F*CKING CitiCorp! (RANT)

[matcom]

we are refinancing our 2nd mortgage.

CitiCorp ownes our current one (it was sold to them).

anyhoo, Mrs Matcom was on the phone with them today to get a payoff amount.

CitiCorp: "We would be happy to fax you an amount."

Mrs Matcom: "Great. Let me give you the fax #"

CitiCorp: "That will be a $15 dollar charge."

Mrs Matcom: "For a FAX?"

CitiCorp: "Yes"

Mrs Matcom: "You are going to charge me $15 to fax ME?"

CitiCorp: "Yes. If you prefer, we can mail you one for free."

Mrs Matcom: "I kind of need the amount today. How long will it take
you to mail it?"

CitiCorp: "3 Business Days"

Mrs Matcom: "We need this for closing. Go ahead and charge me the
$15 to fax it."

CitiCorp: "Oh, the fax will take 3 business days as well."

Mrs Matcom: "*$&#$&%%&*^()*&#*&*^%%@%^@^&*((^&^#%$$@!!!!!!!!!"

don't blame her one bit. she opted for the snail mail

[donco6]

1. That's outrageous.

There's no reason they can't give you the amount immediately. I deal with this all the time and have never had to wait that long! Appalling.

[DS1]

2. damn

Banks are the devil, just ask Jesus

[ewagner]

3. Closed on our refinancing on Monday

Citicorp pulled the same #$%@&^ on us. Like you, our second was through someone else purchased by Citicorp......


Mrs Matcom: "*$&#$&%%&*^()*&#*&*^%%@%^@^&*((^&^#%$$@!!!!!!!!!"

Citicorp heard those same words from me....apparently nothing sank in and they're still doing it.......customer service reps must be immune to it by now.

[hunter]

4. Fifteen Bucks!!!!!!

Damn, that's small change, that's nothing, not worth a tinker's damn, when you are dealing with Citicorp.

Watch your ass.

[lcordero]

5. She should be mad

Those people either sold my info(e-mail address included) or put info into the hands of somebody that shouldn't have it in the first place. I get fraud e-mails from who knows where.
Just recently, they had the gall to call me because I keep the little money that I do have in a checking account. They were trying to get me to put my money in a "CD" (whatever that is) in order to steal my shit.
I'm going to be changing my direct deposit to a smaller bank. I'm definitely going to be tranferring my money someplace else.
They can pay Sandy Weill's salary out of somebody else's money other than mine.

[Robb]

6. As evil as banks can be...

Citi is some kind of uber-evil, even in that realm. :thumbsdown:

[Deja Q]

7. Makes you glad that bushko* wants to privatize the snail mail system, eh?

:scared:

3 days for a FAX?! When they get the mail, it'll probably be 3 days after they open it...

And yet when they get a bill late, they have a big tantrum. x(

[Parrcrow]

8. That's awful

Sorry to say that it doesn't surprise me one goddam bit though.
:mad: assholes

[unblock]

9. i agree citibank is PATHETIC!!!

i also just refinanced my heloc with citibank. when i first got my original heloc with citibank, i got suckered in by their ads that it would be easy, take less than 10 days, and was free* (no fees unless you close it out within 3 years -- which of course means you can't MOVE in 3 years).

EVERY SINGLE PERSON i spoke to at citibank during the original heloc application process was 99.44% incompetent. i practically had to tell them what to do and keep hammering on the 0.56% part that could actually move my application forward. they also all barely spoke english. outsourced call center on the other side of the globe, no doubt. that doesn't necessarily guarantee incompetence, but i'm certain that citibank took extra precautions to ensure the desired level of incompetence.

when it came time to refi, i was stuck in the quandary that a refi with citibank is free* (they waive the 3-year penalty if you refi with citibank, i.e., the clock merely resets) or pay BOTH citibank's early closure fee and the new bank's application fees. sigh.

at least it was mostly a tolerable process this time, maybe because my expectations were soooo low.

[unblock]

10. i used to work for sandy weill

with many bosses in between, of course.

i must say that every sandy weill organization has the same dreary feel. they have such contempt for their employees, the pay generally is sub-par, the loyalty is negligible except where nepotism is involved (in orientation, they show a tape of sandy weill saying, i sh*t you not, "i believe in nepotism." no kidding, he's actually proud of that!)

weill believes in paying all obligations well after the last minute. when i was there, we needed a certain data feed for a trading desk. it probably cost $10,000/month. they got more than 6 months in arrears before they finally took the cutoff threats seriously. now, it might seem that saving the interest on $60,000 for 6 months might be worth it, but myself and a few other highly-paid professionals wasted a LOT of time keeping the vendor from cutting us off. and we were being paid FAR more than that small amount of interest.

also, had they cut us off, the entire trading desk would have been SCREWED. they could have lost MILLIONS each and EVERY DAY until we got the data feed back. but there was absolutely no talking anyone in weill's organization out of trying to squeeze the vendor.

it's a symptom of a perverse business strategy gone seriously awry.