Hi, welcome to the forums, and sorry it's under such circumstances! 
And HUGE congrats on paying off the rest of your CC debt!!
What is your current APR? What were your minimum payments on this card before, and what will they be now? 29.99% per annum is basically 2.5% per month. Ugly, true --that's about $132.50 in interest that first month. Less each month, of course, as you reduce the balance. How much can you throw at this card, and how quickly?
Your scores shouldn't suffer if you have to close the card to escape the high APR. Its history will continue to count, and if you have $0 balances reporting on the other cards, you won't be hurt by losing the $5800 CL. (Read fused's "Closing Card Cards" linked below in my siggy.)
And HUGE congrats on paying off the rest of your CC debt!!What is your current APR? What were your minimum payments on this card before, and what will they be now? 29.99% per annum is basically 2.5% per month. Ugly, true --that's about $132.50 in interest that first month. Less each month, of course, as you reduce the balance. How much can you throw at this card, and how quickly?
Your scores shouldn't suffer if you have to close the card to escape the high APR. Its history will continue to count, and if you have $0 balances reporting on the other cards, you won't be hurt by losing the $5800 CL. (Read fused's "Closing Card Cards" linked below in my siggy.)
I just got the same letter for one of my citi cards....I have already gotten a letter for another saying my account did not meet their scoring criteria to remain open so they closed that one. LUCKILY, I already bought my house (closed 8/24/09). Needless to say, my credit is already taking a nose dive because of adding that amount to DTI but hey....I'd rather have my home than credit cards! Guess I'll continue to plug away at that debt and return to the 1 card ONLY method along with cash is king 
I just read a post on another Citi RJ thread that there is the option to keep the current APR for 6 months, and if you can pay off your balance in that period, it will then go to 29.99%. (I still can't type that APR without choking. 
)
BronsonsMom, doesn't sound like you'll be able to pull that off, but there's an option for others.
One possibility, depending on your income, etc. would be to get a loan from a credit union to pay off the Citi balance, and then pay the loan off over 24 months or so. It should be a lower APR and longer terms, and as a bonus for FICO scoring, it would move the debt over from revolving to installment util, which would help scores. Not that FICO scoring is the important thing here, but just an FYI.
You sound like good CU material. You're obviously someone who is serious and disciplined and determined to pay off debt, and you've managed to take care of most of it. Check your Yellow Pages, and ask around at work etc., to find out what credit unions might be in your area. Many CU's pull Equifax (upper Midwest CU's often pull TU), so you can pull a new FICO EQ score report, visit local CU's, show a loan officer your report, and tell them that it's a Beacon 5.0, and that you know that they would have to do a hard pull if you applied, but do they think that they might approve a loan based on what they see on your FICO report? If you have to use TU, tell them that the FICO TU report is the TransUnion Empirica Classic '98. Not the '04, alas.
At any rate, that might be a way for you to be able to pay this off without going under yourself.
)BronsonsMom, doesn't sound like you'll be able to pull that off, but there's an option for others.
One possibility, depending on your income, etc. would be to get a loan from a credit union to pay off the Citi balance, and then pay the loan off over 24 months or so. It should be a lower APR and longer terms, and as a bonus for FICO scoring, it would move the debt over from revolving to installment util, which would help scores. Not that FICO scoring is the important thing here, but just an FYI.
You sound like good CU material. You're obviously someone who is serious and disciplined and determined to pay off debt, and you've managed to take care of most of it. Check your Yellow Pages, and ask around at work etc., to find out what credit unions might be in your area. Many CU's pull Equifax (upper Midwest CU's often pull TU), so you can pull a new FICO EQ score report, visit local CU's, show a loan officer your report, and tell them that it's a Beacon 5.0, and that you know that they would have to do a hard pull if you applied, but do they think that they might approve a loan based on what they see on your FICO report? If you have to use TU, tell them that the FICO TU report is the TransUnion Empirica Classic '98. Not the '04, alas.
At any rate, that might be a way for you to be able to pay this off without going under yourself.
Just wanted to let you know that I'm closing on a $5000, 13% fixed rate, 24-month loan from our local bank to pay off this account tomorrow! I decided to check with them first before looking into credit unions. The bank was more than happy to take our business, actually they said they've been getting more and more people just like us looking for a better alternative to the "big guys". (I'm a former BofA customer who just recently, out of disgust, transferred my acct to this local bank). I'm happy with knowing I'll have a fixed payment to pay off the remainder of our credit card debt and plan on staying credit card debt free going forward-finally!!!! I'm even more happy that, even though they may have tried, Citicard did not ruin me! They can raise my rate to 100% and it doesn't matter, I'll never use it again.
Thanks again for your advice
Jill