Trash Talkin Citibank
 

http://www.tfproject.org/tfp/showthr...threadid=49157

I recently paid off my bill with Citi. We'll be house shopping soon, and wanted a clean slate when our credit check is done. Normally, we pay monthly like everyone else. But this time, we just paid the whole thing off. The next month, I got another bill from Citibank for some less-than-well-described interest fee. I called them on it. They told me this was the residual interest payment had I not paid the full amount off, and that, while they had not pursued this within the last few years, it was actually in the cardholder agreement. I was also told that if:
1) I always pay off my bill in full every month, I would never get this fee again.
2)if I return to the revolving credit (paying monthly) and decided to pay it off in one chunk again, I would see this fee again.

How's that for stupid?

I'm shopping for a new card...

I didn't have this problem with them but I cancelled my account with Citibank last night. I've had a card with them for the past 10 or so years but lately they have been doing things with my account I didn't care for.

My thoughts exactly. While I know it is my responsibility to read the cardholder agreement, its kind of asinine for them to have a clause in it that they have never policed before. There really is no way to win with somebody like that. Geez, I paid the thing off. There is nothing wrong with being responsible and doing that.

Good for you for dumping them, steelerz. There are competitive rates everywhere.

By the way, what did you go through to cancel the account?

MBNA bumped my interest on my high interest college card one day to get this, 24%.

I only saw it looking at the back of a bill, never saw a 'we are rasing your rates' anywhere.

Needless to say I'll never have a card with MBNA again.

Oooochie - ouchie! 24%. That's amazing. Well, we can scratch them off, too. I have read a little on Capital One. Looks like they have obviously good rates, but are incredibly tight on their payment schedule. If you get a single payment in late by one day, they permanently increase your rate to something rather common. And hey, you can't always trust the postman, right? I'll keep looking!

Jujueye, I tried to cancel on their web site but got a message back saying call the 800 number so they can assist you. I called and they try to assist me into keep my card. Bullshit. I told them to just cancel it and after telling them why I want to they just say "OK it's cancelled. Have a nice day". Anyways, I've had a Capital One for years and never had a problem. Good rate and high credit line.
I don't use my cards a lot but I have all of them set up with online payment thru my checking acct. Just go to their website and a couple clicks later it's paid.

Thanks for the info. Yeah, they are the masters of derailment when you call them. I called once to check my balance. The guy who got the phone asked me if I need the service which lets me not pay in case I've lost my job or something. I said no. He asked me why not. I told him I was calling to to check my balance so I could pay it off, not because he somehow thought I was out of work. What an oddball.

Well, the canceling sounds pretty straightforward. It just seems that most cc companies want a letter from the cardholder stating the cancelation. For safety, I may request a document from them which says the account is closed. I would not like it if that credit line showed up on a credit check a few years from now as "active." Just a thought.

Thanks!

They did say they would send a letter stating the acct was closed as per my request. That's about the only usefull thing Citibank has offered me lately. Good luck to ya.

Citi.. sheesh, I have an account with them and get junk mail every 3rd day. It's paid off, maybe I should close it to aviod the problems I've read here :-/

Re: Trash Talkin Citibank
 

This is standard practice for most Credit card companies. Since you had a rotating balance, you are charged interest on that balance on a daily basis not a monthly basis.

Well, Citibank is the largest bank corporation in the world, so I guess they have to make their money somehow. :)

-Lasereth

Mostly all credit cards nowadays operate in this manner. Any balance carried forward from the last month, you will be charged interest on the full amount. You get your 1st month credit card bill for $4001. You pay $4000 on it, guess what you are going to still be charged interest for the whole month on the full $4001 not just $1, b/c you did not pay the card in full. If you arent paying your card in full ever month, dont bother trying to do the math on the interest owing, I guess you can, but who has that much time to waste? :P

Also the past year I know that with Visas, the interest was not charged on purchases until the date of the statement, but now, they charge interest as they do for a Cash advance, the day that you purchase (again only if your full balance is not paid each month) Fun stuff inst it?