Citicards...anybody have this happen to them?

[IrishPM]

Let me say from the start, I actually do like being a customer of Citi and have been a good customer for about 18 years now....never a late payment, never over the credit line and keep my utilization typically below 2%.

However, I'm having some serious doubts about their ability to keep my personal information secure. I went online to check my account last Friday May 29th and there are these bold letters in red that tell me that my account has been "compromised" and closed and that they are sending me a new card with a new number.

Here's my point. This happens to me once every 6 to 7 months with Citi. I tried using my card in December to pay for lunch and low and behold I was declined at the register. I called Citi when I got back to the office and they gave me the same old story about a "compromise" on my account.

Should I just head them off at the pass and just report my card stolen every 90 days just to avoid having this happen to me time and time again????

Thoughts?

[Anonymous]

I just applied and was turned down, i have perfect credit and they just declined my application for just too many inquiries..Citi is not a good bank to be with, i believe they'd do anything to make money EVEN selling their own customer info to third parties, WHO KNOWS..

[FocusOnFICO]

My experience with my Citi PSMC is brief, but a "compromise" every 6-7 months is not acceptable.  I would recommend trying to get more detail from them regarding the particular instances.

My cc with another large back informed me about eight months ago with similar news and I inquired.  My reasoning was that if I could help avoid the issue on my end, it would benefit both them--and me.  They gave me the details.

If Citi is unwilling to do this, you may need to go the route of an online purchase every 1-3 months to keep the card live (and avoid any public issues) and to use another ccc's product.

[Anonymous]

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@IrishPM wrote:

 bold letters in red that tell me that my account has been "compromised" and closed

This happens to me once every 6 to 7 months with Citi.

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Scary stuff my mortgage is through Citi...

[Anonymous]

I don't know that the compromises are directly related to Citi. In many cases, a payment processing company (such as Heartland) or a merchant is the source of the data breach. I assume that, in each case, a list of the card numbers that were affected and could be compromised are sent to the issuers (such as Citi) and it is just their job to contact the individual customers ...

[smallfry]

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@Anonymous wrote:
I don't know that the compromises are directly related to Citi. In many cases, a payment processing company (such as Heartland) or a merchant is the source of the data breach. I assume that, in each case, a list of the card numbers that were affected and could be compromised are sent to the issuers (such as Citi) and it is just their job to contact the individual customers ...

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Same thing here. If this is happening to you outside of this occurence I would watch where I have been using the card. If you shop online virtual account numbers might help might not.

[MattH]

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@IrishPM wrote:

Let me say from the start, I actually do like being a customer of Citi and have been a good customer for about 18 years now....never a late payment, never over the credit line and keep my utilization typically below 2%.

However, I'm having some serious doubts about their ability to keep my personal information secure. I went online to check my account last Friday May 29th and there are these bold letters in red that tell me that my account has been "compromised" and closed and that they are sending me a new card with a new number.

Here's my point. This happens to me once every 6 to 7 months with Citi. I tried using my card in December to pay for lunch and low and behold I was declined at the register. I called Citi when I got back to the office and they gave me the same old story about a "compromise" on my account.

Should I just head them off at the pass and just report my card stolen every 90 days just to avoid having this happen to me time and time again????

Thoughts?

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 Citibank must have had some kind of data breach recently, they also sent me a card with a new account number.  But they are not the only ones, in 2007 my employers had a backup tape of Human Resources data go astray so they gave all of us two-year subscriptions to a credit-monitoring service.  It's been almost a year since that incident without any sign of trouble in my credit reports or accounts -- and I have been watching pretty carefully.

Ultimately, I think, society will need to figure out better solutions to this kind of thing, because it is clear that keeping personal data secure just is not feasible.  Ultimately I think we'll need to devise ways of limiting the consequences of the invevitable data breaches.

[Anonymous]

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@Anonymous wrote:
I just applied and was turned down, i have perfect credit and they just declined my application for just too many inquiries..Citi is not a good bank to be with, i believe they'd do anything to make money EVEN selling their own customer info to third parties, WHO KNOWS..

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If they aren't a good bank to deal with, you wouldn't have applied for a card of theirs to begin with.  You are just pissed you didn't get the card.  Deal with it and stop flaming the company because they are being extra careful now adays.  

On topic, I have had my card for 5 years and have only once had that compromised issue which was relatively recently, about 4 months ago.  I feel confident banking with them.

Also I agree with what Revike said.  I work for a bank and the heartland compromise did affect many consumers which was not of fault of the bank that the cards were from.  But it is also very strange if that does indeed happen to you that often that it should be looked into. 

Message Edited by Nmbr1ballr on 06-03-2009 03:22 AM

[Anonymous]

WOW! The same thing just happened to me!!!  I logged on to pay my bill on (guess what day) May 29th and I had the big bold red letters saying that my account had been locked and please call the number.  I called and they said there were a couple of charges at online places.  Well, I didn't make them so they cancelled my card and are sending me a new one.  Now, I hadn't used this card in months until the first week of May when I used it to pay for some car expenses.  I have never used it to buy anything online, and I don't receive paper statements.  So, the only way for some one to get my card number is from the Nissan dealership that worked on my car or a breach at Citi.  I say this because the day after the card was cancelled, I got a call from one of the companies where the card was used.  They called my house phone!  The lady asked me if the charge was ligite and I told her no, my credit card company has taken care of it.  She said that she saw that and she just wanted to make sure that everything was closed out on their end.  I asked her, "How did you get my home phone number?" She said that whoever used my card has all of my information.  WTF!!! GRRRR!!!

My home phone number is not listed and I only give it to people I do business with, i.e. Citi, Nissan, etc.  I am beyond pissed!

[athensguy]

They are saying your credit card number was included in a reported breach somewhere, not that your online account has been compromised. What's the big deal?