to your pathetic levels of account opening customer services.

I have been made to run pillar and posts to open an account with you. My initial request to open the account in November 2005 was not allowed and the application form was returned without the bank draft.After many communications through your phone line and emails.I was not given a clue as to what really happened with my bank draft passing the ball back to me saying that my documents were returned with the draft of £300.

After a concerted chase with HSBC involving taking time off my work and travel on numerous occassions - I have come to trace that the draft was deposited with another bank on 18-11-2005 while I was being continually told that Citibank did not have possession of my money.

I would like you to kindly refund me with my draft amount with interest to my account number ******** at HSBC Bank along with adequate compensation for the distress caused due to your pathetic levels of account opening customer services.

To which I got back the reply:

Dear Sharique,

How are you? Hope you are in good health.
We have been trying to get in touch with you. But the letters that we have sent you have returned back to us. We sent them to your L*** Road address since the same was mentioned on the envelope sent by you.

Please let us know which address do we need to send the draft to?

I replied on 21 April 2007:

Hi,

Please send the same to Sharique ****, Flat K, *** H*** Road, ******
At this point I am looking for additional payments to cover for interest accrued in the period the amount was retained by you and damages in the form of my work time lost spent chasing the amount through emailing, telephoning you and the draft issuing bank and physically visiting the draft issuing bank and your branch in Central London.

regards

On 24 April 2007 I got the following response:

Dear Sharique,

Since we did not receive any reply from you earlier, we have dispatched the cheque along with the interest lost to your India address : *****, New Delhi - *** which was mentioned in the letter that you had sent to us.
A letter confirming the same will be sent to this address mentioned below

On 01 June 2007, I wrote:

It is more than a month and I have not recieved anything from Citibank at the address you have sent the cheque.

Please check.

On 03 July 2007, I got the following message:

I have put a tracer for your cheque to India. Am awaiting a revert from them.

I'll keep you posted once i receive any initimation from India.

On 2007/12/12, I wrote:

Any headway with the payment..Or do I consider that Citibank needs a part of my earning to function through its precarious existence.

Cheers

On 03 January 2008 18:05, I wrote:
Has there been any headway in providing me back this payment.

Thanks

No response was recieved and I continued on calling each time a new person at the call center would make me recall the whole story. I recorded the names of few individuals I got on their customer service. For example:

on

3/12/08 S Bismillah

10/7/08 S Patel

On 11/11/08 I got the following reply

This is with reference to your email dated October 23, 2008.

We were unable to respond to your query within the time-frame promised, as it required investigation.

We regret the inconvenience caused.

We confirm that we will be able to compensate an amount of INR 2386.85 towards the interest amount during the period of November 24, 2005 to November 10, 2008.

Please confirm us the disbursement mode through which the funds need to be transferred for us to do the needful.

We assure you of our best attention at all times.

On March 26, 2009 I gave them my physical address for delivery of the cheque.

No cheque was received.

I called the same officer again who said she wanted me to forward emails so that she could investigate and resend me the cheque

On April 13, 2009, I got the following email:

This is with reference to your email dated March 26, 2009.

We apologize for the delay in responding to your query.

We have arranged to send a draft for GBP 32.00 to the below mentioned address.

*****
***
**

Please be assured that you will receive the same at the earliest.

We assure you of our best attention at all times.

23/04/2009

I am still not in reciept of any cheque. They had agreed to provide me a paltry compensation- which is even now in thin air .

Can you please advise me what to do in this instance. Citibank NRI Services are not regulated by UK FSA but they offer their services to Non Resident Indian customers in many countries.