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Citibank

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Jim of Alexandria, VA October 22, 2009

Like everyone else we received the letter "to continue to provide our customers with access to credit, we have had to adjust our pricing" raising our APR to 29.99%. Our credit rating is above 740. We pay the entire balance amount every month. We were late twice in the past 15 years by two days. I can't think of a good reason to stay with Citicards in light of their business model trying to recover their losses on the backs of unemployed people who cannot afford this outrageous hike in rate. We will be cancelling our cards with citibank.

Vicki of New Castle, PA October 22, 2009

This company sends convinence checks to your address at least 2-3 times per month then when you go to cash one they send it back unpaid. They tell me that my acct. was in default. To them I was approximately 3-4 days late with a payment. The they do not notify you of the status but they do keep sending the checks. Then they sent a letter insinuating I was not going to pay my bill. I have every intention of paying the bill and closing the acct with them. 11 bank charge

Charlotte of Lancaster, CA October 22, 2009

Much to my astonishment when I received a similar letter to many of Citibank credit card customers incresing my interest rate from 11.90% to 29.990%. I have been a customer of Citibank for maore than fifteen years and was guaranteed my interest rate as long as I made payments on time. Just prior to this letter I received an offer of 10% or 20% of my account if I signed up for Ern interest back if I made a minimun payment on time or if I made the double payment I would receive 20% off.

Pam of Troutdale, OR October 22, 2009

I too received a letter from Citibank informing me that my APR would increase to 29.99% effective 11/30/2009. I have been a cardholder in goodstanding since 1990. I had my balance paid down to about 5K when I received a balance tranfer offer of 8.99%. I can't believe they can get away with this!!!

Denise of Machiasport, ME October 21, 2009

I have a Citi credit card & have been paying on time every month since 2003. I had an interest rate of 9.24% & I just received a letter telling me my interest rate is going up to 29.99%!! Is this legal?

Randy of Ruston, LA October 21, 2009

Sears MasterCard raised my rate from 12% to 25.24%. Have had card since 1985. Never been late in 24 years. FICO score of 780. I will never shop at Sears again. Will just not use card. Pay cash are do without.

Kevin of Brighton, MA October 21, 2009

I received the "dreaded" letter stating that my rate will increase from 12% to 29.99%. Also like many, I called customer service and was given two options: accept the new rate or close the account. I received the programmed empathetic response. I am simply astounded that a rate can increase so dramatically even with absolutely no history of late payments. Hopefully enough complaints will matriculate and someone can intervene in this madness.

Ruth of Springfield, IL October 20, 2009

Well here is a kicker. I received a letter from Citibank stating that my Purchase APR was going form 9.64 to a whopping 29.99% effective November 30, 2009. It stated you have the right to OPT out. When I called, I ask what the reasoning was for this. The woman totally avoided my questions and simply reiterated what the letter said. I told her I had never been late, missed a payment or anything and did not understand how they could do this and get away with it. She continued with the same song and dance. At this point, I told her we would be opting out. She placed the request and told me the account was being closed and that the card would no longer be active. I would continue with the current rate until it was paid off.

Thinking about it the next morning, I called the customer service area of Citibank and spoke to a very nice woman there. I first wanted to make sure that I could continue making my payments online even with this being closed. She stated no problem. I then ask who regulated Citibank. She did not directly say, but being in banking myself, I knew it had to be the FTC. I told her I planned on filing a compliant that I thought this was just totally off the wall and I cannot believe, we the card holders was being strong armed into paying for Citibank's mess.

She told me to write a letter to the Office of the President, Citibank/Citigroup, and P.O. Box Sioux Falls, S.D. 57117. She believes addressing this directly to the president of the company would have a better effect then filing a compliant. I intend to do both. This is very unfair to people that are already struggling to make ends meet when so many are being laid off. If I am right, most of them had an increase made to their line of credit without their request only making it easier to get further in debt. With incomes being affected, some had no other choice. They still cannot even OPT out. Can's even make a regular payment.

Citibank jumped in to get some of that available money that was handed out by the Government to get them out of muddy waters, buy planes and give their top dogs bonuses. Now they are rate mooching the poor consumers into bankruptcy. This cannot nor should not be allowed. They should be driven out of business and forced to reimburse the consumers they are cheating. The government should also be held accountable. We will pay for that decision as well.

garin of austin, TX October 20, 2009

I am in perfect standing with my credit card with Citibank and they have aggresively proposed I deal with a 29.99%interest. I currently have a 13% interest. I am just taking the hit on my great credit and paying this cc off and when my card is cancelled on the experation date on the card. I just got this letter and I will spread the word to everyone I know and post to every website I can. What else can we do?...dump the big banks and go with your local credit unions I suppose.

James of Northfield, IL October 20, 2009

Today, when I went to fill my tank, I was surprised that my Citi Shell card was declined at the pump. I showed the card to the attendant, who submitted it again, and again it was declined. I used another (Citi) card to pay for the gas. I was surprised because I have always paid the balance in full, on time. Because of the Shell card rebate program, I have bought Shell gas 90%+ of the time for several years. Furthermore, because I use this card exclusively for Shell gasoline, the balances are not large – rarely over 200. I thought it was an administrative mistake.

When I went to the Citi web site, I could not log in. Finally, I called Customer Service. The CSR informed me that, "My card no longer met their credit quality standards," and that they had closed the account. This, despite the fact that I have always paid Citi in full, and on time. Citi apparently has received information from Equifax, and I don't know what it could be. (I do have an out-of-state speeding ticket that I have yet to settle, but all my financial relationships are in good shape.)

So I'm out. A perfect (if small) customer – at least on this account. I am a small businessman. I use credit cards for cash management and operating cash flow. I am very concerned about the impact of Citi's action on the rest of my credit history, and how it can hurt my business. I have large corporate clients, and I would not be shocked if they "pulled bureaus" as part of their procurement process. (Insurance companies do it when they review policies.)

Moreover, this action lessens my overall credit availability, and therefore lowers my FICO score. With the same dollar amount of credit usage, I now have a higher "balance to credit limit ratio", an important FICO driver. So my credit score will go down. I do all my business with Citibank, including other accounts with much larger balances. In the past 5 years, I have paid Citi 271,000. I am very concerned that I will wake up one morning, and Citi will have closed my other accounts.

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