Citibank
reviews and complaints

I applied for a citibank credit card. I made my first transaction with the same. The statement for the same was not received by me. The bank leveid charges for late payment. I did make my payment based on the transaction I had made. Citibank now is charging interest for late payment.

When I had contacted Ms.Surekha R of the customer care at citibank,I was not given a favourable response.

Customer care is a farce. It should be re-worded as Company care.

All Citibank customers beware!

Dear All,

This regarding the medicalim policy sold to me(Advocate Mr.Raj Kumar Singh Raghav) & my wife Mrs Uma Raghav after telephonically consent on the basis of my clean repayment record of Citibank Credit Card.I have never received the policy bonds which were sold to me for which the premium has been paid by me in time.Now i am getting calls for renewal premium for current year.

My concern is that, why should i pay the premium when i have not given my consent to again continue my policy for current year?
Secondly i have not received the Policy bond.I totally don't know the term & conditions of the policy.Now i am getting calls & your employees are saying that we'll blacklist you for getting any loan from any finance institute.Now let me clear you all that i don't want any kind of loans so stop giving such lure to me for loan.I am an advocate & i am gonna sue agains your company in consumer court if i do not received the policy bond & permium receipts which i have paid.

With immediate effect stop making me calls & send me a confirmation letter for discontinuence of policy which i have not applied for.I want a written appology letter from your company for the mental stress i had undergone due to your irrelavant calls.

Please clarify me on written how can your company issu a medic claim policy to a credit card holder of citibank without taking his/her signatures.I want all these clarifications in written otherwise i will have to take help of media also.

Regards

Advocate raj Kumar Singh raghav
M#[protected]

This is to bring to your notice a serious issue that iam facing with my salary account. This is a DELL corporate account ([protected]) and is in the name of Amita Vijaykumar. Over the past couple of months there has been 3 instances cash being withdrawn from her account which she was not aware of. She has started checking her transactions online recently, so we are not sure if such incidents have happened earlier as well. The first instance when she came to know about this was, when there was a transaction on (02/08/07), she tried to withdraw cash of Rs.5000 from the ATM in our office premises(Ref #[protected] 7858) but it returned an error and when she contacted customer care they confirmed that the amount has not been dispensed. But when she checked later she found a deficit of Rs.5000 in her account. When she contacted customer care again they said that the cash has been withdrawn by her and nothing can be done about it. But luckily the amount was debited back into the account on 28/08/07. The next instance was on 05/09/07(Ref # [protected] 7858 ) when out of the blue Rs.7500 was withdrawn without her knowledge and just like before when she contacted customer care and complained, they said that it was she who has withdrawn the amount since it was a ATM withdrawal and nobody else could have done it. But later the amount was deposited back on 25/09/07. Now the third instance was on 03/10/07 when RS.10000 disappeared without her knowledge (Ref# [protected] 7858) and she is still waiting for it to be debited back. This does not look normal as it has happened with the same person three times. So all of us here at DELL are having doubts about transacting with Citibank. I hope some action is taken after bringing this to your notice. Amita can be contacted on [protected] or her email is [protected]@dell.com.

Also would like to complain about a problem Amita has with a Citibank credit card([protected]) that she was using earlier. Though she had settled total outstanding amount of Rs.10000 in the month of April she has recently received a statement saying that she still has not settled the amount and along with interest she has to pay around Rs.13000. I have attached the confirmation mail she received after settling the total amount due.

All these experiences have completely shattered her faith in Citibank. And since Citibank is our company’s official salary account all of us are having doubts about transacting with Citibank as word spreads really fast about such serious issues.

I am hoping that you will sort this out and help restore our faith in your bank. Also Amita has to be compensated suitably for the inconveniences she had to go through. If nothing happens from here our only option will be to go to the press or to complain to RBI regarding the issue attaching all relevant transaction documents supporting our complaints. Also we may have to request our corporate heads to discontinue the relationship our firm has with Citibank, citing all the bitter experiences we have been having.
also i was contacted by people from CITI bank regarding this and they informed that since its an ATM withdrawal they cannot do much regarding the money that is missing from my account. No steps are taken to get the issue sorted. every time i am being called by different people from citibank and i have to repeat my self n number of times. I am tired of this... can some one please help me. I am very frustrated as Rs.17,000 is missing from on account.

I made a purchase of only Rs.3000/- on my citibank credit card but the bank did not send me any statement. Upon calling them I was told that the statement had been dispatched. They said that they will send another one and so this time I got it.
To my dismay, I noticed that they levied a penalty of "late payment " in addition to interest payable by me. So, my purchase of 3000/- cosed me around 3800/-.

Banks are making huge amount of money through this route while the poor Indian customer is being fleeced. I hope they are penalized severely for the malpractice.

Dear Sir,

Mediclaim Policy brought thru my Citibank Credit Card no. [protected]

I live in Mumbai, India and was using a Citbank credit card 2 years back. In Jan 2006 I bought a mediclaim policy which I did not get tuill April end. nly when I called them in April about the status that the policy was delivered at my house and that too was wrong. On conveying the same to them they took their own sweet time in responding.

Then they send me a revised policy with correct details. But again the opolicy is such thgat one has to contact Chennai which is another state for recovery. So I ask them to cancel my policy in June (within 45 days of policy being sent to me)

They reversed only 25% of the fee and kept sending me bills for teh 75% amount as I had cancelled afer 6 months , if they calculate from 1st jan 2006.

I argued and wrote to them stating that in teh first place the rules of cancellation were not made clear to me at te htime of purchase and also that had the policy come to me in Jan, then the same would be done in jan. But since I got the policy only in April end, how can they expect me to cancel the policy within 45 days of issue! It is highly unjustful. i also wrote to their central office at Chennai as they don't have any Credit card office in Mumbai! This was another humbug. No office of Citibank Credit Card in Mumbai.

I kept writing mails after mails and letter after letters. But they don't seem to listen So now I have decided to fight it out with citibank. Want you to help spread the unjust practice abroad.

Just yesterday I received an SMS for paying Rs. 5,700/-. This is an increase of Rs. 4000 by way of interest on a payment of Rs. 1700/- which I am anyway not liable to pay.

Need your help and guidance in suing Citibank for the trouble they are causing to me by sending me unnecessary SMS and statements.

Regards,

Ashish Dalvi
Mumbai, India
+[protected]

I recieved a credit card from citi, without applying for a credit card with them, or for that matter anyone else. I called customer service, who would not dicuss account with me, smartly told me that that account # was not open, and citi doesn't open accts without permission. I never authorized my credit to be pulled, or asked for a credit card from citi. Nor did I appreciate the attitude when I called to complain about it.

recived mail from citibank informing that ECS facility has been activated from 200710 from my account with HDFC BANK

Applied for Citibank credit card Ref. no. [protected] on 22-Aug-2007.

First Dispatched via BLUE DART vied AWB # [protected] on 28-Aug-2007.
Response undelivered.

Second Dispatched via BLUE DART vied AWB # [protected] on 09-Sep-2007.
Response undelivered.

Third Dispatched via SPD POST vied AWB # SPD000001 on 14-Sep-2007.
Response undelivered.

I need info on anyone that bought a timeshare in cancun with a citibank credit card and disputed it. need this by 10/22/07. The timshare was with royal holiday.

I found out today (the hard way naturally) that Citibank does not offer a 24-hour Fraud line for it's credit cards. You can now only report a lost card, fraud or seek help between 8 am and midnight EST. The web site is however still advertising 24 hour support, and I have never seen any communications from the bank canceling the 24 hour help lines.

This blatant cost cutting exercise clearly reduces the level of service to the customer and also raises the risk of fraud. Who is liable for a card lost at 3am in California, which can not be reported until 11pm the following morning?

Citibank cards should therefore not be relied up on for any sort of international travel as most countries tend to operate on different times to EST. Nor should you consider using or owning a Citibank card anywhere West of the Appalachians. Those lucky enough to live in the EST time zone should be very careful only to travel or use the card during office hours.

Citibank is one of the most cheater bank in india and Reserve Bank must take note of this. I work in an IT company which has salary accounts with CitiBank. On 1st October 2007 Citibank sent me Indian Oil Credit Card direct on my address. I had never opted for any credit card, neither in written and nor in verbal. Citibank is a damn cheater bank. First they send free credit cards and then they charge you like hell. Even after calling them on phonebanking, their customer care officers laughed at me, they are disgusting. Even sending more than 3 emails no reply is from CitiBank and they continue to cheat.

CitiBank thinks that what will a common man do wrong with them and they will escape by bribing our corrupt politicians. Reserve bank must take action against credit card companies which are still using pathetic magnetic card reader technology which can be easily hacked.

Citibank is no.1 cheater bank in india.

Citibank officials if you are reading this complaint , then cancel all credit cards named in Abhijit B. Lele. I don't want any credit cards. All credit card companies are fraud!

1. Notice that even if you EFT payments on the day they're due, Citicard won't post it until after the due date, then charge you, not one, but TWO month's finance charges.

2. If you use a lower-rate check (or other transfer deal), with no payments until a certain date... then make a payment on your credit card balance, they apply your payment to the lower-rate balance first and charge you a finance charge on the charges you were trying to pay off.

Yes, off course all this is in the fine-print. Nice! Not the kind of company I'd recommend doing business with.

I Mr. Sanket Anand Vaidya Age 25 Years am holding a Citibank International Credit Card No [protected]. My total amount due on this card was Rs. 4670/- with a due date of 15/07/2007. I have made a payment of Rs. 4700/- wide chq. no. 263805 of The Thane Janata Sahakari Bank, Khopat Branch, Thane which was debited from my bank Account on 06/07/2007 i.e. 9 days before the due date. Even then i and my family was suffering mental harassment as i was getting calls at my residence and my mobile at least 10 times a day from Citigroup Office number [protected] from 06/07/2007 to 24/07/2007 starting from morning 07.00 A.M. to night 08.00 P.M. This is because the Citibank records were not reflecting the payment i had done but in my bank statement it had been debited well in advance. I have even faxed my bank statement several times on [protected](Citibank Fax No.).

SO IS DOING THE TOTAL CREDIT CARD PAYMENT IN ADVANCE MY FAULT?
This was not enough. CITIBANK also charged me late payment fees as i had not made the credit card payment on time. (which was later reversed after one month in the next billing statement)

After this in the month of August 2007 Citibank also threw me in their Defaulters List by adding the name in CIBIL (CREDIT INFORMATION BUREAU (INDIA) LIMITED) without any of my fault as i had done the full credit card payment 9 days before the due date.

I came to know that my name was added to CIBIL from ICICI Bank. In the month of August 2007 i had applied for a OVER DRAFT ( OD ) facility in ICICI Bank for Rs. 5,00,000/- (Rupees Five Lakh Only ) for my business which i needed very urgently to expand my business. The Over Draft was SANCTIONED by ICICI Bank.

But later in this month of September while doing the disbursement of the Over Draft Facility it was rejected by the Credit Manager of ICICI Bank as my name was by that time added in the DEFAULTERS list in CIBIL for the late payment of CITIBANK Credit Card.

Now i am in a state of mental shock as i had given many commitments of expanding my business on the basis of the ICICI Bank OD Facility. My mother is an Heart Patient. She and my other family members have suffered a TORTURE and Mental Harassment from Citibank Credit Card people as they would harass us all from morning 7 AM to 8 PM by calling on my residence number and Mobile No.for almost 20 DAYS.

AND my dream of expanding my business could not be realized. I have suffered huge financial loss and i am in a state of mental shock because of CITIBANK.

Now what should i do to clear my name from the defaulters list in CIBIL?

Can i fulfill my dreams in future? As till my name is in the defaulters list in CIBIL no financial institutions will help me.
PLEASE ADVICE ME smb!

Regards,
SANKET ANAND VAIDYA
CAR MALL THANE,
Service Road, Bata Compound,
Next to Flower Valley Society,
Khopat, Thane(W)-400601. Mumbai
[protected]/ [protected]

Citibank
Customer Service Center
P.O. Box 6500
Sioux Falls, S.D. [protected]

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 an 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 bu y an HDTV where would you most likely go to purchase one? That's rig ht, an electronics store such as Best Buy or Circuit City which doesn't eve n 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.

Citibank is serving very poor to the customers. I have a suvidha debit card with that bank. That account has been closed without any intimation. There was some amount in that account, to get that amount its happened more than one month. I roamed several times to that Bank in Begumpet in Hyderabad. I also heard there is some contradiction with Indian government, because of that ECS is also becoming very problem in that bank. Please be careful while you are contacting this bank.

Citibank Pune has lost my Cheque & is trying to trace it for the last 6 weeks but no help

My name is Ms Anisha Tauro. I hold a Suvidha Saving's a/c & an ERA with citibank. These a/c's were set up in January 2006, when i started working.

I am currently in UK & its not possible for me to be physically available in Pune to deal with my grievance.

My company had issued me a Full & Final settlement cheque.

As i mentioned i am not in town to deal with this personally, my sister, Ms Chetna Tauro had accidently deposited this cheque in my era a/c instead of my Suvidha savings a/c . However the money was not credited. I asked her to call citibank & follow up to check what had happened & she was told that only money transferred electronically from my previous employer can be credited into the ERA a/c, hence the cheque was not honored. So now the concern was how do we get this cheque credited into my savings a/c. She spoke to various agents on th call center, but no one took ownership of he call but instead kept us in a loop of calls! If all the calls she made are noted, you will find all the notes of all the conversation she has had on my Suvidha Saving's a/c.

Finally in all this confusion she was told her that citibank would be send the cheque by post to us & we would receive it in a weeks time.

A week later my sister called the call center as we had not received the cheque as yet & she was again told that the cheque is lost & cannot be found, citibank will courier the cheque when it is found.

This is a serious security breach & i have EMI's passing form my a/c & i dont think citibank would take responsibility if the EMI bounces. So now, not only do i have to follow up with citibank time & again for the past 6 weeks but also make sure my a/c has enough credit balance to make sure the EMI not not bounce. This means my commitments to other important things is of lesser priority & citibank seems to have taken the topmost priority.

Its getting frustrating for me & my sister to keep following only to be told each time that the cheque is still not traced. Bearing in the mind that the cheque will not be honoured if its passes over 3 months.

I am suprised that citibank has lost a cheque & is not able to provide customer service. Whats even more worrying is that if the cheque not not been credited, why did citibank not let me know that they will not be able to deposit the cheque in my ERA a/c & return my cheque back to me?

I cant stress any more on how frustrating it is to follow up as citibank never kept us updated. The amount is quiet high & for all i know somebody must have already got it encashed! (am saying this as there is a security breach & citibank cant find my cheque & return it to me).

I don’t know what to do & I don’t know where to go!

Anisha

Hi I had a hutch -citibank credit card in june 2006.The scheme offered by citibank was that, they will make the monthly payment for ones hutch postpaid connection. This payment has to be made by citibank before the due date of the Hutch bill. Later the owner of the hutch connection will pay the same outstanding to citibank.

According to this scheme,after clearing the outstanding for the month of june & august 2006 ,I had launched a request in september (before the due date of hutch bill) for closure of this scheme.The card was not closed and moreover citibank kept on making the payment to hutch from the moth of september 2006 to january 2007 without informing ME. Also Hutch and citibank both misguided with the procedure to follow for closure of account(credit card).

In the meantime since I had requested for the closure of the card, I kept on paying the bills regularly to HUTCH. Both Hutch and citibank did not inform me of the double payment which the hutch received for the consequent bills from the month of Sept 2006 to january 2007.

Now citibank are harassing me to pay the outstanding, which actually doesn't exist, as I have been regularly paying the bills to hutch till date.
Citibank and Hutch should be sued for harassing a regular and sincere customer like me>.

Dear All,

This past one year has been one of the toughest one (financially) for me.

All this has started to happen after (what I believe) someone sitting in citibank bangalore (almost 2 yrs ago) started screwing with my account on God knows what prejudice.

They mishandled my citibank Gold credit card... that caused me a hugh loss.

They mishandled my Suvidha acount on pretext of above.

They mishandled my Suvidha Account due to Ready Credit.

and they are doing it still...

Citibank has been making unjustified withdrawals from my account on some or the other pretext.

Citibank has kept me ill informed about the transactions. They keep tinkering with the records. They provide extremely delayed and illogical explanations (or statements) in response to my detailed and specific query.

I want to file a formal complaint (consumer forum or elsewhere) regarding this and seek financial redressal from them.

Please guide me regarding the same and/or provide me with some contacts in order to effect the same.

Many Thanks

Ramgopal Zutshi

Hi, I am putting my suggestion rather than complaint (because If we make a complaint, atleast it get resolved after some time). If you are looking for Personal Loan then don't take from citiBank, taking Loan from citiBank is very pathetic job. Agent coming from citiBank is really very irresponsible. (For Hyderabad people-don't take loan from a person called SANTOSH)

I had applied for a top-up personal loan against my existing personal loan. I gave all the required documents and the processing was done. I received a call from the personal loan verification department on Friday (06/07/07) stating that my loan has been approved and I have to pay an EMI of 1909/- on the 1st of every month starting from August, and that my amount will be credited in my bank account by Monday (09/07/07), but it has not been done till date. I called citibank customer care and after me calling them for more than 20 times, I came in contact with a person who wanted me to contact personal loan department in Hyderabad and gave me phone numbers (040-[protected] & 040-[protected]) and told me to contact person named Gopal. I called to the given number multiple times, but no one was lifting the call.

I am very frustrated with what is going on because i don't know the status of the loan and I will have to pay the EMI on date.

Thanks,
Sunil A. Santas

Account number: 501250xxxx (suvidha account)
Phone numbers: [protected], [protected]

I would like to bring to everyone's notice, that though a credit card company, when making you a member and sending the card to you, mentions in their covering to sign behind the card for mutual security, it has no validity.

Every since the system of electronic swiping has come into place, no retail outlet bothers to verify your signature. All they are satisfied is if the approval is given, and the receipt is printed.

This is serious, as it encourages fraud. Anyone can sign and make purchases as signature is not verified.
I have asked Citibank this question,and till date it remain unanswered.

What I have come to know is that the retailers will get their money irrespective the fraud has been committed.

Unless the member contests that the purchase has not been made by him or her, only then perhaps the bank will take cognizance. However if one's credit card has been stolen, its very easy for the thief to make purchases as no signature verification takes place.

Signature verification should be made mandatory, and retailers etc should be held responsible too for sales they enable on credit card.