topic Re: Citi refuses to lower my interest rate. What am I doing wrong? in Credit Cards

Citi refuses to lower my interest rate. What am I doing wrong?

Anonymous — Mon, 05 Sep 2016 05:08:57 GMT

I just talked to Citi a few minutes ago. They absolutely will not lower my 28% APR on my Double Cash card. The card is basically useless to me.... other than SD'ing it for AAoA purposes.

History:

Card aquired as a Diamond Preferred card in 2008 with a 7500 limit and 9.5% interest.

Limit eventually raised to 12,000ish.

2008 - mid 2012, Always paid on time.

June 2012 - Major reduction in pay and hours worked at my job. Missed one and only one payment.

July 2012 - interest rate jacked up to 28%, limit lowered to 7500.

Aug 2012 - June 2016 Paid paid paid on the card.... like clock work. Chipped away at it a little at a time.

2013 - Back to normal at work again. Everything fine, financially.

June 2016 - card converted to Double Cash

July 2016 - Account paid to almost zero, balance just $10.59 (for my Amazon Prime membership.)

Aug 2016 - limit raised back up to 9500.

Credit score as of today..... 731, 741 and 732 (Actual Fico 8). No derogitory remarks, no collections, no missed payments, 16% total CC utilization, 4 hard inqs, nothing else bad on the report.

Wouldn't you think that after 4 years of being a "good boy" that they would let me come out of the corner and play with the other kids?

Re: Citi refuses to lower my interest rate. What am I doing wrong?

DantGwyrdd — Wed, 07 Sep 2016 04:25:13 GMT

I feel like in these situations both the easiest and perhaps only thing to do to lower the APR drastically is to just straight up open a new card (DC in your case) and SD/close the high APR one. You may not like it, but even if they were willing to lower the APR I feel it would take forever to get it down to something reasonable.

Re: Citi refuses to lower my interest rate. What am I doing wrong?

Turbobuick — Mon, 05 Sep 2016 05:23:15 GMT

Whether its 8% or 28, you won't pay it if you don't carry a balance. Yes, they can be stubborn. You can cancel the card and reapply or beat them at their game and pay in full each month. The whole purpose of a rebate card is to earn money back which is quickly negated with any interest payment. If you absolutely must carry a balance get a lower interest non-rebate card.

Re: Citi refuses to lower my interest rate. What am I doing wrong?

Kevin86475391 — Mon, 05 Sep 2016 05:33:01 GMT

I'm sorry to hear they won't work with you on the APR. I agree, however, that for this card at least, the best of course of action is to benefit from the 2% cashback, PIF, and if you need to carry a balance, do so on a different card. It sounds like it's one of your older cards, and it really does have a nice, simple and strong reward structure; it just isn't suited for carrying a balance. I'd definitely keep it and keep using it, I just wouldn't revolve a balance on it.

Re: Citi refuses to lower my interest rate. What am I doing wrong?

Anonymous — Mon, 05 Sep 2016 05:44:51 GMT

I guess I'll just sock drawer the thing. I just needed to vent. Thanks guys.

My "go to" card is an 8 year old BoA card recently PC'd to 1,2,3 Cash Rewards card with 9.49% APR, 9750 limit.

Re: Citi refuses to lower my interest rate. What am I doing wrong?

Anonymous — Mon, 05 Sep 2016 06:30:54 GMT

OP.. it's nice to have somewhere vent.. that's where forums are great!

Back on topic.. Just like another poster said.. if you're PIF the APR could be 1% or 1000%, it shouldn't matter! I think we get caught up in getting CLI and low APR's here just for the sake of getting them!

Re: Citi refuses to lower my interest rate. What am I doing wrong?

Anonymous — Mon, 05 Sep 2016 10:25:28 GMT

I agree with others who say just use this card and pay in full so you can get your full rewards. Good luck to you!

Just an aside. I think sometimes we are "bucketed" into a certain interest rate because of various circumstances. Sometimes it is impossible to get "rebucketed," so just getting a new card with improved credit scores then transferring your credit line, if possible, might be the best solution.That has happened to me and that is what I did to "escape" the bucketing.

Re: Citi refuses to lower my interest rate. What am I doing wrong?

takeshi74 — Mon, 05 Sep 2016 13:21:47 GMT

@Anonymous wrote:
Wouldn't you think that after 4 years of being a "good boy" that they would let me come out of the corner and play with the other kids?

It's never just about the passage of time. It's not just about the account(s) you hold with a creditor either. You entire credit profile matters for decisions like this. For whatever reason(s) your credit profile doesn't support an APR reduction. You have to look at your reports to see what concerns they have and see if you can address them.

If you got the DC for 1%+1% rewards then the APR shouldn't matter anyway (i.e. the card isn't useless) as you should be paying every statement balance in full making the APR irrelevant. If you're carrying a balance then you're wipinng out any potential rewards many times over.

Re: Citi refuses to lower my interest rate. What am I doing wrong?

kdm31091 — Mon, 05 Sep 2016 13:25:56 GMT

Unfortunately sometimes when your penalty APR gets applied, the account gets "stuck" and despite the passage of time the APR will not be lowered.

Since the point of the card is the 2% rewards and not financing purchases, just use it for the rewards and resign yourself to not pay interest. I know the 28% APR feels like an insult, but you can beat Citi at their game by just never paying them the interest. Even if the rate were 9.5% it would not make sense to regularly revolve a balance because it wipes out any gains you get.

If it really bothers you, you can close it -- you mentioned SD'ing for AAOA purposes -- keep in mind the account remains on your report for 10 years after closure so your AAOA won't be impacted either way for quite a long time.

Re: Citi refuses to lower my interest rate. What am I doing wrong?

Anonymous — Mon, 05 Sep 2016 15:04:37 GMT

@kdm31091 wrote:
Unfortunately sometimes when your penalty APR gets applied, the account gets "stuck" and despite the passage of time the APR will not be lowered.

Since the point of the card is the 2% rewards and not financing purchases, just use it for the rewards and resign yourself to not pay interest. I know the 28% APR feels like an insult, but you can beat Citi at their game by just never paying them the interest. Even if the rate were 9.5% it would not make sense to regularly revolve a balance because it wipes out any gains you get.

If it really bothers you, you can close it -- you mentioned SD'ing for AAOA purposes -- keep in mind the account remains on your report for 10 years after closure so your AAOA won't be impacted either way for quite a long time.

Not sure why Citi thinks they can get around the CARD Act.

Penalty APR's should only be applied for a maximum six months if you're 60 days or more late.

Re: Citi refuses to lower my interest rate. What am I doing wrong?

Anonymous — Mon, 05 Sep 2016 15:38:22 GMT

Agreed A penalty APR shouldn't last this long. May want to bring this to Citi's attention

Re: Citi refuses to lower my interest rate. What am I doing wrong?

Anonymous — Mon, 05 Sep 2016 15:55:00 GMT

Terrible situation but funny analogy" good boy" LMFAOOOOO. Yes i have to agree that they should at least drop your rate by now.

Re: Citi refuses to lower my interest rate. What am I doing wrong?

Anonymous — Mon, 05 Sep 2016 16:11:14 GMT

Thanks for the replies, everyone.

Re: Citi refuses to lower my interest rate. What am I doing wrong?

Anonymous — Mon, 05 Sep 2016 17:06:25 GMT

There's a lot of good information in this thread. Thanks OP for sharing your story. I would look into the CARD Act like someone else mentioned to see if Citi is in violation. If you find they are not, you have a decision to make sock drawer or close and reapply. Personally, I wouldn't let a high APR prevent me from earning the 2% cash back, but I do understand your frustration with the situation. Best of luck!

Re: Citi refuses to lower my interest rate. What am I doing wrong?

Anonymous — Mon, 05 Sep 2016 17:15:18 GMT

@beautifulblaquepearl wrote:
There's a lot of good information in this thread. Thanks OP for sharing your story. I would look into the CARD Act like someone else mentioned to see if Citi is in violation. If you find they are not, you have a decision to make sock drawer or close and reapply. Personally, I wouldn't let a high APR prevent me from earning the 2% cash back, but I do understand your frustration with the situation. Best of luck!

If Citi is in violation of the CARD Act, the OP should have the grounds to sue Citi for all of the extra interest charges accumulated after the 1st six months of when the raised APR took effect, plus court fees and other costs.

Re: Citi refuses to lower my interest rate. What am I doing wrong?

Anonymous — Mon, 05 Sep 2016 18:11:32 GMT

@Anonymous wrote:

If Citi is in violation of the CARD Act, the OP should have the grounds to sue Citi for all of the extra interest charges accumulated after the 1st six months of when the raised APR took effect, plus court fees and other costs.

@humuhumunukunukuapua'a wrote:

I am sure that Citi's terms and conditions for having the credit card allow them to assign a designated APR per the lender's choice based on risk assessment of the customer. That is not a violation of anything.

It doesn't have to be called a penalty APR. It's an APR they assigned based on their own risk assessment.

No one is guaranteed a specific APR on a card, nor an APR reduction, and Citi can choose the APR they wish to charge for each customer. Sorry, OP, I know it is frustrating for you.

I do agree with the others and am not sure why you would be carrying a balance on a rewards card, which would negate any net benefit from the rewards.

Re: Citi refuses to lower my interest rate. What am I doing wrong?

Anonymous — Mon, 05 Sep 2016 18:27:04 GMT

The maximum APR Citi lists for the Double Cash isn't 28%. Chances are the OP is paying a penalty APR which is regulated by the CARD Act, which is the law.

Re: Citi refuses to lower my interest rate. What am I doing wrong?

Anonymous — Tue, 06 Sep 2016 09:25:22 GMT

@Anonymous wrote:
The maximum APR Citi lists for the Double Cash isn't 28%. Chances are the OP is paying a penalty APR which is regulated by the CARD Act, which is the law.

Citi's terms and conditions are fluid enough where they can determine the APR. I wouldn't assume otherwise since you don't know the OP"s profile nor Citi's end of things.

Since the card was PC'd from a different card, other terms may be applicable as well once the PC was enacted.

The OP should not even worry about the APR on this card since as he mentioned, he has other cards with low APR if he wishes to carry a balance.

Re: Citi refuses to lower my interest rate. What am I doing wrong?

lhcole77 — Mon, 05 Sep 2016 18:36:43 GMT

FWIW not everyone PIF on cards, even 2% back cards. Shyt happens, some charges need to be made and it's nice to know that APRs are as low as possible just in case.

I would think that Citi would let you back in with the good kids, but they can definitely be fickle.

If I were you I'd hit up my other lenders for APR reductions. I do it from time to time and now I have multiple cards in 7-8% range for just in case.

Re: Citi refuses to lower my interest rate. What am I doing wrong?

Anonymous — Mon, 05 Sep 2016 18:39:45 GMT

ihcole, how low were you able to get CitiAAdvantage? I'm at 13% on my AAdvantage now but I want to be like you when I grow up with an even lower AAdvantage APR.