Citibank Scam (shocking, isn't it?)

[joanne]

Hey Folks!

Been a while. Unfortunately things have not changed. The banks continue to scam and the government hasn't backed it's promise to create jobs.

Here is just another example of how the banks are scamming the American people and are just allowed to do it because there is no regulation, concern, or commitment to the citizens of this country.

In the beginning of 2011, we went on a payment plan with Citi for a credit card that we were having difficulty in meeting payments because of unemployment.

We had the payments withdrawn directly from our checking account and never missed a payment. In April, 2012 we received a hardcopy invoice (which we never received during the payment plan period) with a minimum amount due of $42.50. We sent in $50. For the past 3 months they have been calling here 10 times a day saying that we never paid the 2/2012 bill and that we now owe late fees and a minimum payment of $204.21. They are saying that this is due to the fact that we did not pay the 3/2012 bill. We never got one. When I requested a copy, guess what???? They can't produce it. They continue to call numerous times a day and as far as I am concerned this is fraud and harassment.

I reported them to the Credit Bureau, Better Business Bureau and other agencies. Guess what they have done? NOTHING. This is harassment and fraud. I especially love the employees of Citi calling for money that aren't even US citizens. The bleeding has to stop. Beware of any payment plans Citibank offers - they are full of crap!

Joanne

[kndkcook]

I had an auto loan that was transferred to Citibank. My loan was paid in advance and current when they received it. I had previous statements to prove that fact and it didnt help. My payments were made through my checking account. I set this up myself and paid $100 more then my payment amount every month since I bought my car. I had bank statements to prove all payments were made before they were due & the money was received. They claimed I had spuratic missing payments in random months going back 3 years on my loan. A total of five payments of $253 each were received by them and not credited to my loan. I gave them copies of my bank statements and went all the way back to the day I purchased the car to try and straighten out my account and could not get anywhere with them. How can that be?

I had about a year left on my loan and had not received credit for five payments. I sent certified letters with copies of my bank statements demanding an audit and credit for the missing amounts and they didn't do anything. I spoke with a supervisor who told me that she received the copies of my bank statements showing the missing payments and she was not able to give me credit for them. Why not? I made the payments. I gave you proof that I made the payments. The statement shows that your company received my money in your bank account why can't you give me credit for them? She said that when a payment is missing they have to track it down in order to credit it to the right account. If the payment was applied to the wrong account they remove it and credit it to the right place. She said if they received my payment and were unable to match it to an account, they would post my payment into a suspense account until it was claimed. If I gave them proof a payment was made and not credited to my account, they would need to locate it in order to give me credit for it. If it wasn't applied to my account there was only one place that it could be which was posted to suspense. If there were no payments that belonged to me in their suspense account when I reported them missing then they could not help me or provide credit for them. Can you believe that? I prove they received my payment and they cannot locate where they posted the money so they are not going to give me credit for it. I reported this problem to everyone who would listen including the Attorney General by submitting a complaint through their website and no one could help me.

They started sending people out to reposess my car over these missing payments that I did now owe and that scared me so I had my employer advance me the money to pay off the whole loan in advance. I requested a payoff quote and sent them a wire from my employers bank account for $500 more then the amount requested. I expected them to credit the payment and refund the overage once the account was paid and closed. I waited three months and never received my pink slip so I started calling and writing. They assured me that everything was fine. My payment was received and applied, I over paid the amount due and a refund should be issued shortly for the overpayment and will be sent with my title. That never happened.

Six months after I paid off the account they sent someone to reposess my car again. I refused to give it to him and locked it in the garage claiming my loan was paid in full. No one at their office had a clue on what was going on with my account. I kept receiving monthly statements that showed my over payment and a credit balance on my account for about 8 months. Then I received an invoice that said I owed over $5,000. They reversed the amount I paid 8 months after it was received and credited. Instead of reversing it as a single large payment, They broke it into monthly payments and subtracted it one by one (all on the same date 8 months later). Then they added 13 late payment fees for each month now missing a payment going backwards (again all on the same date). Then they added reposession charges for two or three attempts on random months which were over 1 1/2 years old at that point in time. After that was done, they added a finance charge to the balance they created and the total was over $5,000.

So why did they reverse my payment that paid off my account? Heres the kicker! A person in their fraud department said that the name on the bank account where the payment came from did not match my name on my auto loan account with them. Because the names did not match, they were not sure if the payment was correct so they claim they called my Employers office to verify it and they were not able to. Verify what? They wanted to verify that the payment was posted to the right account, but they were not able to talk to them about my account because my employer is not on my account and there are privacy laws that prevent them from sharing information. So they called to verify the payment, but could not speak with them because they were not me so they could not give me credit for the payment that was applied almost a year ago. They backed off a payment that was credited for almost a year. What did they do with that payment? I asked them and they said they could not tell me because my name is not on the check and their are privacy laws that prevent them from discussing personal information with me when I am not listed on that account. But my employer is not their customer. They have no responsibility to protect my employer when he does not have an account with them right? The fraud lady could not find someone to verify this at Citibank so she didn't know what to say to me. She told me she could not tell me where she refunded my payment to. My employer never received a refund.

I could not fix this problem with them. They sent my file to their legal department for reposession and my balance continued to grow. I had moved and they didn't have my new address so they could not locate the car. That was over six years ago now. I still have my car. I refused to give it to them. I paid the account in full.

The debt was on my credit report until I sent a copy of the last payment made on the account to the bureau. They removed it as inaccurate about a year ago.

I am left with a car that has a leinholder on the title that will never sign off on the car. I can't sell it. They stopped looking for it and eventually lost my file. Now they tell me that I never had an account with them cause there is no file. At the same time, they will not sign off on my title or release the lein. They tell me that their company should not be on my title because I never had a loan with them. It should not be there, so they cannot remove it.

so now what?

[bankwhipped]

I had an auto loan that was transferred to Citibank. My loan was paid in advance and current when they received it. I had previous statements to prove that fact and it didnt help. My payments were made through my checking account. I set this up myself and paid $100 more then my payment amount every month since I bought my car. I had bank statements to prove all payments were made before they were due & the money was received. They claimed I had spuratic missing payments in random months going back 3 years on my loan. A total of five payments of $253 each were received by them and not credited to my loan. I gave them copies of my bank statements and went all the way back to the day I purchased the car to try and straighten out my account and could not get anywhere with them. How can that be?

I had about a year left on my loan and had not received credit for five payments. I sent certified letters with copies of my bank statements demanding an audit and credit for the missing amounts and they didn't do anything. I spoke with a supervisor who told me that she received the copies of my bank statements showing the missing payments and she was not able to give me credit for them. Why not? I made the payments. I gave you proof that I made the payments. The statement shows that your company received my money in your bank account why can't you give me credit for them? She said that when a payment is missing they have to track it down in order to credit it to the right account. If the payment was applied to the wrong account they remove it and credit it to the right place. She said if they received my payment and were unable to match it to an account, they would post my payment into a suspense account until it was claimed. If I gave them proof a payment was made and not credited to my account, they would need to locate it in order to give me credit for it. If it wasn't applied to my account there was only one place that it could be which was posted to suspense. If there were no payments that belonged to me in their suspense account when I reported them missing then they could not help me or provide credit for them. Can you believe that? I prove they received my payment and they cannot locate where they posted the money so they are not going to give me credit for it. I reported this problem to everyone who would listen including the Attorney General by submitting a complaint through their website and no one could help me.

They started sending people out to reposess my car over these missing payments that I did now owe and that scared me so I had my employer advance me the money to pay off the whole loan in advance. I requested a payoff quote and sent them a wire from my employers bank account for $500 more then the amount requested. I expected them to credit the payment and refund the overage once the account was paid and closed. I waited three months and never received my pink slip so I started calling and writing. They assured me that everything was fine. My payment was received and applied, I over paid the amount due and a refund should be issued shortly for the overpayment and will be sent with my title. That never happened.

Six months after I paid off the account they sent someone to reposess my car again. I refused to give it to him and locked it in the garage claiming my loan was paid in full. No one at their office had a clue on what was going on with my account. I kept receiving monthly statements that showed my over payment and a credit balance on my account for about 8 months. Then I received an invoice that said I owed over $5,000. They reversed the amount I paid 8 months after it was received and credited. Instead of reversing it as a single large payment, They broke it into monthly payments and subtracted it one by one (all on the same date 8 months later). Then they added 13 late payment fees for each month now missing a payment going backwards (again all on the same date). Then they added reposession charges for two or three attempts on random months which were over 1 1/2 years old at that point in time. After that was done, they added a finance charge to the balance they created and the total was over $5,000.

So why did they reverse my payment that paid off my account? Heres the kicker! A person in their fraud department said that the name on the bank account where the payment came from did not match my name on my auto loan account with them. Because the names did not match, they were not sure if the payment was correct so they claim they called my Employers office to verify it and they were not able to. Verify what? They wanted to verify that the payment was posted to the right account, but they were not able to talk to them about my account because my employer is not on my account and there are privacy laws that prevent them from sharing information. So they called to verify the payment, but could not speak with them because they were not me so they could not give me credit for the payment that was applied almost a year ago. They backed off a payment that was credited for almost a year. What did they do with that payment? I asked them and they said they could not tell me because my name is not on the check and their are privacy laws that prevent them from discussing personal information with me when I am not listed on that account. But my employer is not their customer. They have no responsibility to protect my employer when he does not have an account with them right? The fraud lady could not find someone to verify this at Citibank so she didn't know what to say to me. She told me she could not tell me where she refunded my payment to. My employer never received a refund.

I could not fix this problem with them. They sent my file to their legal department for reposession and my balance continued to grow. I had moved and they didn't have my new address so they could not locate the car. That was over six years ago now. I still have my car. I refused to give it to them. I paid the account in full.

The debt was on my credit report until I sent a copy of the last payment made on the account to the bureau. They removed it as inaccurate about a year ago.

I am left with a car that has a leinholder on the title that will never sign off on the car. I can't sell it. They stopped looking for it and eventually lost my file. Now they tell me that I never had an account with them cause there is no file. At the same time, they will not sign off on my title or release the lein. They tell me that their company should not be on my title because I never had a loan with them. It should not be there, so they cannot remove it.

so now what?

I would find an attorney to sue the H*** out of them. On contingency of course.

[bgriff]

Contact a lawyer and remove them as a lien holder. If they say they are not a lien holder because they don't have file, then they will probably not contest your motion and removing the lien should be easy. Just be prepared that your file could magically reappear. There are other ways to sell a car without removing them as lien holder.

[caljules]

My homeloan is with Citimortgage, and I am also having difficulty with the modification process.

I think we just need to unite and let everyone in the world know to NEVER do business with Citi. If anyone has any credit cards, car loans - get them over to someone else if they can. If you want a credit card or car loan - don't walk, but run, from Citi as a lender.

Everyone I have spoken to says they are the WORST company to deal with all the way around. I absolutely believe them.

Isn't there something we can all do to report them to the Better Business Bureau on their lending practices?

[lwillhite]

You can also contact the Federal Trade Commission . Make sure that you write letters advising them to cease and desist.