I am a Citi Gold Visa cardholder and during payment due date, I have paid 26000. Then this month, a bill came again telling me to pay the same amount!
We tried to contact their hotline this day but it was always very busy. I would really hate to accumulate late payment dues when we actually have paid the amount. Im freaking out!

this information is actually illustrated on the back of the statements, under FINANCE CHARGE and PAYLITE. if you want to verify this, you can call 995-9999 and ask the CPO (citiphone officer). to talk immediately to a cpo, just press 2. no matter what the automated machine tells you, the person you’re passed to for a lost card is a plain CPO who can address any concern. believe me, i know the system inside out.

First history was with my Citibank checking account.

I got a car loan for 2 years using my Citibank checking account issuing post dated checks without any problem. After completing the 2 years, I continued using my checks for a housing loan. And after issuing the first 12 months checks (January to December), I got a call from my mother that my July check had problem so I checked my account activities through their internet banking to confirm that my checking account has enough funds. After confirming that the amount was withdrawn from my account and on the following day it was returned with less P2,000.00, I called up the customer service (and again using my own money as they don’t have international toll free number anymore) to asked what happened. At first they told me that there was no fund. So I asked them to review the activities and they apologized for the misinformation. So they investigated again and made another reason “SIGNATURE DIFFERS” with a penalty of P2,000.00. Isn’t it an easy money without verifying from their customer about the issued check if it is valid or not before imposing a penalty?

So now I pulled out all the remaining checks and paying my housing loan in cash. It was really so uncomfortable!!!!

My second history was with my Citibank VISA. Just like The Warrior Lawyer, I’ve been a VISA credit card holder of Citibank Philippines for 11 years.

Learning from experience, as much as possible, not to have past due to avoid compounded interest because there was an instance where the interest is much bigger than the remaining or outstanding balance.

Usually, I am using my credit card for online transactions and because I am out of the country, I am requesting my sister-in-law to pay the dues for me. Never knowing the policy of Citibank for consecutive late payments, I had 2 consecutive past dues for June & July 2008 that leads to suspension of my credit card. And since they don’t have the international toll free number anymore, I spent my own money making international call to their customer service 995-9999 to discuss about my credit card status. They told me that upon paying the outstanding balance in full, my account will be reactivated after 3 months. So I payed the full amount last August and expecting that the credit card will be reactivated by November. It means that I will not be able to use it until November.

Around Nov 20, I called up the customer service again to confirm the exact date of the reactivation. Surprisingly, they informed me that my account will be suspended again for another 3 months because there was a late payment again last September for the automatic billing from one of my online account. Isn’t it weird that even if your account is suspended, and without being notified, online services can still use your credit card? And you know what the customer service told me why it happened? “THERE ARE MINIMAL AMOUNT OUR SYSTEM IS ACCEPTING EVEN IF THE ACCOUNT IS SUSPENDED.” What the hell!!! How true was that?

I guess they want to terminate my account as they are not earning big interest from my account and I felt that they really don’t care with a customer like me even if I am paying the annual fee.

After being fed up with their reasoning, I decided to cancel my one and only credit card for 11 years and will apply for a new non-Citibank credit card.

With these, I am now preparing to transfer my savings from this bank to another bank which will provide me security and good customer service.

if your agreement with the first CPO you spoke to is that the annual fee will be waived once you settled your balance… the CPO shouldve waived it. now this depends on how soon you were able to settle your balance. if your agreement was you’ll settle the balance asap say, within the month or before your next cycle then the CPO could’ve monitored your account and waived the annual fee. since the first CPO failed to do so, the CPOs that you spoke to every month could’ve validated/reviewed your account since Nov of last yr and do reversals since Nov starting with the annual fee then go month by month with the charges incurred.

i dont know why they didn’t do their jobs… did they explain to you why they couldnt reverse/waive it?

now, it will be hard for them to verify the annual fee issue because its been over 6 months…

i know you wouldn’t want to call 995-9999 but you should make sure that all the charges are reversed or its noted in your account that the charges are based on a charge that wasnt reversed/waived. my advice is if you decide to call them, insist on talking to a supervisor regarding your issue, take note of the complete name of the supervisor too.

this is very important because not only will it possibly affect your credit rating, i also know a lot of cases of card holders whose accounts were forwarded to collections just because of a charge that wasnt reversed/waived and it incurred charges. of course the card holders refuse to pay for it but what they don’t know is its considered as a ‘past due’ by the system. the system doesnt know that its because of something that wasnt reversed, it only reads it as you didn’t pay for it you know.

btw, i’m not connected with citibank just in case youre wondering.

because on the company side, i believe that for every credit they extend , theres always a doubtful accounts set up for it. and write it off if its uncollectible.
im just thinking of the accounting side of things.

@ Jane, a credit card, used judiciously, can actually be a great convenience. But it’s hard not to abuse it, what with so many tempting goodies to be had with just a swipe of your plastic. Of course, the reckoning comes soon after.

@ WITSANDNUTS, I’m not at all surprised. Citibank is loathe to let anyone go, even those who should be allowed to rest in peace.