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Associates National Bank (Citigroup)

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"M" of Decatur, GA, writes:
I have had several problems with this bank and the Visa card issued by them. I am not sure if they are responsible for the first problem. However, it involved me not receiving the very first statement that was issued on Dec. 8, 2000. When I contacted customer service, they said that it might have been a problem with the post office losing the statement. Suddenly, it appeared 2 weeks later in my post office box. I am not sure if this incident was due to neglect on behalf of the US postal service or Associates National Bank.

I am sure that the second problem is the result of their neglect. Because of the problem I was having with mailing my payments (including the due date policy) I decided to enroll in the online payment plan. However, on Saturday, March 3, 2001 when I tried to make a payment the online server that the bank was using was reporting some problems. I talked to a representative of the online services division and she informed me that the server was down. I then tried repeatedly to call customer service to ask them would this problem affect the timely receipt of my payment. However, I received an automated message that stated, "Due to unexpected calling volumes, the representative cannot serve you at this time. Please try your call again later." I tried to call back at least 6 times to no avail. I finally decided to give up.

I tried late Saturday evening (after 2:00 pm -- the cut-off time for processing to begin on the same day) but the server was still down. Finally, I was able to submit an online payment on Sunday.

As a consequence, I was charged a $29.00 late fee because they did not receive the payment on time. I think that this is totally unfair because it was not my fault that their server was down. This is not the first time that this company has been quick to charge but not to think about their customers. When I contatced customer service in order to have the late charges removed. She acted as if it was my fault that I could not reach customer service on Saturday. The company is just too careless and rude for me to continue my service with them. Therefore, I closed my account. But I would like to warn others before they fall into the same trap that I did.

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