I’m not even going to rehash the reason I’m mad at Citibank. If you haven’t read the full story yet, read it here. The summary is that I was promised my credit card interest rate was set back to zero and all of the late fees would be waived. I took a look at the numbers again, and something still isn’t right.
- Balance before the fiasco: $1300.00
- Balance after getting hit with fees: $1401.53
- Balance last night after my $200.00 payment and the supposed correction of fees: $1137.47
Now I was actually pretty good at math in high school. Doesn’t it seem that if the interest and fees were all waived, my balance should be $1100.00? Citibank….you owe me $37.47! And my interest is still showing 11.24%!!!!!
And why is it that I always get notified of these things on Friday nights? It’s not like I can do a lot about it on the weekend. Coincidence? I’m beginning to wonder.
And this leads me straight into my roundup. To kick things off, Ana at Debt Free Revolution and Madison at My Dollar Plan have a credit card duel going this weekend. Do you agree with Ana that credit card companies try to separate you from your money, or do you agree with Madison’s 25 reasons that she loves her cards? The duel continues today, so look for new posts on both sides of the debate.
My Favorites From the M-Network.
- Your Greatest Asset is the Ability to Create Income – Cash Money Life
- 6 Ways to kick off your personal finance new year the right way – Gather Little by Little. Step 4 is beginning to look enticing…
- It’s Always Good to Have a Backup Plan – I’ve Paid For This Twice Already…
- The Weak Dollar is Killing Americans’ Wealth – Moolanomy. I thought that was Citibank! Oh wait…they’re just killing MY wealth!
- Tips on How to Avoid Internet and Financial Scams – My Two Dollars
- Which is Better: ISA or pension? – Plonkee Money. Be sure to stop by to congratulate Plonkee! She hit 10,000 visitors to her blog in one month for the first time! That’s quite an accomplishment!
- Bought a NEW Car yesterday – Single Guy Money
- A Helpful 401(k) and IRA Rollover Chart From the IRS – The Dough Roller
A couple of additional posts I wanted to mention:
- Graced by Christ wrote On Being Frugal and Eating Out in response to my look ahead to 2008. I had mentioned that I’m still struggling with the eating out budget. She gave me a whole post full of tips to help. THANKS!
- Millionare Money Habits is running a contest this week! You could win a copy of The Rules of Money! Head over to enter!
On to the Carnivals!
- We’re In Debt hosted the Carnival of Personal Finance and included my post on how to save an emergency fund.
- The Carnival of Debt Reduction was held at Debt Reduction Formula. I submitted Lessons Learned From My Hippie Brother.
- Moolanomy hosted the Festival of Frugality and included my post 12 Frugal Things You Can Do This Week.
- Finally, my son Sam tried his hand at blogging by helping me host the Carnival of Financial Goals. It was a lot of fun!
Thank you to all who hosted the Carnivals this week! It was fun reading through them all!
I hope everyone has a great weekend! I know I’ve been in a bit of a sour mood with the whole Citibank thing. You’ll be pleased to know that I have a fun post scheduled for Monday morning. You won’t want to miss it! I’ll see you then!
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WOw, hey really are trying to take you out aren’t they. Stupid credit cards.
I really hope you get this all resolved soon!
I hope you get this sorted out. Remember, if the first rep is acting dumb, hang up and get a different rep. If that doesn’t work, ask for a supervisor.
Threaten to close the account always help.
I don’t even know what to say with regards to the service you are receiving from citibank. It is just horrible what they are doing to you.
Thanks for the weekend roundups in which you have been posting on Saturdays, I really enjoy the reads :).
Lynnae, I am so sorry with the way Citibank is STILL jerking you around. Keep fighting…and get those creeps out of your life for good! Thanks for the link :) and you *KNOW* I am pulling for ya in this battle.
Have I ever mentioned how much I hate credit card companies. Cut it up Lynnae, just cut it up! You’ll get rid of your card AND feel better…chainsaw is great for taking out a little frustration!
Thanks for the link!
I hope you get this situation fixed soon!
Thanks for the link! :)
I’m with Pinyo on the rep thing!!
Sorry they’re being so stupid. Take three breaths.
This is a case of policy getting in the way of good customer service. To risk literally thousands in future business for less than $40…Stupid. It costs a credit card company over $100 per each new customer, maybe more. Just poor business practices.
In a lighter note…Sam did a wonderfull job yesterday. Thanks again for the inclusion. I have added this great blog to my “Good Karma” blog role. Great posts!
Citibank can be notoriously slow updating things on their website – did you check that? I called them yesterday (and wrote in my blog about it here)and got a rate decrease and it’s not showing on my online account yet, either, but it’s not the first time it took a couple days to show up online. In fact, according to my account online, it was last updated January 2, 2007. Is it possible it just hasn’t updated yet? (I’m assuming you’ve been checking online and not calling in.)
Either way, I hope it gets settled soon! :)
Thanks for the support, everyone.
@Pinyo – It never occurred to me to hang up and try again. I’ll remember that one.
@Heather – I’m glad you enjoy the roundups.
@glblguy – the pressure is on to cut them up. :)
@RacerX – Thanks for adding me to the Good Karma blogroll! Glad you enjoyed the carnival!
@The Bad Penny – I’ve noticed they’re a bit slow, so I’m going to give it a bit. The rep I talked with last week told me my interest was showing as zero for her. I just find it strange that the balance went down by such an odd amount. I’ll go check out your story.
It’s definitely strange, Lynnae. I’d give them a call, just to be sure. I love my Citibank cards, but I know others have had terrible service from them. (We’ve had an account with them since 1995 – maybe there’s a tier system for their customers or something awful like that.)
And sorry, the date I should have written was Jan. 2, 2008! I’m still getting used to the new year. :)
Sorry about your problems. I’d call them just to be sure; write a letter if it is not resolved. Personally, I haven’t had problems in 20 or so years I used credit cards, but I’ve never carried a balance. I don’t see it as specifically credit card problem since mistakes and bad service happens with many companies as well as government: I once had a water bill for $2000 and had to call and convince them that I don’t have a waterfall in my living room; a friend had difficulties getting electric company to come and double check her meter after they billed her $300 for the month the place was empty and all electric appliances turned off, another friend had somebody sign her up for aol without her knowledge or consent, and they kept billing her in spite of numerous calls and promises to fix everything, then they sent this $100-something bill to collection agency. Mistakes happen and so are incompetent employees.
Hope you’ll get it resolved.
One easy way to avoid similar problems in future (as long as you are their customer) is to sign up for automatic payment. My credit card company simply takes off the full amount of the bill every month from my bank account on the due date, I just need to verify all charges are correct. Since you are repaying the debt, you can sign up for them taking off the minimum payment automatically and then send additional payment for whatever amount you want. This way you are guaranteed to never be late, no matter what – date changes, lost bill, whatever. Usually you need to call the credit company and ask them for a form. I do it with most of my bills.