Banking run amok...
Jul. 28th, 2003 02:01 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
alexpgpSome time ago, Citibank ran a "random" credit check on me and decided I was a little too high of a risk to warrant the 14% interest rate they were charging me on the money I owe them. Despite the fact I had not been late with a payment to them for several years, paying like clockwork every month, they upped my rate to 19%.
A couple of days ago, the bank left a message, wanting to get in touch with me. I just called and found out I was delinquent with my most recent payment. This perplexed me, as for the past couple of years, I have been paying more than their stated minimum and have not used the card at all for some time.
My "delinquency" was easily explained by the fact that Citibank raised my interest rate once again, to an astronomical 28%, based on a "random" credit check.
Unbelievable!
I have been a Citibank customer for over a decade, and have not been delinquent in my payments (until just now, inadvertently) for some time. And while I do not expect Citibank to go out of its way to make my life necessarily easier (for example, by granting me preferential interest rates), I would equally not expect Citibank to pursue what appears to be a "kick our customers when they're down" corporate policy that - besides making my financial struggles all the more difficult - I cannot help but think is short-sighted, in the long run. (And yes, I'll not blow smoke at you, I'm not in the best of financial or physical health right now.)
I intend to drag myself out of this financial quagmire I've constructed for myself. And I will. And once I do, there will be banks out there I will do business with, in the course of going about my everyday affairs. However, I think it may be said with confidence that it will be a cold, cold day in hell before I voluntarily do business with Citibank.
Indeed, they have given me an excellent incentive to retire their debt (anyone else know where you can get a tax-free 30% return on your money?).
Cheers...
A couple of days ago, the bank left a message, wanting to get in touch with me. I just called and found out I was delinquent with my most recent payment. This perplexed me, as for the past couple of years, I have been paying more than their stated minimum and have not used the card at all for some time.
My "delinquency" was easily explained by the fact that Citibank raised my interest rate once again, to an astronomical 28%, based on a "random" credit check.
Unbelievable!
I have been a Citibank customer for over a decade, and have not been delinquent in my payments (until just now, inadvertently) for some time. And while I do not expect Citibank to go out of its way to make my life necessarily easier (for example, by granting me preferential interest rates), I would equally not expect Citibank to pursue what appears to be a "kick our customers when they're down" corporate policy that - besides making my financial struggles all the more difficult - I cannot help but think is short-sighted, in the long run. (And yes, I'll not blow smoke at you, I'm not in the best of financial or physical health right now.)
I intend to drag myself out of this financial quagmire I've constructed for myself. And I will. And once I do, there will be banks out there I will do business with, in the course of going about my everyday affairs. However, I think it may be said with confidence that it will be a cold, cold day in hell before I voluntarily do business with Citibank.
Indeed, they have given me an excellent incentive to retire their debt (anyone else know where you can get a tax-free 30% return on your money?).
Cheers...
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no subject
Date: 2003-07-28 02:12 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2003-07-28 03:26 pm (UTC)