cancel
Showing results for 
Search instead for 
Did you mean: 

Lowering APR on Citi CC, AmEx's fault - sort of

tag
Anonymous
Not applicable

Lowering APR on Citi CC, AmEx's fault - sort of

Sorry for the long post... I recently had an electronic check bounce when I made a payment for Citi CC. Now the APR is 29.9%!!! I'd like to hear some advice on how to get this lowered.

So I made an online payment to Citi with Bank account #1. The next day, I made an online payment to AmEx thinking it was using Bank account #2. Instead, I mistakenly clicked on Bank Account #1. There's not enough money to cover both payments (pretty sizeable ones, as I'm trying to cut down CC debt).

Oops.

I immediately call Amex to explain the situation and see if I can cancel. Since it's electronic, there's nothing they can do other than place a notation in my file that I called them, it was an honest mistake, and that they wouldn't charge me a returned fee. Fair enough. If my bank charges me an insufficient funds fee, I'll accept that as punishment for not paying close enough attention. I can swallow that.

Sure enough, my bank charges me a whopping $39. What AmEx fails tell me is that if the first payment fails, then the system will try again 2 more times! The 3rd time (ie penalty) drops me below the threshold to meet my payment for Citi.

You guessed it! Another insufficient funds fee!

Boy was I mad. After getting the runaround from my bank ("It's not our fault) and Amex ("you should talk to your bank" ). I let a AmEx CSR have it, which got things rolling. After explaining that I would've happily wired money to my account if I'd only known they were going to ping my account 3 times (which doesn't make any sense), they put a credit on my Amex to account for all the insufficient funds fees. OK, I'm feeling better. Meanwhile, I rush to get a payment through snailmail to Citi (since bouncing the electronic payments cuts you off from making more electronic payments). I make the payment in time (whew!) but now my interest rate is astronomical.

This really stinks, since I consolidated all my CC debt to Citi since it was previously the lowest APR card I had. Now it's the highest! So short story, long: How do I get them to lower the APR? Thanks for listening!

Message Edited by xanthines on 04-01-2008 09:30 AM
Message 1 of 9
8 REPLIES 8
Anonymous
Not applicable

Re: Lowering APR on Citi CC, AmEx's fault - sort of

Dumb question, but did you try calling and explaining the situation to them?
Message 2 of 9
Anonymous
Not applicable

Re: Lowering APR on Citi CC, AmEx's fault - sort of

Not dumb at all F.M. I was about to ask the same. But your dumb question trumped my dumb question. Smiley Happy
Message 3 of 9
Anonymous
Not applicable

Re: Lowering APR on Citi CC, AmEx's fault - sort of

No, I haven't called them. I was hoping to get some advice on what to say when I do call them. I guess maybe more importantly, what should I NOT say when call them? Also, if I blandly explain what happened and they tell me to take a hike, what's next? What kind of rebuttal? Talk to a manager? Write a letter? etc etc etc

I'm just trying to think ahead a few steps, that's all.
Message 4 of 9
Anonymous
Not applicable

Re: Lowering APR on Citi CC, AmEx's fault - sort of

Well, just as a follow-up to my situation calling them ended up working pretty well after all! Without even explaining anything they lowered my APR from 29.9% (yikes!) to 16.2%.

I guess it never hurts to ask!
Message 5 of 9
Anonymous
Not applicable

Re: Lowering APR on Citi CC, AmEx's fault - sort of



@Anonymous wrote:
Well, just as a follow-up to my situation calling them ended up working pretty well after all! Without even explaining anything they lowered my APR from 29.9% (yikes!) to 16.2%.

I guess it never hurts to ask!




That's awesome. Congrats!
Message 6 of 9
Anonymous
Not applicable

Re: Lowering APR on Citi CC, AmEx's fault - sort of


@Anonymous wrote:

xanthines wrote: Well, just as a follow-up to my situation calling them ended up working pretty well after all! Without even explaining anything they lowered my APR from 29.9% (yikes!) to 16.2%. I guess it never hurts to ask!
That's awesome. Congrats!
In my experience, most companies are pretty good about fixing things for the occasional honest, dumb mistake. Everyone makes them, and the CSR knows that as well as anyone. You just can't be calling them all the time and claiming "mistake" month after month!
Message 7 of 9
Anonymous
Not applicable

Re: Lowering APR on Citi CC, AmEx's fault - sort of

Congrats xanthines! You are absolutely correct. "it never hurts to ask".  Just be super careful and not let it happen again, or the default interest rate will become permanent.
Message 8 of 9
Anonymous
Not applicable

Re: Lowering APR on Citi CC, AmEx's fault - sort of

Great to hear - congrats!
Message 9 of 9
Advertiser Disclosure: The offers that appear on this site are from third party advertisers from whom FICO receives compensation.