Ask MetaFilter questions tagged with citibank

Is my credit card trying to trick me into spending more?

luckyveronica — Wed, 15 Apr 2009 14:12:48 -0800

Why was my credit line increased? I have a credit score that's on the low end of the "fair" rating. I have a high debt to credit ratio and have been making payments on a timely and consistent basis.

I am set up for auto-pay with Citibank. I logged in recently to move the payment date up, and saw that my credit line had been increased, giving me about $600 more dollars in credit.

Within the past few months I got a letter from Citicards saying that my APR would be increased, and if I wanted to opt out of that I would have to close and pay off my account at the current rate. Although I've always paid on time and rarely used the card (as in, once or twice within the last year), the rate jumped from something like 12% to 24%. I didn't want to opt out of this new increase because I want to keep the card.

I've never asked for an increase, so am just wondering why it would be given to me now, unasked, in this economy. What's the catch--are they hoping I'll run it up so they can charge me at this new APR? Citicards has never given me trouble (MBNA is another story) until the APR increase, and now this credit increase comes along and makes me even more wary.

I've become a much better saver, but I also have two major expenses coming up (dental work and school). I'm wondering if the credit card can be used for *one* of these expenses, or if I should keeped it locked away and continue to just use cash.

Is this my personal bailout for the credit industry?

Anonymous — Fri, 30 Jan 2009 08:24:53 -0800

Yesterday, I paid off Citibank for the last time. Today, I logged in to verify it had posted, and noticed my interest rate had jumped 5.5%. Has my new regime of frugality displeased the overlords? (Anon because I know some of you and am embarrassed about my money issues.) Last year when I got serious about my consumer debt, I used Citi's low-APR balance transfer offers to consolidate all my credit card debt. The total of transfers and existing Citi debt gave me a balance in the mid-$20K; the transfer APR was 2%, and the purchase/existing APR was 13.3%.

The balance transfer period is about to end, so I decided to clean the dogs out of my investment account and get out of debt in one easy payment. Yesterday was the last day of my statement period; I paid the current balance in full. When I logged in today, the current balance was only the interest charge on the previous period, so I paid it off too. Then I noticed that my APR had jumped to 18.8% overnight!

I've seen a number of stories about Citi jumping people's rates inexplicably since the current crisis started. I know that, by not using my credit, I am less useful to Citibank. Still, I wasn't expecting a hike back to where I was in my less creditworthy days. Are they betting that I will be unable to resist using my card again and that I didn't notice the boost? Is the hike coincidental to the zero balance, making my ragefest at Vikram Pandit meaningless?

David vs. capitalist greed and corruption

brandnew — Tue, 25 Nov 2008 04:10:55 -0800

I would like to sue Citibank. What would be the most effective way to go about doing this? I'm interested in suing Citibank, and given the David vs. Goliath nature of this affair, I want to make sure I do it right.

Three separate CSRs at Citibank had verbally promised me an offer on three separate occasions. They also included a date by which the offer would expire. Based on this information I had made a number of business deals. Then, I went to execute on the Citibank offer, and Citibank changed their offer, which basically made me lose a lot of money.

I also suspect that Citibank is doing something crooked, here. And, given the current political climate and the bailing out of Citibank by us, the American tax payers, I would also like to take action with my congressperson as well.

Anyway, without getting into the details, how would I best go about this? Should I try to contact an attorney in New York? At this point, cost is irrelevant - I want to recoop my losses and opportunty costs and other damages. But, I also want to sue based on the principal.

I know there are a lot of attorneys on metafilter. I know you are not my attorney, but I want to make sure I go about this the most effective way. How would I best go about this? And how would I best take action with my representatives?

Are these other accounts just more of the same?

forallmankind — Sat, 05 Jul 2008 14:10:14 -0800

When the Citibank e-savings account started (I think about 18 months ago) the interest rate was 3.5%, so I moved all my spare cash there; but now it's 1.5%. Capital One & HSBC are currently offering 3.5% e-savings accounts - is this the same deal? Are these only introductory rates which I should expect to fall dramatically in due course? If so, this kinda feels similar to those situations where people bounce all their debt around 6 months interest free credit cards. Is this what you need to do if you want the accessibility of an e-savings account with a good interest rate? You'd have to keep bouncing to the latest account offering essentially a short-term high rate.

Or have I got it all wrong. Are those nice people at Capital One gonna hang on to that nice 3.5% for me (or at least let me know when it drops significantly, unlike my buddies at Citibank)? I notice that the HSBC rate is only available through mid August....

What's the least manipulative stable credit card company?

alizarin — Thu, 07 Dec 2006 10:27:42 -0800

What's the least manipulative stable credit card company? I had an Amnesty International VISA - a tiny percentage of the purchases were donated to Amnesty. Good card, good customer service, they didn't do anything creepy. Then one day POOF, it's replaced with a Citibank Visa, an 8 day window to pay the bill every month, and constant examples of predatory practices. This is the 3rd time I've had a descent credit card bought out by an ultra-manipulative Citibank or Chase. Are there any non-creepy, stable credit cards to be had? BTW - I have very good credit.

Where are the new CitiBank Ads?

thebarron — Fri, 19 May 2006 07:25:05 -0800

CitiBank has just released a new round of their humorous identity theft ads for May, 2006. You know them instantly by the mismatched video and voices. Here are the original ads from 2004. I've Googled using all possible tags with no success to see who might have them posted for download. Thanks for the hunt!

Citibank Origami Music

daveed66 — Tue, 20 Sep 2005 17:11:09 -0800

Does anyone know who does the music for the Citi Bank commercial with the guy doing the origami in fast forward. Classical sounding piano music.

Help me choose a new bank.

ebeeb — Sat, 18 Jun 2005 00:40:53 -0800

Do you like your bank? I have been using Citibank for several years and have found there service to be excellent. Until I did some travelling recently and the company gave me countless troubles trying to gain access to my money (not to mention a few customer service representatives with a condescending attitude). Regardless, I'd like to kick them to the curb and would like some advice about which bank to select next. Which bank do you use and why? Thanks!