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CitiFinancial Servicing

CitiFinancial Servicing review: Treated like deadbeats! 68

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12:00 am EST
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We purchased a car in 2001 with financing from a local lender. During the course of the loan, the loan was purchased by Citifinancial Auto.

The final payment was due in August 2006. Our normal monthly payment was approx. $350. In August we were informed the final payment would be approx. $1300. After numerous phone calls, countless explanations, and an infinity spent on hold we were informed that the original lender had attached two months worth of insurance and the interest on that had inflated the loan amount. It took three months for our insurance company to prove to Citifinancial that we had insurance for the entire length of the loan. We reached an agreement that the final payment would be $420. However, before we could pay the $420, Citifinancial repossessed the car because the original $1300 error was now more than 100 days past due. One part of the company does not talk to the other part of the company. Each time we called we were shuffled from one person to the next and had to explain our case to each person. We were constantly on hold. In the end they insisted that it was our fault because we should have overpaid by $900 and waited for them to correct the error and refund the money. That may have been what the contract called for, but was that good customer service? We have paid the $420 and they still have our car. I will admit that we did drag our feet and waited 20 days to make the final payment (they wouldn't accept it over the phone) after it took them 3 months to determine the correct amount, but did that warrant the forfeiture of our $10000 truck for $425? And, why is it that we have wired them the money and not received the vehicle back? Why were we constantly put on hold and passed from person to person when we tried to resolve the issue? After 5 years of on time payments we were treated like deadbeats because we were 20 days late paying the $425.

68 comments
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mgirard
Stone Mountain, US
Jul 19, 2011 4:45 pm EDT

I've been a CitiMortgage customer for 9 years. They insisted on the PMI coverage even though I have an almost perfect credit score, and have never, in 40 years, been late on a mortgage payment. I have also brought my loan down 1/3 in 8 years thanks to additional principle. Not only could I not reach an American in the USA to sit down with and discuss, they put me on hold for 45 minutes and never came back. Then we started the letter game (they wanted everything in writing, and I'm the document Queen) so now we're doing that. The PMI comes off next year and I'm seriously considering defaulting just so they can have the friggin' house back. I started picketing all CitiFinancial locations in Atlanta just to make a point. If you Google Citi, you'll see the law suit they lost several years ago because they are, and remain PREDATORY LENDING!

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LINDA HANKINS
EARLY BRANCH, US
Sep 23, 2010 1:20 am EDT

I AGREE WITH THE COMPLAINTS CITIFUL IS THE WORIST I HAVE NEVER MISSED A PAMENT THEY CHANGED TO SANTANDER CONSUMER THEY DID LET ME KNOW ANYTHING UNTIL MY I RECEIVED MY BANK STATEMENT WHEN I TRY TO CALL THEY ALWAYS PUT ME ON TO SANTANDER WHEN YOU CALL THEM THERE IS NO HU MAN TO TALK TO AND THE BANK HAS CHARGED ME 25.00
FOR HAVING TO SEND THE CHECK BACK

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Miskondukt
Paso Robles, US
Jun 24, 2010 1:14 pm EDT
Verified customer This comment was posted by a verified customer. Learn more

I've got a good one for everyone.

I have a reoccurring payment setup for my auto of $373.43 every later half of the month. Just yesterday a $400.00 electronic check was submitted to my account. I had no clue who this was nor what it was for, so I justly put a "Stop Payment" on the check issued 6/22/10 for check #10 in the amount of $400.00. The very next morning, an additional, duplicated charge is processed through my account and has a check # of 9999 . . . ! ! ! ! Ok, WHAT!

A few moments later my wonderful bank's assistant branch manager calls and says that the stop payment check has been reissued, and cleared on the 21st (And today is the 23rd of which the phone call just took place) under a different check number and in order for me to stop the payment attempts they needed to know who the "Payee" was. I told her that was the issue. The checks have no images for them to pull the payee from, no listing of "CitiFinancial Auto Pymt" as my regular payment titled, and they had to trace the routing number to distinguish who it was. Guess what, it was Citi Financial Auto.

So, I call Citi and got your basic India representative and immediately informed her that two payments were deducted from my banking account and both have empirically (of which I had to define for her) been credited to Citi Auto. She looked on the account and informed me that a reoccurring payment from June of 2009 was recently reactivated for a monthly payment of $400. I told her that was entirely false, and that the transaction had been perpetrated with two distinctly different check numbers to satisfy a payment after the stop payment had been placed and that someone was literally stealing money from me and my bank was advising me to change accounts and "Let them" begin filing procedures for fraud. The representative said that no one was stealing from me, but the payment can't be returned. I also asked when the call took place to "reactivate" this payment, she couldn't provide an answer nor any corroborating notes.

I asked for a manager.

20 minutes later a Nidh (Pronounced Nideeh) clicked on and I had forced myself to calm down to reconcile the situation. 40 minutes later, a conference call with the Branch Manager, after my bank became aggressive and I had to resort to politeness (of which I maintained from the onset), apologetic, and literally begging "for her help as a manager" she said I might get the payment back within 2-3 business days with the NSF fees that were caused. I told her the charge put my account in the red and I needed it as immediately as they had received, stolen, it from me. Paraphrasing of course, but I inevitably had to ask for yet another escalation of whom has to "call me back" at a designated number-I anticipate none.

To go back to the how.

This manager told me that the $400.00 payment had been going through my account and then reversed (by them) every month and I just hadn't noticed it till now. Well, there's ONE contradiction: I was previously told it had been reactivated. Second, the two distinctly different check numbers, and the most absurdly frustrating contradiction-She thought I'd be stupid enough TO NOT NOTICE $400 GOING IN AND OUT OF MY ACCOUNT EVERY MONTH, ROUTINELY and NOT to mention, of which my banks' branch manager simultaneously informed both her and I on the conference call, that if a "Transaction had been processed and reversed every month, for the same dollar amount, not only would it have triggered a 'red flag' as conspicuous activity but in the least meriting a call to the client to (1) inquire about the activity and (2) negate continual transactions."

There are obviously very unsettling events going on here, and I am in no way comfortable with where it left by Nidh canceling the reoccurring payment. I am in search of a contact number for their Irving Texas corporate office, if anyone has one please email me at e.s.lavelle@hotmail.com.

Something else entirely frustrating. On their Contact us page, they have a picture of a White American Women as the call representative and it is clear that there isn't a single American Employed at the call center establishment. Their CEO is from India, of whom made approximately $39M in 2008 after receiving over $45B in Federal Aid (And they're still beating up on the poor man). In 2009 he sheepishly resorted to a mere $125K. (Equilar.com)

Droning on about how unwilling the representatives were to help is redundant and adequately exposed over the last four pages of incidents with this lender.

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bucknut111
Denver, US
Mar 26, 2010 9:49 am EDT

STAY AWAY FROM CITIFINANCIAL AUTO!
CitiFinancial Auto has the worst customer service I have ever worked with **to put it mildly**! You can call and talk to one person and they will tell you one thing, call back 5 minutes later, talk to someone else and they tell you the exact opposite! If you call Citi and they tell you something, DO NOT BELIEVE THEM! My husband and I are having a very tight month this month, I have NEVER missed a payment or even been late on a payment and they are totally unwilling to help us out! They keep telling us we can either pay a late fee of $35 or a fee of $15 to make the payment over the phone...If we are having problems making the regular payment how are we going to be able to pay the extra fees? There have also been 2 months I sent in a check for the full payments, then I start getting calls from Citi saying they have not received my payments, I tell them time and time again that I sent the payment. After going back and forth with them for over a week I had no choice but to cancel the check through my bank, had to pay a $25 fee to do that and then the next day (both times) Citi cashes my check! I guess what I am trying to say is I have had nothing but TROUBLE with Citi and I will NEVER use them again, I will walk before I get a loan through them again! STAY AWAY AND DO NOT LET YOURSELF GET TANGLED UP WITH CITIFINANCIAL AUTO...EVER!

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shasha211
, US
Mar 11, 2010 9:47 am EST

The customer service department SUCKS at Citifinancial Auto. These are the most unprofessional people that I have ever had to deal with in my ENTIRE life. My insurance company paid my loan off, after I was involved in an accident that resulted in my car being totaled. I called Citifinancial Auto to request documents stating that my loan was paid off and/or a payment history. I have been given the run around since day one. Every "supposed" customer service rep continues to tell me that it will take 48h before I can receive a fax, when the information was requested over 48h earlier. One customer service rep by the name of MY was very rude, inconsistent and inconsiderate. She refused to let me talk to a manager and attempted to send me to a department that was closed. I eventually hung up on her because she would not allow me to say what I needed to say. She wanted to do all the talking. Days later, I still have not received the fax requested. I called and CSR Vijeyta told me that there was a technical issue with their system and my request did not go through. I would have to wait 48h for the request. I told her I have been waiting since Friday and I should not have to suffer from their mistake. I told her my previous experience and she was very apologetic. She requested that I speak to a managar and within minutes one called. I spoke to a manager name Sharon. She was no better than some of the others. She was rude and did not sound as though she had any concern in reference to what I was calling for. She stated that she put a request in for me to receive an URGENT fax and I should receive it within minutes. The fax still has not come. I asked her for the address to the corporate office and a possible phone number and she told me that they don't have one. Everything goes through customer service. That sucks because customer service does not even know how to properly serve a customer. After a week, I am still waiting on a fax that takes 48h to be sent to me. What is so hard about printing off the information that I need, going to a machine and faxing it to the number I gave? Corporate office needs to reevaluate the "customer service" department and hire some people who not only can understand plain ENGLISH, but people who are willing to HELP the customer. I will NEVER, ever recommend this company to anyone to do a loan with. None of my car notes have ever been late and this is the treatment that is shown towards me. So funny how they make sure that they auto debit their money, but cannot fulfill the customer's need. The one thing that was done correctly was the cancellation of my auto debit. I will say out of the 17 people I spoke to in customer service over the past 5 days, TWO were helpful. As for the other 15, I recommend that they learn the proper meaning of customer service. If this not the job that they want, they need to find some place else to work. I'm sure when someone calls there are multiple notes in the system stating what the previous call(s) were about. Why continue to give someone the run around? The lack of knowledge on the customer service part is ridiculous. I am going to file a complaint with the Better Business Bureau and I am looking for a way to contact the corporate office to speak to someone. These peopel need to be stopped because they are making business bad for the company. Again, I WILL NEVER GET INVOLVED WITH THIS COMPANY AGAIN!

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C.Jane
Jefferson, US
Feb 22, 2010 9:48 am EST

I am currently with Citi Financial...have been for almost three years. I have another two before the loan is paid off. I recieved a call in November 2009 stating my car was going to be repossed for non payment. I freaked, as I have been making my bill. I received the call onFrida at 8:30pm from a wrecker stating they would be picking up my car tonight for non payment. Knowingly, that there had to be some mistake, I hid the car in the garage all weekend since I couldn't call Citifinancial auto because it was too late in the evening. No one answered the calls on Monday so finally on Tuesday, I was able to speak with Ted who said there was no record of a repossession as my account was current. I asked who called me on my cell phone advising me they were picking up my car as a repossession then and after speaking w/his supervisor and several minutes later, same response, no record of a repossession. He told me that if anyone did try to get the car advise them it was a mistake...What a joke! So note to self...if your account is current, and a wrecker services calls you to say they will be repossing your car, and they do show up, let the wrecker company know it was a mistake! The caller of wrecker company, knew my name, address, car info and VIN #...there is no way anyone would be calling as a joke or mistake w/all this personal information. Needless to say, I haven't had the same issue yet!

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red09
Radcliff, US
Feb 01, 2010 11:23 pm EST

the reason i agree is because them people stuck me on hold for two hours and fore got me on the line

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ccindy
Wakefield, US
Dec 17, 2009 12:54 pm EST

Hi- Boy I thought I had the worst experience with Citi financial. I won't go into the harrassing phone calls to myself and other people- or the fact that when you do mail a payment(at the post office) 10 days prior to the date-How surprizing that it doesn't get posted for 20 days with of course all the late fee's- my bottom line is I took out a loan for a 2003 used huyndi elantra $10, 000 in 2006 and my pay off today almost 4 yrs. later is still a bit over $9, 000. But they say all is correct. I guess I was mistaken for a bank nobody ever told me I would end up paying 27, 000-(of course without late fees which I belive they make up as they go along) and nobody will refinance because the car is not worth 9, 000- I have been pulling my hair out about what to do about this- It's just unbelievable. Cindy

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road warrior
Inman, US
Nov 15, 2009 7:45 am EST

1 PART OF CITI DOES NOT COMUNICATE WITH THE OTHER PART 5 mths ago i did a loan remodifaction, i was told by citi that my new payment would be $81.03, i was told this by two diff reps plus when my contract was faxed over to me that is what it said, i signed it & faxed it back over & after 2 mthly payments i receive a very nasty phone call fr a rep claiming that my payment amount is 'NOT' right, no matter how much i tried to explain to the rep, she would not listen, her name was cheryl & she was very nasty & rude & she kept calling me almost daily, on 6-26-09 last time i spoke with her, so i called back & was able to speak to T J ext 49176 my original rep who processed my loan & she told me it is $81.03 t j's # [protected] in denver co call center she would know of my circumstances mk knox is my name i go by ken . ON 7-30-09 FR 400-409PM I SPOKE WITH THIS t j AGAIN (THIS REP FROM WHAT I CAN TELL IS 100% HONEST) SHE INFORMED ME THAT CITI DID MAKE A MISTAKE ON MY LOAN BUT HER ACCOUNT MGR VERIFIED TO HER THAT IF I PAY $118.97 BY 7-31-09 THAT MY PAYMENTS WOULD STAND AS $81.03. So that is what i did, before i did this with tj another rep called & told me the same thing she had a spanish accent, so i got this info from 2 diff people, i told tj about cheryl & shes tells me after checking that she would send an email to cheryl's mgr a andrew at ext 66821 she would also to a kristie tyler at ext 66865 who is the supervisor over andrew & cheryl letting them all know that as of now my OFFICIAL& LEGAL PAYMENT IS $81.03. AS TIME WENT BY I LAST SPOKE TO TJ ON 8-31-09 FR 449-501 PM I THANKED HER FOR HER HELP & ASKED HER TO CALL ME IN ABOUT 2 WKS JUST TO KEEP IN TOUCH LOAN WISE TO MAKE SURE EVERYTHING CONTINUES to go smooth.TO MY SUPRISE ON 10-20-09 TUE I GET UP TO GO to work to find out citi "REPOED "my truck, upon finding i called citi & they would not let me speak with tj, they would not review my notes on the account, they kept saying to me you changed the original contract, "you were never told the payment was $81.03" we can't help you .The # they gave me to call was [protected] the redemption dept i call on [protected]-534pm my time i speak to renee at ext #4 1st she was very rude to me until she puts me on hold while i'm thinking she's going to transfer me, she really goes back & views the notes om my account because when she comes back on line her attitude is very apologetic & polite, although she won't say why right then, i'm silently praying at this time that hopefully we will get this straigthened out, she informs me that a tina is the boss but i must speak with a leslie spider.This happens a few days later & when i speak to her she is very nasty rude, won't listen to anything i have to say .SO I CONTACTED ME AN ATTORNEY, then i get a certified letter in the mail from them which my attorney advised me to sign for, the letter states that they will sell my truck sometime after 11-3-09, while my attorney is perparing to file against them this past fri i get a call at 535pm fr QUESS WHO THE REPO MAN stating i must meet him at my home & sign some release papers & he will leave my truck, but i inform him i'm not signing anything until my attorney views it 1st, besides i didn't have to sign anything when you all came & picked it up so i'm not signing anything now, because it was the weekend i couldn't get ahold of my attorney but come tomorrow morning mon 11-16-09 i will go forward with this YES I'M SUEING CITIFINANCIAL AUTO FOR THE GRIEF THEY HAVE TAKEN ME THROUGH, IT IS GOING ON 4WKS & I STILL DON'T HAVE MY TRUCK THE REPO MAN SAID HIS BOSS TOLD HIM TO TELL ME THAT I WILL INCUR CHARGES OF $25.00 PER DAY THAT THEY KEEP IT, I WENT WITHOUT IT FOR 3PLUS WKS A FEW MORE DAYS WON'T HURT PLUS I THINK THIS IS A SCARE TACTIC ON THEIR END THEIR LOYALTY IS WITH CITI NOT ME, TO ANYONE OUT THERE READING THIS PLEASE SPREAD THE WORD & EMAIL ME BACK I COULD USE ALL THE SUPPORT I CAN GET, IF THEY HAVE DONE ME LIKE THIS, I WONDER HOW MANY OTHERS HAVE THEY TREATED THIS WAY.I CALL MYSELF THE ROAD WARRIOR BECAUSE I'M ON THE ROAD BEING A "WARRIOR" AGAINST CITIFINANCIAL AUTO

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Stonemountain
Stone Mountain, US
Oct 05, 2009 12:22 pm EDT

I keep hearing about them going into your account and taking payments how can they do that without your authorization. Is this only done with them when you have set up an online banking with them?

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Perera
Live Oak, US
Sep 30, 2009 4:51 pm EDT

I thought I was the only person in the world who thought these people were crooks. To all the persons who are looking for someone to finance their car with make sure it's not Citifinancial Auto.

La Shonda, Florida

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kt3
dighton, US
Sep 16, 2009 11:35 am EDT

Citifinancial SUCKS ! I will NEVER deal with this company EVER again!

Over the years, I have been a loyal customer in the tune of about $50, 000 and NEVER was 1 day late on any of the numerous accounts, NEVER !

I paid off an auto loan early, wired them about $10K. A few days later, they took an additional payment from my bank. This was about 2 months ago and I've been trying to get the money back ever since...can you believe this?

I have to send them my private bank records showing that they took my money and also get a letter from my bank stating this? I'm like WTF ? Anyways, I fax them a bank statement showing they deducted the payment...a week later I call them and they are like...not good enough. AGain...I had to freaking call them to find this out.

I then send them my bank statement with all my transaction history and a letter from my bank stating Citifinancial took the additional payment and it was never reimbursed...I call them a few days later...they didn't show any fax from me with all my private information...try this other fax line they said...

I am absolutely floored by this company. I will march into a Citifinancial office locally on a busy day and be an irate customer...they will probably say they are not affiliated with Citifinancail Auto...or something like that.

To you employees of Citifinancial Auto...go ### yourself ! You are terrible...!

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amyq
Houston, US
Aug 19, 2009 12:19 pm EDT

Can anyone give me a telephone number for the dispute department and also an e-mail? I was given [protected] and it is not a good number, and when i called customer service they told me that's the only number they have...like that makes any sense.

amy
houston, tx

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HadEnoughAlready
Las , US
Aug 05, 2009 6:52 pm EDT

Easy E. must be experiencing a new practice that they are applying over at citifinancial. In reading about his experience I almost thought that I was reading my own experience. 2 payments were taken from my account in July. I noticed this right away (it really dropped me to my knees). Both payments cleared the bank, they came out the same day my paycheck went in. I promptly called them and requested them to return the second payment. It took some time to convince them that they were in error, but that was the easy part. They wanted me to fax them a rolling account statement, showing that I had a positive balance. They require 48 hours before they acknowledge that they have recieved the fax. Due to the timing of my paycheck going in and these two payments coming out, my account appeared to temporarily go negative, but by that days last transaction, my account showed positive again. They state that they have a requirement that they wont refund a payment if it made your account go negative, they wont answer as to why, but I assume they are deathly afraid of paying out for THEIR ERROR, and then having the customer's bank return one of the payments. Honestly I think it's less a fear, and more of a tatic of delay and discouragement. So after faxing and waiting 48 business hours, and being adamant that I have a positive balance and was never charged any return payment fee from the bank, I got the customer service rep to look at the fax and she acknowledged that they had made another mistake and that my account did indeed show a net positive... She was told by a supervisor that this would take another 48 hours to resolve. Unbelievable! But I settled, we had made small progress and I was still somewhat hopeful. 48 hours hours later, I called again, and was told there's nothing they could do because... my account showed a negative balance after the payments were taken out... Even if my account went negative, it's the result of their error, prudence dictates that since they made the mistake in taking out two payments, essentially stealing money from my account, that they should take the risk. I fought and fought this time, being respectful, yet forceful, and I got them on that conference call with my bank... which I might add, is Citibank. I got the rep at citibank to convince the rep at citifinancial that both payments cleared and were paid by the bank. It was over an hour... citifinancial wanted me to go to the bank and get the same statement, on bank letterhead, signed stating what we discussed on the conference call, I'm certainly glad they accepted making that call instead because I wasn't willing to wait another 48 hours for another fax. So now, they said my payment was APPROVED and should be wired to me within the next 72 hours, and that I should call after 72 hours, just in case the wire transfer didn't go through. Something in the rep's voice let me know that they had no intentions of making the wire transfer. THIS WAS JUST ANOTHER STALL TACTIC. So today, I called after it's been 72 BUSINESS hours, and to my shock my account still tells me that my next payment isn't due until september, and that I had paid an amount last month totaling both payments taken... When I got to the rep, sure enough, no action has been taken. Now they want ANOTHER 72 BUSINESS hours to send me a check by mail. I just about lost it... Appearantly wiring money from citifinancial to citibank isn't possible... just the reverse, eh? Ok, this better be it, it'll be well over 2 weeks. Hopefully the context of my story, aligned with Easy E's story above will make it clear that they are dropping to new lows, using automatic payments to take double payments, and using every excuse imaginable to delay refunding the money. I'm sure they want to push this out until August payments date. I'm sure they wanted me to give up and say, go ahead and keep it. I'm not giving up this fight in principle. I wish there were more I could do, I feel so helpless... If you take nothing else from this, DO NOT SIGN UP FOR CITIFINANCIAL'S AUTOMATIC DEDUCTION PROGRAM, PAY WITH YOUR OWN BANK'S AUTOMATIC PAYMENTS IF YOU MUST. By signing up for the auto-deductions you are opening the door, and inviting the vampire into your house.

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Easy E
St. Louis , US
Jul 11, 2009 8:29 am EDT

Do not ever pay by phone with this company. Use your online bill pay, send them a money order or western union. I made the mistake, and I'm paying dearly. They debited my account mistakenly twice for two car payments when I only authorized one. I'm in the battle of my life right now. They see where they have made the mistake; I even had them contact my bank via conference call. I was promised a refund within 24 to 48 hours, and nothing has been refunded. In the meantime, I've been hit insufficient funds fees, checks have bounced, and my bank will not refund me the fees unless I prove that CitiFinancial Auto made the mistake. But it is so obvious, there are two back to back transactions with the same amount posting probably seconds apart. The thing that hurts is that each time I call CitiFinancial Auto to check the status of the refund, I get a different story each time. There is no consistency. My loan is current, I've never missed a payment. But there was a representative yesterday who had the nerve to say, "Well, if we refund your payment, keep in mind that your next payment is due on the 18th so we may not be able to refund you." I will never take out an auto loan with a financing outfit. I will only deal with large banks and credit unions. At the time, they gave me a competitive rate. It seems like customer service is a lost art. I cannot believe that we live in a world where taxpayers have propped up these companies, and they have the audacity to treat their customers like this. If not for their customers and millions of taxpayers, they would not exist. (shame on the so called CitiFinancial Auto employee who had the negative things to say, because during these rough economic times, everyone is feeling it rich, poor, good credit and bad credit. You still have to treat your customers with dignity, especially your paying customers. If these bad business practices continue, guess what, they will take their business else where).

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Raiven
Longwood, US
Jun 25, 2009 8:25 pm EDT

My suggestion is to definitely pay them using a money order. I gave them my account information yesterday after being told they do not store payment information. The next day they called back again and while on the phone with the agent I checked my account... - $370.99 !
The account was drawn upon using information gained from the phone call I had with their customer service representative... This company has been a NIGHTMARE to deal with! You are better off to go to a "Buy Here/Pay Here" place to get a car. At least there you can see the person you are giving your money to... No risk of them raping your bank account and credit.

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djtwiks
Waipa, US
Jun 08, 2009 7:51 pm EDT

Don't ever do business with Citi Financial Auto or any business's affiliated with them. I'm Currently an Auto Sales Consultant in Honolulu, HI. We do lots of business with this company just for the simple fact that we only have a limited amount of lenders to work with since this whole mortgage fiasco. Our finance managers love working with them just because they can get away with more shady things, such as; expensive over priced service contracts, GAP Insurance, Oil Changes virtually anything they can sell you while your in the booth sucking your blood dry. They will buy everything the finance managers willing to sell, which is sad! If you are buying a vehicle only do business with Credit Unions and Large local banks.

I've seen how they treat there customers. They have terrible customer service, you can't seem to get ahold of the right person to talk to and get 3rd partied the whole conversation. By this time your so frustrated you give up! I have made the mistake of having them buy my contract of my current vehicle 2yrs. ago before I knew how they did business. I am currently in the same situation as everyone here. All because I wanted to extend my loan an extra 6 months! BIG MISTAKE! I try to resolve issues with customer service consultants about 6 months ago but they are very rude! Its like I'm at the DMV trying to get my drivers license! You think with how the current economy is they would be more... NICER?

I've made payments bi weekly using the western union service because I made auto payments which were scheduled 2 days after my pay dates but the seemed to mess that one up. they took it out 2 days before! they got my account overdrafted 8 times during that period I tried to cancel my auto payments but they said I have to call my bank but my bank says they are the only one that can do it and it was an endless circle of crap. I talked directly to my banks manager and got it handled. now Citi financial is saying Im 1 month behind but I was making my payments. They made the mistake by taking the payment for the wrong month, now its my fault that they screwed up! WTF!

They also sent me something saying my insurance is not valid, so they tried to charge me $3, 000 for there BS insurance! It's like anything they can do to make more money! its bull!

Bottom line is that I'm in the process of refinancing my vehicle at a local bank.

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tammy
Lanett, US
Jun 04, 2009 3:26 pm EDT

citi financal is a rip off company.my husband had a heart attack and could not work. but yet these people would not work with us. so months of 10 calls a day. i finally told them to come get it. that was last winter. last week i get a call from a insurance company, whom i had insurance with some time ago. called, then sent a letter saying this car was in a accident in april. well that was odd... told the woman at the insurance company the whole story. come to find out citifin is trying to fraud the insurance comapny out of money saying the car had hail damage. when the car left my property it was in fine shape. so those of you dealing with these ripp offs be ware...

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April Osborne
Mount Sterling, US
May 23, 2009 2:07 pm EDT

My name is April Osborne from Mt.Sterling Ky and we have been with citi financial auto for a couple of years back in 2007 we bought a new dodge caravan and we both were working and for 2 years I made payments befrore the due date every single month and then in late 2008 I lost my job and a few months later my husband lost his job because of a back problem that will keep him from working again, I am getting a job tuesday for part time, but that will only pay what has to be paid for us to live. Citi Finanical Auto has called every day and every day I tell them we wont be able to make the payments now and we feel bad enough about it but they dont care they want us to give our house and utilitys up and live in the van so they can get their money now what dose that say about them. My husband is very deppressed about this because he wants to work to support his family and pay what we owe but they are treating us really bad, im afraid of what my husband will do to his self it scares me and it is because the way they are treating us we dont want to be classafied as deadbeats but that is what they are doing if any thing happens to my husband I will sue them because they are making him think that he is usless and he is not a good man and it is not his fault his back hurts him so bad to where he can not work any more. All I have to say is please any one do not get a loan with them please!

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imchar
Parsons, US
Apr 15, 2009 3:28 am EDT

i am having the same kind of problems with these loan sharks. so far it has cost me just under $1000. and low and behold, i go on line and once again they have failed to take the automatic payment they are suppose to be pulling out. so this month will all go to interest instead of all the principle. what thiefs. i have never had anyone have so much taking my money for a bill i owe before. the money is there, has been all month, they didn't pull it.

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Doug S.
Hazel Green, US
Apr 14, 2009 11:58 am EDT

WOW. I thought I was the only one. These ###s did all this to me too! Without too much length or detail, my wife and I were put in a situation not of our own making. I asked, and thought was granted, one of those "skip month" plans. 30 days later, phone calls come in saying I'm 90 DAYS past due! Seems the "skip month" didn't go through, although nobody called to inform me of that, and also TWO months of payments had not been recieved! After checking my bank account, I find they HAD been recieved! Stayed on the phone with citi ALL day to resolve the issue, at least I THOUGHT it was resolved. I wake up the next morning to go start the car to warm up, and the car isn't there! They had it repossessed that night! I spent the entire day trying to find my car! I was told I had to pay $2700.00 to get my car back! As soon as I can, I will be refinancing with someone else and will RUN LIKE HELL FROM CITIFINANCIAL! I suggest everyone do the same!

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ladyred19136
Houston, US
Mar 30, 2009 1:53 pm EDT

The day I got financed thru Citifinancial auto was the worst day of my life...and in my opinion, they partner with the dealers in screwing people over...mind you..i have been paying on my vehicle for over 4 yrs..but the balance on my loan is still like i have a brand new loan..when i rec'd a copy of my payment history, i discovered they have been applying most if not all of my payments to interest...I have been harrassed at work..at home...they have called all my references and harrassed them when they couldn't talk to me...totally embarrassing..but i'm the kind of person who doesn't give a s*&t about the reps getting ugly with me...because i dish back to them what they are serving...and they definitely don't like it...
so this past saturday...i get a call from a lady with her ignorant behind trying to school me on why they are applying my payments to interest like that...according to her, i have an interest bearing loan and that the dealership should have told me that...they are charging me over $5/day when i'm late...so therefore, you will never get the principal paid down..and be forever in debt...it's totally predatory..and i intend to seek all remedies to relief myself from this loan with Citi...
the dealership did not give me that piece of info when i signed my loan...and i recently talked to the man who sold me my car..and told him what I found out about my loans/interest...he never even bothered to call me back...so that leads me to believe he knew all along...(Being the top salesman at Davis Chevrolet for so many years)...there's no telling how many people they have set up like this...
but I for one will go out fighting...Citi will not get the best of me...!

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rziglear
Brownsville, US
Mar 13, 2009 11:58 am EDT

I received my first bill ONE DAY before the due date ! The bill said a payment by phone or online could be made for a service fee of $14.95! I called and was told to either accept the $14.95 fee or face a late fee if I chose to mail in the payment! I argued with the very difficult to understand, thick accented man for 20 minutes before he agreed to waive the fee and process it by phone. After reviewing my bank statement, I discovered that he had charged me after all! I contacted them again and was told the $14.95 was applied to the principal.
I tried for several weeks to set up direct debit to avoid this craziness. Each time I tried, it took me to a page saying there was a system error and to email or call. I emailed and received no response. I called and the very difficult to understand thickly accented woman argued with me that I must be doing something wrong and to try again in 48 hours! I refused and she insisted that was my only option. I told her I knew the outcome would be the same. She FINALLY offered to send me the forms needed to set up direct debit. Customer service is HORRIBLE!

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Sugarbugs
Largo, US
Mar 11, 2009 1:42 pm EDT

WOW! I guess I am not the only one who has a problem with the ###s working for Citifinancial. Why couldn't this bank have been one of the ones that went under?

I suggest that we file a class action law suit against them...maybe they will get their act together

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FedUp
Anywhere, US
Feb 25, 2009 1:41 pm EST

I have an automobile thru Citi Financial and I hate them. As soon as I get my credit score up, (to get a better interest rate) I am trading the car in. They call several times a freaking day if you do not get the car payment on the day it is due..Duh? you get 10 days before it is considerated late, thru the credit beaurer. They also promised to mail me a print out of what've I've paid with them several times, and they never mailed it. However, Citi Financial want their payments though. Most of the customer service reps. are anal as well.

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princess jasmine
Las Vegas, US
Dec 31, 2008 5:55 pm EST

I too am a former Citifinancial customer. Like many others, we had some financial issues and were behind on our payments. I spoke to a man who was very helpful and said that he could help me but I needed to give him 2 payments postdated over the phone and then after the 1st payment was received by them that we could cancel the 2nd one because I would qualify for a reevaluation of the loan and only needed 1 payment to qualify. They had to take 2 in good faith but would not need it. He advised me that someone would be contacting me after the 1st payment went through. He said they would have to fax over a document for me to sign and I would have to fax it back. I gave him my work fax number and he said that they would call before sending it since it was not a fax that only I had access to. After the 1st one was taken from my account, I tried to call this guy back and finally the day before the 2nd payment was due I finally got a hold of him. I explained that we had talked a couple of weeks before and and looked up my account and agreed that everything was in order. I explained that I would not have the money for the 2nd payment and he told me that it was not necessary because I already did the qualifying payment so I could cancel the 2nd one. He said that it had already been sent to the bank so he could not cancel it but advised me to put a stop payment on it with my bank which I did (and was charged $25 for but figured it was better than the entire payment). 2 days later as I was home ill with kidney issues (which is why we were behind to begin with), I recieved a voice mail from a man (different from who I had dealt with) that he needed to get my new paperwork signed and sent back immediately. I called them back and spoke to a woman about this. I told her that I was not at work and would make arrangments to have it faxed to my mother in laws house. She told me that the document had already been sent to my work and it had to be returned by that day or the deal was off. I got up and went to my work and the paperwork said I had 5 days from the date of the paper to sign and return (this was the same day as it was dated). I signed and faxed back to them and called to confirm that they had gotten it. My new payment on this paperwork was Sept. 12, 2008 (this was in the beginning of August). I was happy because I could get caught up and be on time for the next payment. I received a call from an automated system about a week later telling me to go to citifinacialauto.com/payments and could make a payment online. I didn't think too much about it and then I recieved a new payment coupon for the new payment date in Sept. and for the new amount but noticed it had a past due amount of the payment that I had stopped. I immediately called them and spoke to a woman who was very nice and said that it probably was an error but she would note everything I told her about the previous conversations on my account and to make the payment before the due date to ensure timely payments.

On Sept. 5th (7 days before the payment was due), they repossesed my car. It was late Friday night so they were already closed so the next morning, I called and spoke to a man, went through the whole story and he said that they had made a mistake and we would get our car back by Monday. 7 days later, after too many phone calls to count and getting transferred from one person to the next to the next to the next and relaying my story each time, I finally got a manager in recovery who said too bad, the payment was returned as stopped so the deal was off, they had tried to call me numerous times and I never responded and I would have to pay the fees to get my car back. She acknowledged that all this information was noted on my account but because the car had already been picked up, I still had to pay the repo fees because it was what they had to pay the company. I asked for the amount and called repeatedly for the next 5 days but always got a voice mail. To this date, 3 months later, I still have yet to hear from them on the charges that I would be able to pay to get my car back. I now have a notice from them that the car was sold and I owe them for the balance. This is a horrible company if this is how they treat their customers who do exactly what they ask of them. I realize that I was behind but made calls to work with them to let them know about the situation as it happened.

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Gene
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Nov 25, 2008 10:26 pm EST

Ok, I"ve read every complaint listed here. Primarily because I wanted to know whats up with Citifinancial Auto. These complaints are legitimate. I have had a 5 year relationship with Citifanancial Auto and for 4.5 of those years I've had nothing but praise for them. Then I went back to school, quit one of my jobs and fell behind by a month (Oct 2008). I borrowed the money and made the payment but by then my next payment was due. I borrowed money again knowing that my part time job will make the next payment because I had my finances planned out that way. Citifinancial Auto wanted me to approve of a electronic check for the next payment before they could stop the phone calls. I agreed. I got the payment in to them however before they would need to use the electronic check and called them 24 hours in advance of the day they were authorized to use the e-check as I was instructed to due by the rep in case I needed to cancel the e-check. I did that and was put on hold so long, about 20 minutes, that I had to get back to class. The lady that was helping me came back online to check on me and I told her I had to go. I believed she would follow up and cancel the check. She did not. Nor did any of the managers there. I did my part I called more than 24 hours in advance, so I went on about my business. The e-check was used anyway, even though I told her my bank had paid the payment by bill pay and she even varified it. This mistake cost me 240.00, just short of the amount of my car payment. It was all bank fees, because they even resubmitted the e-check. Now so far I am forgiving of Citifinance Auto because it was something I could see happening mistakenly, but I got harrassed and was ask where do I keep the car when I displayed a little attitude about what happened asked for Citifinance Auto to restore my bank account, telling them that that fee money WAS their next payment. Then Ms Freeman lost her patience with me, told me she was the operations mgr and would be handling my account personally from here on out...it was a threat! Further more I had to explain to here twice that I was not at fault, that I did call to cancel the payment. She reluctantly listened to me and asked me to fax here my proof. I did that and made a follow up phone call the next day to varify she received the fax for the first time I got her answering machine and the second and the third and now the line just goes dead when I call. I guess she has me on caller ID. Anyway No one is talking to me and they all just route my calls to her and I get furher than the first ring on her phone before the line goes dead. I realize now I'm in trouble for a mistake that at the very least we are both at fault with and should work out peacefully. Instead I have told I'm at fault for ever letting my payments get behind and fact that I'm a student, dealing with divorce and child support and having to live in the car sometimes, working and going to school and committed to paying this loan off in the next 8 months, (thats the payoff date) makes not difference. Some guy, whos name I noted but don't have with me got on the phone at one point and told me in so many words I was a weak excuse for a man because I don't hold my responsibility to that loan. Thats all I've been doing! Anyway I can see how they drive people into dispute and eventually loan failure. They are quick to blame you and then penalize you with threats and reposession if you speak up for yourself, and I speak nicely and respectfully. People fall under pressure and for the most part they are understanding and try to help but are to quick to turn on you for a mistake they made.

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Belinda George
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Nov 22, 2008 3:03 pm EST

I am also a customer who got ripped off as well. We paid off our loan in full on October 13 of the amount of $6, 609.60. 2 months later they cashed a check they claim they never received for the amount of $233.22. I called them and gave them the forms they requested and confirmed they received my fax and today I called and they claimed they never got it and they don't want to pay me back basically...
In my opinion, these people are thieves and will do anything to screw you over.

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Ed Rollins
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Nov 07, 2008 1:06 am EST

this company is the worst in the Buss, I too have had problems playing phone tag, not being contacted .when promised that they would lower my payments because i was in hospital for open heart surjery and then got a low paying job, they said no problem give us a call and we can lower your pmts, well i did and you know what they said, na we cant lower your payments you dont make enough money, so pay up or lose your vech. so much for working with you, and then they give you all those calls day after day about your overdue pmt, then you tell them, I just talked to a rep and am waiting on a call back they say well thats a different dept, there depts dont know what the other depts are doing no communication at all,
THEY JUST WANT THE MONEY>>>>AND COULD CARE LESS ABOUT HARD TIMES YOU ARE GOING THRU ! anyone asks me about them...I will say dont get a loan from them !

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joe
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Oct 28, 2008 4:09 am EDT

It got to the point where they were boning me so much with intrest that I decided to refinance with my local bank. I have dealt with Citi and they were horrible to deal with. So my loan officer at the bank got to find out. In the banks office, with fax in hand with the payout amount to close my Citi account, he called them to make sure the amount was correct so he could send the check. He was hung up on once, disconnected once and on the third time he talked to a woman who gave him 3 different amounts for the payout. When she learned we were on speaker phone, and he has a fax of the amount, she suddenly agreed to the amount. End of story? Nope. Got home that day and got a collections call saying i owe back payments. I told them the car has been refinanced, and the bank is sending the check. Responce was "Dosent matter we will keep calling you for the payments". Next day, same story. Except this time the woman screamed at me over the phone, would not listen to a word i had to say at all, saying that the payments are due and she didnt care if it is refinanced. I told her they are no longer listed as a lein holder on the title but that didnt seem to matter either. So I guess even after refinancing through a different bank wont keep these idiots from trying to get money out of you. But, like my loan officer said, if they try to get more money out of me, he has in writing the amount due they agreed to, and he documented the call, and name of the one he talked to right on the fax. Bring it on Citi! Best part is, my payments are a lot lower, interest rate is half of what Citi was charging, and I get the car paid off faster!

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CoffeeSnob
Peru, US
Sep 18, 2008 9:01 am EDT

I appreciate all the people who took the time to come here and vent about Citi's poor customer service practices. I've dealt with several Citi subsidiaries over the years when I was younger, and they are predatory lenders. They're as bad as the demonic souls involved with the sub-prime real estate debacle. They should be publicly flogged on courthouse squares across the country, and then have salt thrown into the open wounds. I've had an auto loan since '04 that was bought by Citi a couple of years ago. I've never been late with a payment, but I'll tell you what, I'm calling my credit union this afternoon and refinancing with them. Citi isn't going to get another penny from me. Ever. I hope they get caught up in the financial meltdown and are dismantled and spread to the four winds.

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Heidi
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Aug 28, 2008 2:40 pm EDT

I will agree with everyone else who has delt with Citi Finacial Auto. I got my car 4 years ago with them. Well in Jan 08 an Elk hit me on the driver side and totaled the car. Well between the time the insurance, Citi Finacial and my new car financial company there was a big issue with payments to Citi finacial. Well come to find out they had rolled some of my total to my new lean holder and then stated to send me bills for $539.53 which is the pay off of the lean that I had with Citi. Well due to me having major surgery (Which I explained to them) and also finding out once I got back from surgery that my $50.00 payment wasnt enough. So, they expect me to pay $500.00 for my new car and $214.00 to citi which leaves me and my son $57.76 left for a month to live on due to me being on medical leave and having major surgery.

Every time I have called the send me from one person to another only for them to say your in the wrong department. And finally after calling for three days and talking to many people I get told by a Team Lead that since my balance is so low, they will not help me out in any way. Why is it that I make a $50.00 attempt and they ding my credit to the point that I'll be lucky to get my student loan reduced. Why is that larger companies have no compassion for those who try and by the sounds of it, we all have tried and they pushed us off because we dont have money flying out of our ### and into there pockets.

I will never go with Citi again and my new loan isn't close to Citi Financial and I have recomended from others not to go through these dumb ### inconsiderate people. I have even tried to call Corp head quarters only to be placed on hold for 20 min, and thats customer service? I think this is one company who doesnt know the meaning of Customer Service, and also look, they are making 2.1 Million Dollars from us who work our ### off for the dime that we get, and still no compassion. Go, figure.

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Louis
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Jul 10, 2008 2:28 pm EDT

ok so i dealt with the rudeness made my payments them boom i lost my job, i put the car away as i thought i would recover
pay them and move on, no the case- so now i'm just shy of a year behind and i'm thinking i need to give the car back.
it was fun sticking it to the man for a little while but now its just taking up too much space in the garage, anyone have any ideas or suggestions on how to give it back with out the long drawn out rudeness ?

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SARA
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Jul 03, 2008 5:04 am EDT

THATS RIGHT CITIFINANCIAL AUTO IS A BIG LOOSER WITH THE WORLDS BIGGEST L OUT THERE

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Ruby
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May 20, 2008 10:13 am EDT

I have been trying to get my WARRENTY CANCELLATION money back from them for damn near 5 months.
I wish I would have NEVER heard of them either.
They are the most NONproffesionals that I have dealt with.
Lies apon Lies apon MORE LIES!
They do not get back in touch with you - - THEY ARE LIARS - - BEWARE!

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cvp
Albany, US
May 06, 2008 5:55 pm EDT

thank you all. Citifinancial has been hounding me repeatedly with offers to refinance my car with them. I will steer clear as far as I can from them after reading your helpful posts.

I hope many of you contacted attorneys to sue them, Particularly "treated like deadbeats".

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Carl
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Apr 15, 2008 1:31 pm EDT

To the gentleman who stated he worked for Citifinancial Auto his whole career (and to those who have a loan with Citifinancial Auto), my dealings with them have been a complete nightmare. The so-called "programs" that Citi has in place look good on paper, but, when you actually need one of them activated, it's an entirely different story.

Case in Point: In December, 2007, I took advantage of a "Holiday Skip Pay" program because my account had always been current and was in good standing. I called, spoke to a "Chris", was given my next payment's due date, and hung up assuming that everything had been done. I wrote down his name, the time of the call, and kept a copy of the original letter (which you should ALWAYs do anyway.)

In Jan, 2008, I began receiving collections calls stating that my payment (for December) was past due.

Long story short, after spending literally hours on the phone, over multiple days, speaking to multiple operators, not only was my Skip Pay never processed, but the remedy (called a "deferred payment") was also never processes as promised.

I sent a letter to CF-A detailing the ordeal, with a copy of my phone bill (to prove I called them to do the skip pay) and a copy of the Skip Pay Letter. (CF-A claimed I had either never called them, or I never received such an offer, depending on what operator you spoke to, on what day, and whether or not you were routed to an Operator in India or the US.)

To remedy the situation, it took the action of a local attorney AND the Florida State Attorney's General office to step in. After 4 months, my account is FINALLY straight, late fees credited, and the deferral done. The key here was that I had irrefutable proof in the form or documentation, which I sent to both CF-A (first) and sent to the atty and Fl Atty Gen office (2nd).

I recommend this:
__always keep notes of names and times of those with whom you spoke in ANY dealings with CF-A.
__always write down the general conversation and the results (or lack thereof)
__always keep all correspondance, including phone bills, proving that you spoke to CF-A.
__if CF-A fails to act, send them detailed data. Leave the emotional BS out of it ("they were mean", "they were stupid", "the operators were mean..." etc...)
__don't lie. If you did something wrong, own it!
__get an attorney to send them a letter (might cost you a couple hundred dollars...and also notify your State Attorney's General office. Most states, like Florida, now allow filing of complaints on-line. )

..then cross your fingers and pray for the best!

Good luck!

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Paige
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Mar 21, 2008 8:01 pm EDT

I just received a refinance offer in the mail from Citi and all the posting have me concerned. First of all, I purchased my car and I did have a high interest rate not because I did not pay my bills, but because I did not have any bills. So I lacked credit. Since I have never been late on my current car loan and I opened a line of credit two years ago, my scores has increase dramatically and I get these types of offers all the time. However, I know now that Citi is not a company I would want to do business with. Yes, I did see that many of the complaints was from people who were behind in their payments. However, if Citi financial's business is geared towards people with less than perfect credit, then they should be better equipped to deal with these types of situations. I would hate to get into a situation like losing my job, my spouse passing away or disability and need help with Citi working with me. It is apparent that help would be far from available. Customer service is a major deal breaker for most companies and the way their staff relate to the customer is key to the success of the company. It is apparent that Citi is a predatory lender, who sole benefit is to pull less than perfect credit customers then treat them like they are beneath them when situations occur. My loan is with Americredit and they have be great, but it would be impossible to refinance a car loan with the same company. If it was, I would not have given Citi financial a second look. I am glad I did some research on Citi and I hope other potential customers would do the same. People are still human and deserve respect whether their payment is on time or late. People usually give what they get, so if Citi customer service rep's are being cursed out and hung up on constantly, it could be due to Citi rep's lack of work ethics and respect to their customers.

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TAS
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Mar 15, 2008 9:50 am EDT

I am also a Citi employee. I cannot begin to believe the comments from James. He should be tracked and fired. Citi is a company for less than perfect credit customers. Collections calls because your payment is past due. If your payments are made in a timely manner you will not get a call.

As far as the rude customer service calls, I can not tell you how many times we are cursed, threatened and hung up on.

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RU1096
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Mar 10, 2008 8:51 am EDT

I just wanted to post a comment--not negative OR positive. I just received an offer for 8.99% refi from Citifinancial. I was approved and am currently waiting for the application packet to come. To be honest, when I read the first couple of comments, I was thinking in the back of my head that a lot of the problems people are complaining about are (although not necessarily their own fault) their own problems, and I wouldn't blame the company for taking collection actions. It is their money, and they obviously want it back. HOWEVER, it disturbs me that someone such as "James", who claims to be an employee of the company would have such a low opinion of EVERY customer. I have good credit. I pay my bills on time. The only reason I was considering refinancing is because my truck paymants are close to $500 a month and I'm trying to buy a house! If "James" is representative of this company's employees, it makes me seriously reconsider this deal. Luckily, I haven't gone through with it yet and it's not to late to back out.

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