"Mr. Albero,
I just received notice from Sears and Kmart that Citibank (of South Dakato), N.A., the issuer of Sears Gold Master Card, are making several changes to the terms and conditions for the Sears Gold Master Card product.
1) The regular Sears purchase APR is increasing ( Can be Prime + up to 23.99% or to 29.99% )
2) The regular External APR is increasing ( same as above )
3) Cash access APR is increasing to 3% of each transaction; $5.00 Minimum
4) THE MINIMUM FINANCE CHARGE WILL NOW BE $2.00
I actually took the time, with the aid of a magnifying glass, to read the 18 page brochure they included. There were no other major surprises. When I finished, I was "madder than a wet hen"! The "gestapo type" verbage and manor used in the writing of that sh*t document struck me that their attitude is "you as the user are a piece of sh*t and we have you by the a*s".
There is an "opt out option" if you are not in agreeance with the new changes. If you choose to "opt out" they will close your account, unless it is already closed. If you have a balance, it must then be repayed under your current terms.
WELL GUESS WHAT?...WE DO NOT HAVE A BALANCE AND WE CHOSE TO "OPT OUT".
THIS RETALIATION IS NOT DIRECTED AT SEARS / KMART BUT THAT WHORE CITI BANK.
We did the same thing 2 weeks ago to another Citi Bank card that we had since 2002. They wanted to take our 8.99% APR to 19.99%. We called for an explanation and tried to negotiate but they would not reconsider even after I informed them of an offer from another card company with better rates.... so I told them to "stick it" We called the other company and had the balance (under &1500.00) transfered that same day. GOODBYE CITI BANK!!!!
Now I realize this may not be the solution for everyone because situations differ, but I will not support Citi Bank. We will continue to shop Sears and Kmart but will be paying cash, using another credit source or not making the purchase.
Hopefully, your readers will think twice about the integrity of the banking institution they are supporting when plopping down that Sears card from Citi Bank. In these economic times, everyone should pay more attention to ALL their credit transactions/bills and take action if they are not satisfied.
It would appear Citi Bank has no shame.....they took your tax dollars, went on lavish corporate meetings, ordered another jet plane (which the gov. shamed them into canceling) but that is not enough. As one local politician has implied, growth pays for growth, IMHO, Citi Bank exists on the philosophy that greed begets more greed. What a bunch of SLIME BALLS!!
Thank you,
Agman"
We got the same notice from Citi Bank who holds the credit on our Home Depot card. We paid the balance and closed the account.
ReplyDeleteThey already have our money now in bailouts, they could care less.
ReplyDeleteand, if I'm not mistaken, if you have a 0 balance they still charge the $3. then you don't pay and they heap on a late fee and interest. Beware.
ReplyDeleteIt's not just Citibank.
ReplyDeleteI had to let another company shut my account as I continue to pay it off because they wanted to seriously hike my rate. If that happened, I wouldn't be able to pay it off.
A relative paid off a card and guess what? They closed it down because he was a bad credit risk.
So what are these stupid banks doing? They are sticking it to every customer who faithfully pays!
Then we can have more people default. Then they'll make a deal with us. Sure, that makes sense! No wonder they are freakin' failing.
I'm getting madder as I write this. This is just like the Barrie & Gary way of treating people in Salisbury. Create a new taxpayer program to help out, say, landlords, while sticking it to homeowners who follow the law.
I didn't get this notice on my Home Depot card, but I have a zero balance on it, maybe that is why.
ReplyDeleteI believe these companies send out this stuff hoping you won't open the envelope so it just happens automatically. I open EVERY envelope I get from any creditor immediately and read what is in the envelope.
HSBC was going to raise my rate but when I called them, they put it back to the 9.99% where it was.
Be careful closing your accounts folks if you are at all concerned about your credit score. It will lower your score!
Pay off the cards but leave the card active if you want to protect your score.
We got the same ridiculous notice. We've decided to not use the card in the future, but also to not shut it down.
ReplyDeleteHaving available unused credit is good for your credit rating. There's no reason to shoot yourself in the foot just because CitiBank is stupid.
Unless you're applying for another card somewhere else, my advice is to keep those cards, but to ONLY use them in pay-off-in-full every month mode (or not at all).
Run as fast as you can away from Sears! I had a card with them 20 years ago which was paid in full and closed. A few weeks ago, I get a call from Citi on behalf of Sears saying I owe them $3K from an unpaid debt in 1998! They said they had no record it was ever paid! I hit the freakin' ceiling!!! The funny part is that I still have a copy of the PAID bill they said I owe. My dad always says "never throw anything away"! LOL! Thank you, dad! I wonder what would've happened if I hadn't been able to prove it? (And, yes, I verified that it was legitimate and not a scam.)
ReplyDeleteThis is the second leg of the credit crisis that looms over us. The average credit card debt per holder has increased by 400% over the last five years. Credit card banks are now trying to make sure thye don't end up like the morgage happy banks are right now. This is also a tactic to try to force the government to open a "bad bank" and take over all the foreclosed morgages by making sure people don't use their credit cards. And the people that do use them will get dramatic increases in thier interest rates. We can expect to see all credit cards follow suit in the next six months.
ReplyDeleteSituation -
ReplyDeleteIn November of 2008 I paid $55.00 for my son to play t-ball. The tball league hired a company to collect and process payments from all registrants. In December, we received a letter from the tball league that the company they hired is refusing to honor their commitment. The league emailed all members a letter from themselves and from the merchant spelling out - point blank- that they, the merchant, will not refund money to anyone. everyone is S.O.L.
the league asked us to forward both letters to our respective cc companies for a refund.
I sent the letters from the league and the merchant to Citibank and requested a refund of the $55.00 charge to my citimiles card. Citibank sent me another letter dated December 31,2008 requesting two pieces of information.
1. a description of my contact with the merchant and if unable to contact them, why.
2. The merchant's response to my request.
Well, let's see, if they already have a letter, two in fact, on file from the league and the merchant stating that the merchant will not provide a refund, isn't the merchant's response obvious?
Nonetheless, I filled it out accordingly.
The conditional reversal of the charge was reversed and my card charged back. they claim that they didn't receive sufficient documentation.
A load of crap. Somehow the documents which seem to have little standing they received but the one that is required to receive credit they didn't get? yeah, right.
I called back in February then March (I think) and in April. Each rep I spoke to acknowledged that the documentation appears to be sufficient and they don't know why I'm having a problem. In April, I spoke to a woman named Zoey in the billing dispute dept. and she asked that I re-fax the document to them - again. Which I did.
Finally, today, I spoke to a woman who calls herself a "supervisor" named Michelle Picking. And she tells me that they received the letter too late and the time for them to dispute the charge with the merchant has passed so it's too late to issue me a refund. I went through the roof.! I told her that this is the third time I faxed them their request. She basically went on to say that in their letter to me, I had to specifically state that "I contacted the merchant and they did not reply to my request for a refund". WHAT THE HEK! What BS!
This is how they get you folks. My response in the letter states " merchant refuses contact and is under litigation" and for Q2. requesting the merchat's response I wrote "merchant refuses credit".
Any normal person understands what this means. But they will not issue a credit because I didn't write the words they want to see... By the way, my written response was dictated to me by one of their own phone reps.
All my life I have played by the rules, made my payments on time, sometimes in excess, and have never defaulted on any loan ever. Now all the larger companies who made their living off the masses such as myself want to change the rules to their greedy, contemptible ways and they expect us to follow like a whipped puppy or else they will punish us by needing to pay more money to them or, horror of horrors, they will take us down with the Holy Grail, yes the dreaded credit score!!!!
ReplyDeleteThe whole thing is a royal scam. Pay this and your credit score suffers, close that account and your credit score suffers, don't have enough credit, it suffers, have too much credit,and guess what, yep it suffers. I am to the point that I don't give a crap. Maybe the government, who should be ordering some common sense regarding these companies, will issue ME a bailout.
People, we are ALL getting conned by these jerks and we are paying for con job. Face it, with these companies and their political action commitees greasing the palms of slimey politicians (of both parties), we will continues to be used and abused. We have to use one voice to say to the rotten companies and all the worthless, greedy, good for nothing , whats-in-it for me politicos, STOP AND DO SOMETHING FOR ME FOR A CHANGE!!!!! We need to unite with our votes and cast out all these reprehensible life long, career politicians, until they start working for us again, until they remember there are people out there who want to be treated fairly if we do the right thing according to the rules. Has big business or your government touched you in a positive way in the past 5 years...10 years... or longer? We need to wake up to the fact that as good people we are on our own and no one, except people like ourselves, has our back. November 2010 is rapidly approaching and with our vote and our remembrances of our prior treatment, we can begin to demand to be treated with dignity once again! Take care everybody.