Overview
It is almost painful to write this, but amidst all the recent rate increases, credit limit cuts and fee increases, battered and beleaguered Citibank is emerging as a good credit card company. There. I said it. I just stuck my neck out and made a positive statement about Citibank. In the days when Citibank wasn’t owned by our government, Citi traditionally ranked pretty low on the credit card totem poll. J.D. Power, for instance, consistently ranked Citicards near the bottom of the pack. But now that we own Citibank, it appears as if its credit cardholders are getting treated fairly. And perhaps its time for the rest of us to start reaping what little benefits we can from our multi-billion dollar investment in Citibank.
Why Citibank is a Good Credit Card Company
If you’ve yet to deem me insane, let me explain why Citibank is emerging as a safe haven for credit cardholders.
- Citibank has not been generating consumer complaints: With the exception of Discover, this website has received numerous complaints about every major credit card issuer during the first four months of this year. In fact, the number of complaints for most banks has been rising dramatically recently. Oddly, none of these complaints have been from Citi cardholders. (You can read consumer complaints about unfair credit card practices here).
- Citibank has not been in the press: At least once a week, you can open up a paper and read a credit card horror story. Recently, Bank of America made headlines by announcing plans to raise interest rates on every cardholder that carries a balance and has an interest rate of less than 10%. A few days earlier, they made headlines by announcing that they will increase balance transfer fees to 4% on June 1st. Citibank hasn’t announced any such plan. And when it comes to credit card companies, no news is good news.
- Citibank is the Bank of Obama: Although we’ve invested heavily in many of the banks engaging in unfair credit card practices, Citibank is the broken vase we had to buy. Most people wholeheartedly agree that Citi is only in business because it was going to fail and our government’s massive investment may be influencing the company’s credit card practices in a very positive way. If the other major credit card lenders were behaving like Citi, our President wouldn’t have had to meet with them this week. So perhaps Citiis behaving the way the government wants our other credit card companies to behave. Unfortunately, many of those banks are strong enough to fight against change. Citi either can’t or chooses not too. Either way, it seems to be handling its credit card business exactly how Obama would want it to.
Conclusions
Regardless of the cause, some compelling evidence points to the fact that Citibank is emerging as a company with fair and reasonable credit card practices. Consumers who are scared about what their credit card company will do to them next and want to take advantage of the savings a 0% balance transfer can provide may want to take a closer look at Citibank. While they may not have been the most consumer friendly credit card company in the past, it looks to me like the White House – I mean Citibank – is a safe place for consumers with credit card debt to take refuge until the credit crisis blows over.
For additional information on Citibank balance transfer credit cards offering 0% interest rates for up to 1 year, please see the Citibank credit card section of Smart Balance Transfers where you can compare offers and apply online for approval.
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June 5th, 2009 at 12:24 pm
You speak without having dealt with them. I have excellent credit and transfered a balance to Citibank using one of their Pay-up-front balance transfer offers. The promise is that after paying an up front fee of 3% your interest rate will be 0% IF you do not use the card for anything (a purchase would automatically nullify the agreement). I have made no purchases but today I am told that the offer I signed up for has expired and they now charge me 9.9% on my balance.
I read EVERYTHING in the agreement when I entered and at no time was an expiration mentioned. But now they changing their terms – and what can I do against this big company? very little What a disappointment Citibank! I obeyed their rules and they change them.
June 8th, 2009 at 9:14 am
Amy,
I hate to be disagreeable, but in most every case, 0% interest rates have a specific time limit on them, generally 1 year or less. While a few companies used to do 0% balance transfers for life in very rate instances, these cards actually required monthly purchases. If you still have the agreement, please email me a copy and I’ll take a look at it. If wrong, I will reconsider my position on Citibank. Unfortunately, however, I think there may have been a fine print trick you overlooked with this card.
Have you contacted Citi credit cards for more information? It would be helpful to know what they had to say.
July 14th, 2009 at 8:43 pm
I received notification today that my interest rate will rise to 29.99 with in the next 2 months unless I opt out and with no chance of being offered a new card and repay my current debt at my current 15.24. After going up only 2 levels on the supervisor rung and put in line [among thousands of others,I am sure]for the call from the next level of supervisory talent,you can be assured I am furious.I have not had a late payment for over 36 months.I make more than my minimum payments to this entity as well as others.I am a widow on a fixed income with decaying property,no health insurance,no real investments and am feeling the siren call of bankruptcy.I was informed that at this time citi can not and will not budge from their position on raising my interest rate.So as far as I can see,I am getting [expletive deleted] with out benefit of being kissed.I had to fight with them the last time they tried to do this and felt blessed that I only went from 11.something to 15.24.they want 29.99? Take me to court.
July 15th, 2009 at 11:23 am
Rebecca,
I strongly recommend closing the account and opening a new one, especially if you have a balance in excess of $1000. With a $1,000 balance, you will be paying $300 a year in interest at that rate. Also, you didn’t specify which company is doing this to you? Is it Citi? We haven’t heard much negative news about them for quite some time.
July 19th, 2009 at 9:15 pm
yes,citibank..and yes,closing acct.and not opening new acct. anytime soon…no benefit to me,more debtload,for what purpose?…you will be hearing negative things in the future,believe me.
October 19th, 2009 at 5:47 pm
I too received a notice raising my rate from 11.29 to 29.99 in the next 45 days. After a call to the 1-800 number I was told that there was no chance of the rate being changed and I had a choice to accept the new rate or opt out and continue my “variable” rate until it was paid off. Even the variable rate will be much lower than their new fixed rate. I can predict many more consumers reach a point of not being able to pay any bills and losing more personal property. It is a shame that large companies are gouging the consumer to the way they are doing. I believe banks have forgotten it has been our taxes that have helped mark the funds for rescue that Congress has released over the past few months. Needless to say, once my account is paid off with the exiting “variable” rate, I will NOT seek another card from CitiCorp.
October 20th, 2009 at 11:16 am
You are right Nancy. The visitors who are posting today are the lucky ones. I learned earlier in the year that a good percentage of people who recieve these opt out notices accidentally toss them in the garbage and don’t learn of their rate increase until it is too late. I’m sure there will be tens of thousands of people pushed to the brink when they open up their credit card bill two months from now and learn their payment has doubled.
Also, IMPORTANT EDITOR’S NOTE: This story was written at a time when Citi appeared to be turning a positive corner. I apologize for jumping the gun on this story though, when it was written, Citi was one of the only major companies not generating negative comments (the other company is Discover card, which continues to be a good credit card company.)