topic Re: Citi - why so angry? in Credit Cards

Citi - why so angry?

Duncanrr — Tue, 16 Oct 2012 15:13:43 GMT

In reading the various posts here about Citi Im sensing a lot of hostility towards them. Why are the people on this board so angry with Citi? Is it customer service, problems with their products or are people just upset about not being approved by them.

If its the lack of approval, are the denials based on real reason or do they seem to be all over the place? I want to add a Citi card to my profile but wanted to know why the dislike for them. Right now I'm thinking about the Citi Forward card but open for suggestions.

Re: Citi - why so angry?

Anonymous — Tue, 16 Oct 2012 16:27:17 GMT

IMO, it's a combination of strict lending standards and mediocre customer service once you get in. Their website seems to be quite buggy as well.

Re: Citi - why so angry?

Repo-ed — Tue, 16 Oct 2012 15:37:00 GMT

I'm ok with strict lending standards, but you have better match it with upper-class CS

Re: Citi - why so angry?

jsickz32 — Tue, 16 Oct 2012 15:50:04 GMT

I have only called citi once while waiting for a answer since my app had taken more than a week for an answer. The lady i spoke was nice tho and she nicely explained to me how sometimes they manually review apps so thats why it was taking long. Good experience with them so far.

Re: Citi - why so angry?

Anonymous — Tue, 16 Oct 2012 15:50:30 GMT

I've never had any issues with Citi, and they've treated me very well.

My lowest interest rate is with Citi. The "spend offers" I take advantage of are with Citi.

I cannot comment on CSRs, because I do not call any CCC unless absolutely necessary (like fraud).

The only thing with Citi, if you have several cards (business, personal, whatever) is if you screw up on even one account, all accounts get the default rate.

Re: Citi - why so angry?

youngandcreditwrthy — Tue, 16 Oct 2012 16:21:51 GMT

While I do not have any Citi products...

it's the combination of their responsibility in the financial crisis, poor customer service (I've called many a time to find out credit requirements before I take the bullet - MOSTLY ALL FOREIGN REPS), and silly denial reasons.

I feel my reasons are thoroughly justified.... I'll prob app for Diamond in 6 mos to a year though... LOL...

I have seen many people have decade long relationships with them thouh and have really high limits and super low rates...

so they do have a fan base.

and the one time I was denied with a 670+ FICO... I tried to recon, and the rep was SO RUDE.... just beyond belief rude!!! Poor CSR.... it's weird cause I used to have a Shell and PIF and they didn't even take that into account when they denied me earlier this year. Oh well, Amex, Barclay's, Chase, and Discover all like me as a loyal customer :-)

Re: Citi - why so angry?

Anonymous — Tue, 16 Oct 2012 16:30:19 GMT

@youngandcreditwrthy wrote:
While I do not have any Citi products...
it's the combination of their responsibility in the financial crisis, poor customer service (I've called many a time to find out credit requirements before I take the bullet - MOSTLY ALL FOREIGN REPS), and silly denial reasons.

I feel my reasons are thoroughly justified.... I'll prob app for Diamond in 6 mos to a year though... LOL...

I have seen many people have decade long relationships with them thouh and have really high limits and super low rates...

so they do have a fan base.

OH
and the one time I was denied with a 670+ FICO... I tried to recon, and the rep was SO RUDE.... just beyond belief rude!!! Poor CSR.... it's weird cause I used to have a Shell and PIF and they didn't even take that into account when they denied me earlier this year. Oh well, Amex, Barclay's, Chase, and Discover all like me as a loyal customer :-)

The front line reps are a mess. I would directly compare them to Crap1 level. The letter says I got declined because of too many INQ's, it didn't mention that my AAoA is measured in months not years...haha

Try this number for future service: 605-331-1698

Ask them about lending requirements and explain past problems you have had with them. Maybe they will push an application through for you.

Re: Citi - why so angry?

Anonymous — Tue, 16 Oct 2012 16:36:04 GMT

I have had nothing but great service from Citi. They are my lowest APR and gave me good starting limits. Everytime I call CS, they are extremely friendly, knowledgeable, and willing to help.

Re: Citi - why so angry?

youngandcreditwrthy — Tue, 16 Oct 2012 16:41:47 GMT

Thanks.. just saved that number in my phone ;-)

Re: Citi - why so angry?

youngandcreditwrthy — Tue, 16 Oct 2012 16:42:18 GMT

How many inqs do you have in the past six months? two years?

Re: Citi - why so angry?

mistabgeez — Tue, 16 Oct 2012 16:49:27 GMT

@Duncanrr wrote:
In reading the various posts here about Citi Im sensing a lot of hostility towards them. Why are the people on this board so angry with Citi? Is it customer service, problems with their products or are people just upset about not being approved by them.

If its the lack of approval, are the denials based on real reason or do they seem to be all over the place? I want to add a Citi card to my profile but wanted to know why the dislike for them. Right now I'm thinking about the Citi Forward card but open for suggestions.

I was thinking the same thing. Citi Forward has just come on my radar as my most likely next app choice, but there have been mixed reviews so I do have pause. Now with them switching CEO's I'm going to monitor how this plays out.

Re: Citi - why so angry?

Anonymous — Tue, 16 Oct 2012 16:59:22 GMT

@youngandcreditwrthy wrote:
How many inqs do you have in the past six months? two years?

Not exactly sure, I'm too cheap to buy a credit report. I also can't remember what order I put them during my app spree. Maybe 5 INQ's in last 6 months? Maybe 10 last 2 years? Not really sure. Credit score between 670-720.

Re: Citi - why so angry?

navigatethis12 — Tue, 16 Oct 2012 17:07:46 GMT

@youngandcreditwrthy wrote:
While I do not have any Citi products...
it's the combination of their responsibility in the financial crisis, poor customer service (I've called many a time to find out credit requirements before I take the bullet - MOSTLY ALL FOREIGN REPS), and silly denial reasons.

I feel my reasons are thoroughly justified.... I'll prob app for Diamond in 6 mos to a year though... LOL...

I have seen many people have decade long relationships with them thouh and have really high limits and super low rates...

so they do have a fan base.

OH
and the one time I was denied with a 670+ FICO... I tried to recon, and the rep was SO RUDE.... just beyond belief rude!!! Poor CSR.... it's weird cause I used to have a Shell and PIF and they didn't even take that into account when they denied me earlier this year. Oh well, Amex, Barclay's, Chase, and Discover all like me as a loyal customer :-)

I do not know of any company that will actually tell you what they require for you to be approved for a card.

I like them. Everytime I have contacted them, I have always gotten nice people and the problem was resolved quickly. Their rewards cards are rubbish in my opinion, as are the Thank You Points. To each their own though.

Re: Citi - why so angry?

Duncanrr — Tue, 16 Oct 2012 17:10:46 GMT

Actually it's illegal for them to tell you what's required/needed to get a particular card. That's why they don't do it.

Re: Citi - why so angry?

Anonymous — Tue, 16 Oct 2012 17:12:18 GMT

I have gotten 4 Citi cards in 2012 and 3 CLI's so far this year. No problems with Citi here!

Re: Citi - why so angry?

Anonymous — Tue, 16 Oct 2012 17:18:58 GMT

@youngandcreditwrthy wrote:
How many inqs do you have in the past six months? two years?

I have 8 in the past 6 months (4 from Citi) and 19 in the past 2 years. Come january, (edit) 3 will be falling off.

Re: Citi - why so angry?

Anonymous — Tue, 16 Oct 2012 17:29:09 GMT

IME the CSR's for the Citi Forward have been more helpful and more knowledgable than those for Zync when it comes to CSRs its always YMMV. Then again customer service is always variable and most of my experience with US based customer service has been terrible.

I've even had bad customer service from the executive department of companies before. It was only one person and they were much nicer the next day when they called back but mood and emotion are hard things to control. Generally peoples own moods can determine what kind of customer service they think they get. I worked in a call center and one of my co workers who had a slight accent (not even Indian) would get people whining about terrible service and how she didn't understand because she wasn't in the U.S.

Re: Citi - why so angry?

Epcot — Tue, 16 Oct 2012 17:55:23 GMT

I have two cards through them, only good experiences. In fact my highest CL on a card is with Citi.

Re: Citi - why so angry?

Anonymous — Tue, 16 Oct 2012 17:56:35 GMT

My experience with Citi has been positive. They are good with CLIs (soft pull), automatically lower my APR every once in awhile even though I don't carry a balance, and have a clean, intuitive website to use. The couple times I called in for something I did get foreign reps but they were very friendly and responsive to my requests. I would actually rate Citi above my experience with Amex.

Re: Citi - why so angry?

Anonymous — Tue, 16 Oct 2012 17:58:46 GMT

@Duncanrr wrote:
Actually it's illegal for them to tell you what's required/needed to get a particular card. That's why they don't do it.

It is not illegal for them to give you some hints at what might be helpful. IE hold a particular card for a particular length of time, wait for INQ's to drop off ect.

Of course they won't flat out tell you what is needed for a particular card, it varies from person to person. Somebody with a 670 FICO may get the card while somebody with a 730 may get declined, but they can tell you what you should do to improve your current situation.