topic Re: Citi closed my brother's account. in Credit Cards

Citi closed my brother's account.

jforsyth — Sun, 27 Jun 2010 19:23:26 GMT

My (twin) brother had his account closed by Citi last month. I just found out about this today and I feel inclined to help him out, as he didn't really do much about it. Customer service told him that his account was in a batch of accounts that had been "compromised," and then two days later they closed his account saying that he no longer met the criteria for the account. Sounds like a load of you-know-what to me.

Here's some info:

My brother is 19, and got a Citi Dividend Platinum Select Visa for College Students in September of 2009. He had an $800 credit line, and he paid in full every month with no blemishes until they closed on him. He said he never spent more than $300 in a month, and usually sat between $150 and $250.

His annual income is about $5,000 as a full time student. He can verify this income.

I had him pull up his credit reports from annualcreditreport.com. The only account on there was the Citi account with perfect payment history.

I also gave him two back door numbers to call from the stickied thread (retention department and credit department). I told him to request the reopening of the account, and to stress that he can verify his income and that he plans to pay in full every month.

Am I missing anything? Is there anything else he can do? My brother is a fairly passive person, and he didn't really make a fuss or complain when this happened to him. I don't want to see him get taken advantage of. I know it's Citi's call as to who they can lend to, but it really seems like they just made the whole "compromised" account thing up just so they could close on him because of the new credit card laws.

Any help/suggestions would be appreciated!

Re: Citi closed my brother's account.

tengtengvn — Sun, 27 Jun 2010 19:40:30 GMT

He may find better luck at local CU. Forget Citi, they don't really do anything for you, just want your money. My Citi checking has $1500 minimum daily balance... I'll close it next month and that's it with Citi.

Re: Citi closed my brother's account.

jforsyth — Sun, 27 Jun 2010 20:37:49 GMT

Yeah, but he lives in Boston for summers/vacations and NYC for the school year. He definitely enjoyed having a Citi bank on every block in NYC and one near our house in Boston. If he goes local then he won't have the ability to go in and talk to somebody in person for huge chunks of the year.

I'll refer him to a CU if the phone calls he makes don't work. He said he'd call them tomorrow since it's the weekend. I'm crossing my fingers for him.

If there's anything else I could be telling him, let me know. I just wish he would've done/said something about it sooner. It's been almost a month.

Re: Citi closed my brother's account.

score_building — Sun, 27 Jun 2010 22:36:35 GMT

As a f/t student with 5k income you really need a branch on every block wherever you are...?

Internet banking works like a charm too, have him join a CU regardless of the outcome with citi.

Re: Citi closed my brother's account.

Creditaddict — Mon, 28 Jun 2010 00:05:35 GMT

if he pays in full each month, he should consider the new american express zync card.

Re: Citi closed my brother's account.

tengtengvn — Mon, 28 Jun 2010 00:58:11 GMT

How having a single charge card on CR will help someone's credit?

I don't think AMEX is any better than Citi. LOL Still remember their Financial Review trick?

IMO, one with $5000 annual income shouldn't have credit cards. Try to live with what you have. If you have extra money, put it in a saving account or start paying back the student loan so you don't have a huge debt after you graduate.

Re: Citi closed my brother's account.

Creditaddict — Mon, 28 Jun 2010 00:53:15 GMT

I think USbank has been the most stable through this whole time of financial issues

Re: Citi closed my brother's account.

bostonte — Mon, 28 Jun 2010 02:06:30 GMT

Only one card on the credit report. That card was opened in Sep 09 (so less than 1 year history). $5,000 income. Maximum previous limit $800.

And you suggest he apply for Amex Zync?

Come on. That was a silly thing to say. That would be a complete waste of at least 1 inquiry, if not multiple.

Re: Citi closed my brother's account.

Anonymous — Mon, 28 Jun 2010 02:17:08 GMT

@tengtengvn wrote:
How having a single charge card on CR will help someone's credit?
I don't think AMEX is any better than Citi. LOL Still remember their Financial Review trick?
IMO, one with $5000 annual income shouldn't have credit cards. Try to live with what you have. If you have extra money, put it in a saving account or start paying back the student loan so you don't have a huge debt after you graduate.

are you saying he should have more than one or none? Becuase having one establishes history ... he always paid ontime so it's a good credit history. For that age it sounds like he very responsible. For when he gets older he would have already established a good aaoa. I don't recommend cc's for any kid hell i don't even for most of them but he seems to know how to handle it.

5 grand a year is below poverty line so he keeps 100% of it and he never really spends over 300 a month which even if he did would be 3600 a year. So how is he not living within his means??

Re: Citi closed my brother's account.

tengtengvn — Mon, 28 Jun 2010 03:31:31 GMT

@Anonymous wrote:

@tengtengvn wrote:
How having a single charge card on CR will help someone's credit?
I don't think AMEX is any better than Citi. LOL Still remember their Financial Review trick?
IMO, one with $5000 annual income shouldn't have credit cards. Try to live with what you have. If you have extra money, put it in a saving account or start paying back the student loan so you don't have a huge debt after you graduate.
are you saying he should have more than one or none? Becuase having one establishes history ... he always paid ontime so it's a good credit history. For that age it sounds like he very responsible. For when he gets older he would have already established a good aaoa. I don't recommend cc's for any kid hell i don't even for most of them but he seems to know how to handle it.

5 grand a year is below poverty line so he keeps 100% of it and he never really spends over 300 a month which even if he did would be 3600 a year. So how is he not living within his means??

I was replying to Creditaddict's post. Having only 1 charge card on CR helps his credit mix but that mean Credit card utilization is high since he doesn't have a revolving account with a real credit line to backup that balance. I'm just assuming half of that income is coming from grant and financial aid money and that's not consider stable income.

I work full-time but I'm still talking classes at my local college. I know many people in college who seem very responsible, but when it comes to credit, financial stuff, it's just hard to tell. My GF just turned 19 too and WF gave her $1000 student CC. I keep telling her to stay with in the limit and hope she listens. Her friend who got the card at the same time went over the limit this month and she said: I ONLY went over $29.

Re: Citi closed my brother's account.

Creditaddict — Mon, 28 Jun 2010 03:49:01 GMT

my friend with no credit score just applied for zync and it simply said in denial 1 current credit standing and score required. The zync is being marketed to newer credit and the younger crowd. I think he would find himself approved!

Re: Citi closed my brother's account.

jforsyth — Mon, 28 Jun 2010 04:00:02 GMT

For the record, my brother is very responsible and smart. He's been an old man trapped in a young man's body ever since we were 12. He took care of his payments when the card was active and he paid on time and in full every month.

It's not the end of the world if he doesn't have a card. He's going to plead his case with Citi tomorrow and if they deny him, he says he'll just go with debit for a while, if not until he graduates.

@bostonte wrote:
Only one card on the credit report. That card was opened in Sep 09 (so less than 1 year history). $5,000 income. Maximum previous limit $800.

And you suggest he apply for Amex Zync?
Come on. That was a silly thing to say. That would be a complete waste of at least 1 inquiry, if not multiple.

I've heard of people getting Zync with 1 card at 6 months history.

I was actually planning on applying for it (for Amex backdating) next month once I hit 6 months on my only card that has a $700 dollar limit, although my income is $12k (impressive, huh? haha ) with a part-time job during the school year.

I don't think that's all that silly, although I wouldn't advise it if he's able to get his Citi card back. Go search around other boards and see what type of histories some people had when they were approved. I think you might be surprised. His income is probably going to kill him, though, especially with Amex.

Re: Citi closed my brother's account.

Creditaddict — Mon, 28 Jun 2010 04:02:45 GMT

i personally would recommend someone to have 3 open trade lines including 1 store card to optimize credit scoring.

1. Amex Zync

2. USbank

3. Discover

Re: Citi closed my brother's account.

jforsyth — Mon, 28 Jun 2010 04:23:31 GMT

@Creditaddict wrote:
i personally would recommend someone to have 3 open trade lines including 1 store card to optimize credit scoring.
1. Amex Zync
2. USbank
3. Discover

I was planning on apping for Zync and Citi Forward to complement my BofA MasterCard. I (my girlfriend) spend(s) a lot of (my) money on restaurants, and Forward has 5x points for eating out. Like I mentioned before, I want Zync purely for the backdating for Blue Cash in a couple years.

I'll look into US Bank and Discover, though! Originally I had planned to wait on Discover, so I could get Discover More down the road instead of Discover Student now. Plus, I don't think I would reach the spending tier to get the max benefits out of a Discover card just yet...or get anywhere near it if I were splitting up my spending between 3 cards.

How much of an idiot am I for wanting a Citi card after they gave my brother so much trouble?

Re: Citi closed my brother's account.

Anonymous — Mon, 28 Jun 2010 07:19:35 GMT

Citi is simply not personal, and I'd say they did you both a great favor.

Open an account w/a local Credit Union, and apply for a low rate credit card while you are there.