Maybe I spoke too soon when I said things had been resolved…
I got an automated phone call this morning from CitiMortgage; the threatening one where they say no payment has been received and they will be reporting you to the credit bureau, etc. *Sigh*
So I call the number as requested and sit on hold for 30 minutes before I finally get a human on the phone. (Sidenote: why make me enter my account number on the keypad if you’re just going to ask me for it again when you finally pick up the phone?) The
A few minutes later, she told me that everything would probably taken care of before the end of the month when my account would be reported as delinquent. Gee, how could I not find that reassuring.
I asked what I should do if I get further phone calls like I did this morning. She said I shouldn’t worry about them, that I didn’t need to call back. “Really?” I asked, “You’re telling me to ignore phone calls saying that my account is overdue and that it will be reported to a credit bureau? Hello, hello?” She’d hung up.
I think it’s time to write a letter to someone higher up at Citi.
Popularity: 19% [?]
Geof F. Morris adds this Comment:
Dude, the next phone boob that you get like that … ask to speak to their supervisor right away, and repeat that request until you get one.
October 27th, 2004 at 10:06 am
tony g. adds this Comment:
Always ask to speak to a supervisor. 9 times out of 9 you will have to ask more than once, but keep asking until you get one. When you finally get one, make a note of their name, position, and whatever employee identification scheme the company you are calling goes by. Make a note of when you called, what was discussed, and what the resolution should be once you hang up the phone. This will allow you to challenge any misinformation they throw at you later. Remember, people like you are a threat to finance company employees. If you pay your bills on time and don’t have any problems, they have no reason for being there. Making life harder for you is job security for them.
October 27th, 2004 at 10:35 am
Dougal Campbell adds this Comment:
I agree with Geof. Don’t hesitate to make an ass of yourself if that’s what it takes. Keeping in mind, of course, that it’s not the fault of the low-level call-center drone that you’re talking to at the moment.
This reminds me of the problems we’ve been having with Blue Cross/Blue Shield. Over the last year (approx), they’ve been screwing up a lot of claims from our doctor visits. They can’t seem to get straight which policy is primary and which is secondary. At one point in their attempts to “fix” the problem, they recalled a bunch of payments that they had already paid out to doctors. Which caused the doctors to turn around and bill us.
The last (but not really) straw came a few weeks ago when we received a letter from a collection agency. We called BC/BS again and finally fought our way to a supervisor. As far as we can tell, this particular problem was resolved, but we still continue to get bills for things that the insurance should be covering.
We have spent literally hours of our own time talking to BC/BS about these problems, who has these commercials on TV about how they’re supposed to take care of all the details so that we can concentrate on our families (not in our case, obviously). All the while, we continue to pay about $750/month for our COBRA coverage. What the hell are we paying them for, if we are the ones who have to get all this crap straightened out ourselves?
Bastiges.
So, anyways. Yeah. Get to a supervisor. Make sure you write down their name and if possible, get a way to contact them directly. Try to get them to follow up and verify that they’ve fixed what needs fixing.
October 27th, 2004 at 10:44 am
Judy Schnabel adds this Comment:
Our home, mortgaged through CitiMortgage, was severely damaged by Hurricane Charley.
Since a mortgage exists on the property, all the insurance proceeds must go to a company in California who oversees the disbursement of the funds.
I believe the name of the company is Fortis. Whatever, it is totally impossible to speak with a representative. If you’re able to get a recording, you might be on hold for 30 – 45 minutes then the line goes dead. Or, you get the message that the voice mail is full and you must call back.
My husband and I are extremely disappointed with the customer service at Fortis. We are convinced that CitiMortgage must be ignorant of the fact that “we are the customer.”
November 23rd, 2004 at 2:25 pm
John Brantley adds this Comment:
I truly feel your pain. Just today I got the run around as well. Citimortgage just merged with the company that held my mortgage. At the first of the month I called to find out how I should make my payments…(I was on direct withdrawn from my checking acct.). “Send a check” I was told. I did so and they promptly cashed it as well as did a direct withdrawn from my acct. Not aware of this I unknowningly was bouncing checks that have resulted in $210 in over-drafts. After three phone calls all I got was send a bank statement to account inquiries and if you don’t hear from us in 2 weeks call back!
January 19th, 2005 at 7:12 pm
J.A. Jackson adds this Comment:
I have had the same problem with my mortage payments can you give me the name so the CEO for Citi Mortgage?…Please read my letter below and post…
July 18, 2005
Citi Mortgage, Inc.
Customer Services Department
P.O. Box 689196
Des Moines, IA 50368-9196
Dear Sir or Madam:
I’m writing to you in response to the overwhelming parade of form letters I keep receiving from your company. A few months ago, beyond my control &/or approval, my mortgage loan account was switched from Hibernia National Bank’s local office, to Citi Mortgage in Des Moines. Since this switch, I’ve had nothing but trouble with my mortgage loan. My troubles range from your office screwing up my escrow account (this took several calls before it was finally corrected); to RUDE & UNPROFESSIONAL Customer Service Representative; to threatening letters from Your Collections & Optional Product Departments; I do not appreciated the way Citi Mortgage is handling my mortgage loan account. My credit is and always has been in good standing with my Mortgage Company and I plan to keep it that way. Any negative reporting to my credit is a violation under the Equal Credit Opportunity Act (“ECOA?), 15 U.S.C.S 1691, and its implementing Regulation B.
Please know that I don’t not need to speak with anyone at CCCS or anyone at the Urban Housing Authority; nor will I continue to pay late fees; nor will I pay a fee to make any type of electronic payments. My payments are mailed in ample time to reach your office and be applied to my account without a late fee being added. I find it very strange that every time I call Citi Mortgage to inquire about my payments, I’m told by your CSR, “no payment has been received?. But when I place a second call later that same evening to Citi Mortgage, a payment has been ironically applied to my mortgage account.
I would appreciate it if you would please make sure that ALL payments are applied to my account PROMPTLY upon receipt. Meanwhile I will be consulting with my attorney and searching for a more efficient mortgage company.
Very Frustrated Customer,
Cc: Better Business Bureau – Shreveport; Des Moines
Optional Products Department; Collections Department
Richard S. Feinberg, Attorney at Law
FTC/Federal Trade Commission
Louisiana State Attorney General Office
July 26th, 2005 at 11:57 am
Shirley A. Graziadei adds this Comment:
the 29th of July, 05, Citimortgage won their case in court and granted to foreclose on my home, I have been in litigation with Citi for hte 71/2 years for since 1998 they have made nothing but accounting errors, mostly in our escrow. I have lost our credit, have nothing left in our savings acct. my marriage of 34yrs has ended, for all the stress CMI has cause between my disabled husband and myself, in wanting toi keep this home and not give in to their demands. but to lose your home and not be heard in court was too uch. nowI am told to appeal and with$.00 in bank, how! . I have been searching the internet for goverment official, agency, anyone who would be able to help in thie legal mess, would you beleive, with all the listings that their is help, especally those that are funded by our goverment , for helping those in need, their is no one, no one at all.
August 4th, 2005 at 12:51 pm
TRESIA TRELOAR adds this Comment:
Please post this comment for Shirley Graziadei to respond to me. I have also had numerous problems with Citimortgage since our transfer of loan from our previous company to Citimortgage. Our situation is similar to those whom have experienced, late pays, unapplied funds, foreclosure, and the rude responses. We are attempting a lawsuit. For anyone that can not get results with Citimortgage, please contact us at ttreloar@earthlink.net.
August 5th, 2005 at 7:38 am
Yvonne adds this Comment:
Yes Citimortgage is a problem. We had our funds put in the unapplied funds box. Payment is there but in order to rack up late fees they do it continuously. We also had many maybe 30 calls to the Land of India where when you ask for a Supervisor they put you on the never – never land line and are cut off. This Bank tried to hijack your payments and get as many late fees as possible. I protested and got all mine cancelled. I spent at least 6 mos 2-3 hours a day talking to fix this and to credit that. Finally we asked to have the loan sold. They said no! So we refinanced with another bank. The most amazing thing is you can pay inside the bank and it takes 10-14 to get credited into you account. Even with the receipt they still applied late fees. The only time we got a real response and quick help is when I told them that they were doing mafia extortion tactics, and I was going to sue them. After all of this they tried to demand we get automatic payments. If I can’t trust you to credit a check your not going to help your self to my bank account. So we refinanced with another bank. But I do agree citi is the worst. They are getting rich off of all of the fees and most of all the late fees and the disappearing escrow account. Good luck to all who bank with CitiBank.
August 5th, 2005 at 11:14 pm
Wendi Olson adds this Comment:
My home equity line of credit account was bought from First Horizon. It has only been two months since the transfer and I’ve had nothing but grief and aggravation from Citi Mortgage. They applied a past due amount and when I went in, in person, I was told that was a mistake. So I made my payment without the past due amount. They then froze my account and caused a multitude of checks to bounce by returning a check I had written on my Equity account. I am also going to find out the CEO’s name, but after reading all these horror stories about Citi Mortgage I doubt they care.Perhaps a class action lawsuit might force these idiots to clean up their act!!!!
August 31st, 2005 at 3:23 pm
Brian G. adds this Comment:
Dear CitiMortgage,
It is unbelievable that a prestigious (by self proclamation) financial institution such as CitiMortgage would sent to me a mortgage payoff check with absolutely no reconciliation or accounting of funds included. I have no doubt this is by design, and the purpose is to steal money from honest hard working individuals. I suppose the more prudent thing would be to first call (again impossible by design) or maybe write a polite letter asking for an explanation. Truthfully, I am sick and tired of this corporate mode of operation.
Below is my accounting based on your records:
CitiMortgage Statement 07/05/05 mortgage balance = $95,158.13
Payment Check#1913 (posted 8/10/05) $1,004.54 = applied principle
Balance due at payoff = $94,619.47
Fidelity National Title – Payment to CitiMortgage =
OVERPAYMENT = $1,545.48
CitiMortgage Check No. 602049441 =
BALANCE DUE = $209.30
Im fairly sure that I will receive from you some fuzzy math explanation, or some fine print excuse why you have entitled yourself to my money. I want it understood, for me this is not only $209.30, this is a cause. I will not go away until I am satisfied I have not been victimized.
Sincere Regards,
Brian G.
Attachments(3)
CitiMortgage, Inc.
MC1010
5280 Corporate Drive
Frederick, MD 21703
October 5th, 2005 at 11:41 am
Keith Brown adds this Comment:
To all who are having grave problems with CitiMortgage: I feel your pain, and good luck!
They are holding way too much in my escrow account and won’t respond to my letters asking for a refund. Also, I have within the 80% loan-to-value required to cancel my private mortgage insurance, which is $78/month, and have NEVER been late on a payment, but they won’t cancel it.
Calling is futile. FYI – their call center is in India, and based on my experience the representatives are unknowledgeable about mortgage and credit terminology (a couple months ago a CitiMortgage rep said to me on the phone: “I don’t know what you’re talking about this credit report”.
October 26th, 2005 at 6:33 pm
JB adds this Comment:
Did anyone find the CEO’s name for Citimortgage? They have threatended foreclosure, and will not return our calls. Thanks.
December 4th, 2005 at 7:41 pm
I. Uhlhorn adds this Comment:
My mortgage was bought by Citi and they are a disaster. You sit and sit on hold, and when someone finally answers, you feel like you are bothering them. They will not sign my insurance reimbursement check because they claim they don’t have suffiecient documentation. If I ever get my money from them, I will look into refinancing with a company who will treat me with courtesy.
December 9th, 2005 at 7:42 am
EL adds this Comment:
My mortgage was recently bought (three months ago) by CitiMortgage, and low and behold they can’t find my first payment!!
Untimely mailings by Citi are to blame…see they sent me a letter telling me that my loan had been sold after the first payment had already been sent to the previous loan holder. Three months later and they can still not find the first payment. They have done little or nothing to remedy the problem, even though I have spoke to the previous loan holder and got the tracking number, date, and person’s name that signed for the check……and that was over a month ago.
If they tell you don’t worry, it will be resolved within ten to twelve days dont believe them!! They told me I would not be sent to collections and the Credit Bureau would not be notified, not to mention I would not be hit with any late charges, none of which are true. I was sent to collections. I did get hit with late payments, and the Credit Bureau was notified.
If you can believe this, the Collections Department cannot see the notes entered by the Customer Service Department…so if they tell you that the Collections Department has been notified of the situation and you will not receive calls from them…dont believe them. The Collections Department cannot even see the notes entered. One does not even know what the other one is doing.
In closing; I have never had a late payment, non-payment….ever. Thanks to Citimortgage I now have both….Oh, they told me that the late charges would be removed and they would send a dispute letter to the Credit Bureau telling them to remove the late payment….Does anyone think I should belive them? After all, I was told not to worry about it….they would take care of it.
To anyone doing business with Citimortgage…..good luck….your going to need it!!!!!!!
December 12th, 2005 at 1:29 pm
EL adds this Comment:
I spoke to CitiMortgage Customer Service this morning and there has been positive developments. Nothing has happened with my missing payment, even though I gave them the check number, federal express tracking number, and the person’s name that signed for the check. Oh, and the Customer Service Supervisor I spoke to laughed when I told her about the problems I was having.
Who regulates this business?
December 12th, 2005 at 3:11 pm
ablevins adds this Comment:
My original mortgage company sold my mortgage to Citimortgage and they’ve not posted payments when they received them, charge late fees without payments being late, miscalculated my escrow, tried to foreclose on me twice, ruined my credit. I’ve sent them documentation from my bank showing when they received funds, sent my property valuation from local assessors office with no change on Citimortgage’s end. Please help. This is my first home and it is a nightmare between the builder and the mortgage company I don’t know what to do!!!
December 25th, 2005 at 10:13 pm
EL adds this Comment:
You need to get on the web and search CitiMortgage Contacts, and write a letter to the Senior Managers listed. I did that, and had my account issues resolved in two days. The Vice President I wrote a letter to was very helpful, and even call the house to make sure I was satisfied with the outcome. I think Citi needs to train their Customer Service Reps better……Good Luck
December 29th, 2005 at 9:30 am
kim adds this Comment:
I am joining the club. My husband and I started making phone payments in September. The payment would post and 7 days later they they stated the payment was returned? The money came out of my checking account and it was credited to my morgage but when they stated they returned the payment… the money did not come back to my account. they sent to their research department and as of today.. the payment is still lost in citibank never never land. We sent another payment in to cover the lost payment. Great news… It happened again this month.. December. Payment was posted and by the 7th they stated they sent the money back?????????? Who ever heard of that. Well, Made another payment tonight and my second lost payment is in research department. I have spent close to 20 hours talking to 20 different people at citibank. Put on hold to look up my account and put back into the loop. Another CR picks up (in a different city) and I have to explain the whole senerio all over again. 2 payments lost. late fees… etc. Never had a problem and never missed a payment in my life.. ( okay, maybe when I was in my early twenties) but this is just a joke.
December 29th, 2005 at 9:35 pm
RUDY adds this Comment:
I talked to a Citi branch and they gave me the address to complain to the main headquarters it is,
PO BOX 9442.DEPT.0251
Gaithersburg, MD.20898-9442.
I am sending a letter to them,and to the Banking commission, the Better Business Bureau and the Attorney Generals Office in Maryland, it might help. Something has to be done.
December 31st, 2005 at 12:43 pm
sue adds this Comment:
I AGREE–WE NEED TO STOP THEM IN THERE TRACKS:CONTACT AS MANY PEOPLE THAT WE CAN: THIS IS WRONG AND WE NEED TO GO HIGHER UP:IN THE COMAPANY AND STATE:THEY NEED TO BE INVESTIGATED.
January 17th, 2006 at 9:07 pm
John adds this Comment:
My mortgaga was bought out by Citi Mortgage early in 2005 from Hibernia. I had no problems with them until the month after Hurricane Katrina. They stopped the auto payment plan on their own because I live in the area affected by the hurricane. I called when I noticed that the payments weren’t being taken out of my checking account and they told me about the reason and I told them that even though I live in the area, I wasn’t affected at all and would like them to continue with the auto withdrawls. They told me they could not do it at that time. During that same conversation with them, I paid over the phone the balance of overdue payments. I also asked them what would happen when they decided to start the auto withdrawls after the 3 month period. Would it all come out at once or would they just continue with normal payments and extend my payments 3 more months. they did not have an answer. While looking for my interest for 2005 for tax purposes, I opened the envelop from them to see that my mortgage was behind 3 months. I know I was trusting by not looking at the statement every month, but when they tell you they will continue with the auto withdrawls from your checking accout after the 3 month period, you would think that they would need the money enough to take it out when it is owed to them. Maybe I am a little naive and they are trying to get me into a position for them to easily take my house. This is Saturday night and I found out today. Come Monday, I will find out for sure what is going on from Citi and get it straight or I will know for sure what is going on from another bank when I refinance ASAP. Thanks for having this forum for me to see that this is not an isolated incident.
January 28th, 2006 at 9:48 pm
Jackie H. adds this Comment:
I had no idea Citi Mortgage was this bad. My fiance and I were recently “sold” to them. I as well have had issues with our esrow. Not enough…excuse me???? We changed home insurance companies and they decided to pay BOTH companies instead of just the new one. “Our mistake”. What do you mean we didnt notify you??? (what they really mean is the idiot who took our call made a mistake). Great customer service!! I work in a call center, I expect to speak to an expert!! Not some twerp who slept thru training. Not to mention that their website is always “unavailable” to access my account. If I ever have any problems I am forced to call!!!
February 15th, 2006 at 9:37 am
Jackie H. adds this Comment:
On top of all these other issues we have had they have yet to send our tax documents. I’m scared to death to call in and ask why they havent. Arent they required to send them by the end of January? Who do I contact to report this??
February 15th, 2006 at 9:51 am
MJ adds this Comment:
Please allow me to inform you “in my opinion” why people have problems with Citi & other mortgage companies.
1. they dont read the documents they have signed and usually refer to them as “those papers” well….Too bad, you signed them, you agreed to them, if you didnt like them you should have had it changed at closing
2. most people want an answer NOW NOW NOW. and really dont care that they are talking to a HUMAN on the other side of the phone that is probally working for a paycheck to feed their family just like you…..tell me this do YOU know every small aspect of your entire company you work for…i doubt. maybe if you would back off like i learned to do, rather than yelling and saying you are gona sue them(odds are you wont win anyways but please try)..the mortgage company would be more friendly meaning they work on your request a little harder and get it done quicker.
3. these people that are mad about the outsourcing to india…i understand that, dont care for it myself, but they are a business, if you can buy an american made automobile for $30,000 or basically the same thing made in China for $24,000….i bet over 90% would buy the one from China, so if you have ANY imported materials (car, TV, radio, anything) back off they are just saving money like any smart business/consumer would.
bottom line in my experiance working with people about their mortgages…..their attitude reflects the way they are treated, their actions and choices relect the way they are treated, and 99% of the time if “the company” does make a mistake, they fix it…as long as you are willing to !!!! PROVE AND SUPPORT !!!! your opinion that they made the mistake, because that HUMAN you are yelling at, starts their shift at 9….goes home at 5…..and do you think when they walk in the door the next day they want to call the person who was understanding that it takes time and they have procedures to follow telling them what steps to take, or the person that spent 20 mins. insulting them because they are tring to make a paycheck to put food on the table…..ohh and if you wonder where my EXP comes from I help people with “money problems”…so I work with citi and other companies on a daily basis over multiple matters…..before you start complaining about what these companies have done to you…be honest and tell me that YOU have ALWAYS made your payment ON the due date….not the grace period, but ON THE ACTUAL DUE DATE you agreed to…if you have ALWAYS done this small thing…fine lets hear your complaints.
April 12th, 2006 at 12:50 am
Alex adds this Comment:
I invite you to re-read my original posts as well as many of the comments here. By your remarks, it’s clear you have not done so.
April 12th, 2006 at 8:39 am
MJ adds this Comment:
I have read them, I was simply giving my insite and opinion to some of the comments. As far as your original post, I agree with most everything you say…after all it is your experiance, not mine you were talking about. And you are correct that Citi uses a 3rd party to set up their bi-weekly advantage plan, so it will cost around 250-400 for set up fee and some bi-weekly plans even charge 1-5 dollars for a draft fee every 14 days…my suggestion is to take your regular payment amount (Principal & Intrest Only, no escrow) divide that by 12 and add that sum to your monthly payment. (some…not all, but some mortgage companies, like citi mortgage charge intrest on a monthly basis untill you are sending in the Payoff, then a per diem is used.) Therefor you will recieve the same benefit doing it my way as using a biweekly plan but no fees, and can usually cut a couple 10’s of thousands off the mortage payment……(never a bad idea if you ask me). If you are still having any problems with this company remember…its numbers and a computer, just because the person you happen to be talking to says THEY cant do something….somebody can !! Ask for a Supervisor…you will then be talking to someone with a bit more tools to use, if you are not happy with their answers, insist that the supervisors boss gives you a call (most the time the “first supervisor” wont connect you directly so be ready to get a call back) and make it easy for them… “this is what i want, are you able to do it ?” if the answer is no then ask to talk with THEIR boss…and keep this up till you end up with whats usually called “A Preidential Unit or Team” now…if THEY say “no”….then either accept it, or get a lawyer, cuz that is as far as you will get outside a court. Hope i could be of some help.
April 13th, 2006 at 12:19 am
Don B adds this Comment:
I have come to the same junction as everyone here; I have just received papers from a law office to begin foreclosure on my house. This all started in Sept. 2004 when I applied for the bi-weekly flex plan. My wife was going to have major surgery and we were going to be tight with our funds so I opted to set up the flex so my payments would be taken care of through my bank. I assumed everything was going well since I hadn’t received any more bill statements; five months later I get a call from citimortgage asking for back payments and I asked about the paperwork I filled out for the bi-weekly flex plan and I was told that they never processed any request; from that point I went to the Veterans Administration, but got no help there; and trying to talk to citimortgage is a bust. From what I have noticed it seems that citimortgage buys up all these mortgages from other companies just so they can foreclose on the property on down the line because they will not help you to refinance or help you to repay any late payments, and I would like to know who is profitting from all of this?
May 4th, 2006 at 3:41 pm
SCOTT adds this Comment:
Mr.Sanford I. Weill
Chairman and CEO
Citigroup, inc.
399 Park Ave.
New York, NY 10043
Mr. Robert B. Willunstad
CEO consumer group
300 St. Paul Place
Baltimore, MD 21202
GOOD LUCK CONTACTING THESE GUYS.
May 5th, 2006 at 8:45 am
Michael adds this Comment:
Like many of you, I had problems with Citmortgage. What I learned is that the problems are with the off-shore company in India – if you can get to a person in the US, they will iron things out.
Twice I had major problems (which I won’t detail here) and was stonewalled in India. After some research, I was able to dig up a direct line to Citi Mortgage in the US. Those of you having problems, I strongly recommend that you call this number:
301-696-4000
That is also where the “research department” lives. When you call in, hit 0 for the operator. If you ask for the research department, she will kindly inform you that they do not take phone calls and will transfer you to customer service US of A where I found the people to be exceedingly helpful and accommodating.
June 1st, 2006 at 9:35 am
JJ adds this Comment:
Early in 2000 my wife and I used CitMortgage to purchase a home that turned out to be a nightmare. To make a long story bearable we moved and for two years bounced back and forth between renting the home out and trying the home market to no avail or bad renters. About a year ago my attorney buddy helped initiate the process of a Deed-in-Lieu as we had been unable to sell and had two mortgages. CitiMortgage was helpfull and willing to work with us and as far as we knew it was taken care of. Within the last five days I have received two phone calls and three letters about my forclosure. Wow! I hadn’t heard from them in almost a year then within one week my home is in foreclosure. My attorney buddy has spent a handfull of hours getting the run around and conflicting information as to what has happened and every time I call I get transferred to someone who knows even less than anyone I had previously talked to about my problem. A sneaky bunch aren’t they?
June 8th, 2006 at 6:22 pm
Rudy Sems adds this Comment:
I paid off my son’s mortgage with Citimortgage Inc, on April 17, 2006. I electronically paid $25,181.49 to Citimortgage Inc.
A month later my son received late payment notices and was charged a penalty. They claimed that they did not recieve the funds. An obvious lie.
All efforts to locate the above mentioned funds were futile and nobody knew what happened to the money.
Only after I threatened to file a complaint with OTS did the funds get re-deposited into my account on June 5, 2006. Tracking records show that it was at Citimortgage, in their Newcastle office for fifty days.
Case number 41260-22-MAY.
Citimortgage Inc, refuses to discuss the situation with me. Therefore I am making this statement public and have also filed a formal complaint with the OFFICE OF THRIFT SUPERVISION, (OTS). 1-800-842-6929. That is the Federal agency which regulates Citimortgage. Their website is
http://www.ots.treas[...]7&edit=1.
I heard someone suggets CLASS ACTION SUIT. It might be time for that?
June 9th, 2006 at 9:35 am
DAMARI adds this Comment:
Carmel doesn’t want to have a McDonalds or other such franchises but they allow a corporation in which treats ethical employees with wrongfully termination while out of work with a doctors note and they lie to their clients in Carmel about why I am not their anymore. WHY??? Why don’t they just tell them that they fired me while I was at home ill? I don’t have a problem with telling them the truth why do they?
WHY DOES CITIBANK IN CARMEL LIE TO THEIR CLIENTS ABOUT WHY I AM NO LONGER AT THE BANK? ARE THEY ASHAMED OF WHAT THEY DID TO ME? THEY KNOW VERY WELL THAT I DID NOT LEAVE TO WORK WITH MY HUSBAND THEY FIRED ME VIA UPS AND I AM ON DISABILITY DUE TO THEIR TREATMENT, THREATS AND HARASSMENT
Why hasn’t Citibank responded to the Dept. of Thrift Supervision and what else will they lie about to the Dept. of Fair Employment & Housing ?
Citibank Ethics?! Please post & forward my story I need your help, please help us get this story out, please forward to everyone you know. Why do the employees at branch 915 in Carmel, Ca., tell their clients that I left the bank to go work for my husband, instead of telling them the truth which is that I was fired on 12/13/05 via UPS & their HR- Connect One system has me as an active employee out on disability and now I am an active employee on leave of absence with pay. So, am I fired or on leave of absence??? If I am on leave of absence then why don’t they say that instead of lying to the clients and telling them that I left to work for my husband. I don’t work for my husband, I am not allow to work , I am ill thanks to Jeff Ursino and Citibank treatment. Why won’t they tell the truth to the clients and what else are they lying about? Are they ashamed of what they have done? Perhaps I should take out an AD in the local paper and tell the community the truth myself? Why do these employees tell clients that they aren’t allow to talk about why I am not at the bank, but yet when they do talk about it they lie!!
On 5/31/06
Sharon Law Tucker sent me her new business card and asked me to call her because she had miss placed my phone number during the phone call she mentioned that it was Laura Richardson which told her a few months ago that I left to work for my husband, is there anyone at the Carmel branch that can tell the truth???
The letter I’ve include with this email is from a concern client of Citibank
My question is will the teller be fired and if not why not? This teller left out about $10,000.00 in the unlocked front drawer 2 different times with in a two week period and had two shortages in one year, one for $100.00 and the other for $450.00.
Where the cash drawer is concern two employees signed the vault book stating they witness her put the cash away, obviously not true.
One of these two employees had the bank pay for her daughters overdrafts and the manage was aware, against company policy.
This teller entered false referrals into the systems to make the banks numbers look better and this was done under the supervision and direction of the supervisor, when I brought this up to the manager none of the three tellers which input false referrals were written up, falsifying bank documents and no write up but I get written up for missing a Saturday, why? Unfair and unequal treatment by the manager. Where are the ethics?
As I’ve stated, the unethical employees still have jobs and I get fired after the manager receives my email on 12/13/05 at about 1:45 p.m., and he acknowledges receiving it, it clearing answers his question/comment that he was calling to see if I was coming. The email states that my doctor had called in and spoke to Kathleen: as well as faxing in my doctors note which the manager returned to me with my termination letter received two days after I had been fried with no check, with no break down explanation, no vacation pay, misleading information and so on, note clearly stating my disability time off. Did he read the doctors note? Did he let upper management know that my doctor had call and faxed information?
The manager called I returned his call but he was with a client.
I requested to communicate via email and I emailed him, Kathleen and Human Resource, so why was I fired sometime after he received my email and the end of the day if he was just calling to see if I was coming in and if not to contact HR? Unfair and unequal treatment.
It makes no sense. Why weren’t the labor codes followed? Did he get HR permission to fire me?
Why then wasn’t my check included with my letter of termination? Aren’t I to be fired at the location which I work? Were my rights violated when he had Kevin send me my termination letter, did he know I was getting fired prior to me receiving my letter?
March 25, 2006 Dear Ms. Deloney,
I would like to take a moment and thank you for responding to my comments regarding Damari and the manager. I am sure that you are a very busy and important person and I appreciate your time. Damari is truly missed at the bank, since her unfair termination by the manger, the atmosphere at the bank is boring to say the least. Damari added life and laughter and she enjoyed serving the customers. I feel deeply, that the manager made a huge mistake in dismissing her while she was ill. What kind of a manager would dismiss an employee while they are ill?
As I say this, I now have further concerns about another teller name Andrea. I was in the bank and was told that she has injured her knee and will be out of work for about six weeks. I’m sure that Andrea has a doctors note as Damari did, I hope that the manager doesn’t make the same mistake and decides to terminate her and mail her a letter before she returns as he did Damari when he terminated her instead of waiting for her to get well and return to work. Although I would understand if he were let her go as she spends most of her time at work doing her homework , reading and she isn’t available everyday. Andrea will move on, on her own to become a teacher, this is what she goes to school for two days a week. By her going to school, I feel this puts a strain on the staff. I understand that the rest of the tellers along with Kathleen are now having to work six days a week and Kathleen is running a window: she doesn’t have the charm or customer service skills which Damari offered the bank.
We go into the bank often and we rarely see that manager. I feel that it would be in the best interest of the bank to find a permanent manager as soon as possible, one whom appreciates competent employees as Damari. Frankly, I don’t understand how a temporary manager was given the authority to dismiss an employee such as Damari with her wonderful skills , talents and dedication to her job. Therefore my concerns are now for Andrea whom doesn‘t compare with the kind of service Damari offered your customers. As I stated before, the other tellers spend too much time speaking to customers about personal things and shopping on the computer instead of banking conversations. I frequently witness them reading and eating while at their windows: this is very unprofessional.
I feel it would be in the best interest to Citibank to launch a complete investigation on the manager, as you stated would be done and seriously consider removing him from Carmel. In my opinion since he arrived the atmosphere is tense and if I can sense it I am sure that other customers do. This manager has taken all the personal touch and charm out of the bank and I feel the employees fear for their jobs: no one should have to work under those conditions. Keeping this manager at this or any branch is sure to destroy you business. Again, thank you for your letter and taking the time to look into this situation.
Sincerely, Clifford Bagwell
In a letter dated 01/06/06,Citibank states, Pursuant to Section 1089 of the Ca. Unemployment insurance Code, regarding notification of changes in employment status, please be advised that your employment was terminated on 12/13/5 for failure to follow call in procedures
RE Section1089 and other codes which Citibank may have violated
Other codes they may have violated labor code section 208, 226, 226.3,201.25,2441, 2800,2802,2926,2927,6400,3602(6),3852,2922,civil code 47(c)
I was fired on 12/13/05,it states that each employer shall notify the employee immediately, yet I didn’t find out until 12/15 as I received my notice of termination via UPS on12/15
When I was fired I was not supplied with “copies of printed statements or materials relating to claims for benefits by Citibank.
Citibank claims that I didn’t follow the call-in procedure yet my doctor called on 12/12 & faxed in a notice which stated that I would be out from the 12th-16th.
Jeff claims that he called me to see if I was coming in on 12/13 at 10:25am,almost 2hrs after my shift started, he states that if I wasn’t coming in that he wanted me to contact HR to inform them of my extended absence. How does one go from calling to see if I’m coming in & ask me to call HR to Jeff stating & deciding that I should be fired yet in my email to him at 1:45pm on 12/13 it states that the doctor had spoken to Kathleen & faxed in my doctors note which he returns to me w/letter of termination.
How does he justify terminating me? I was out on work related stress and my blood pressure, my doctor called for me to keep my stress & blood pressure down, as far as not calling in I had my doctor call: the call was made for me to protect my health. Why wasn’t it stated in my termination letter that I failed to follow the call in procedure. Why does Citibank state to the DFEH that I called in on 11/15 & said that I would be out the rest of the week yet I worked on the that day & the supervisor approved my timecard on 11/22. What else are they not being honest about?
Why are the employees which falsify bank documents & break policy still have jobs?
Reply to Damari Stratford 1291 Ord Grove Ave, Seaside 93955 831-583-9077
CITIBANK IS NOT BEING HONEST WITH DFEH THIS IS A LETTER I SENT MY GOVERNOR
Dear Governor, First Lady and Staff,
I have been awake since 1:05 a.m. I was having a difficult time sleeping again due to my conversation with Ann Lueckeman from the DFEH. Ann and I spoke on 3/08/06, Citibank apparently faxed in their reply on 3/07/06. Ann read to me some of the statements that Citibank made on their reply Citibank states: that I called in on 11/15/05 and that I stated that I would be out the rest of the week, this is a lie!!! I happen to have my time card for the week ending 11/19/05 and it clearly shows that I worked the 15th, I was off the 16th and I worked the 17th and that I was out sick on the 18th and 19th and that the manager approved my time. Citibank states that I refused to work on Saturdays but they don’t mention that I, unlike them, was willing to meet them half way. Citibank is not telling the truth. To further support that I was at work on the 15th and 17th I have my journal notes with specific times of things that occurred on those two days. How does an honest and ethical person fight against unethical people who lie? How can I protect myself if I can’t afford an attorney and I can’t find one to work on a contingency basis? The other night, on TV, my husband and I heard that the government spends 4 million to train wasp and I can’t get help from The White House or our Senators or Congress, to defend myself against a corporation which is taking advantage and lying about this situation? The only one that has offered to help is the Governors office and although I appreciate the letter and the call from the Governors office this does not get me an attorney. I have diligently search for assistance to no avail. I am now begging for help, I can’t continue to loose sleep and live on anxiety medication; this situation is wearing on me. Again, please, is there anything more that you or our government can do to help my family and I, for this wrongful termination? Why is Citibank lying? I feel like I am going to have another panic attack and I had to resign to taking medication to calm down. This is totally and completely unfair, unjust, wrong and no one should have to go through what Citibank has put my family and I through. I only wonder how many other wrongful termination’s Citibank has gotten away with because people are afraid to go up against them or just don’t have the money to fight and protect them selves? My husband and daughter are worried about me and so am I.
PLEASE HELP US. I don’t know what else to do and I don’t want to give up. Sincerely. Damari
AS OF 4/21/06 SENT TO THE GOVERNOR
I SPOKE WITH THE EMPLOYEE RELATIONS DIRECTOR OF CITIGROUP TODAY, IT WAS ADMITTED THAT THERE WAS SOME WRONG INFORMATION GIVEN TO THE DFEH REGARDING THE 17th OF NOVEMBER, 2005. CITIBANK WILL BE SENDING IN A “NEW’ RESPONSE DUE TO NOT DOING THE INVESTIGATION THOROUGHLY THE FIRST TIME. SO WHAT ELSE ARE THEY NOT DOING THOROUGHLY OR ETHICALLY? DAMARI
I HAVEN’T HEARD FROM YOUR OFFICE AS I WAS TOLD I WOULD BE CONTACTED PLEASE FOLLOW UP WITH ME, THANK YOU
A BETTER EXPLANATION Mother fired by Citibank for no good reason
I am searching for an Employment Attorney willing to work on a contingency basis. I was fired while I was out sick, the managers states in a note added to my personnel file that he had called me to see if I would be coming into work on Dec. 13th but yet with my letter of termination he returned to me the faxed in doctors note, faxed in at 3:44p.m. on 12/12/05 by my doctor, which clearly stated that I would be out from 12/12-12/16/05. He sent me my letter of termination thru UPS, which arrive on 12/15/05. The manager knew that I was out on work related stress and I had a workers comp case pending. The manager states that I was fired for not complying with my warning and I asked how I could comply if I wasn’t there to comply so then I get a letter from HR stating that I was fired for failure to follow the call in process but my doctor had called in for me on the 12th due to my stress level and blood pressure. The doctor had spoken to the supervisor on the 12th so they were aware that I wouldn’t be in on the 13th and my doctor has the notes on my file that she had made a call in for me. Citibank did not follow their own procedures when they fired me. The EEOC has given me the right to sue and the letter arrived on 2/17/06 so my 90 days have started. The DFEH has also launched their own investigation which Citibank received notice on 1/23/06 and should be responding to the notice any day now, (as of 3/8/06they haven’t responded). I had an outstanding performance history with the bank; I had worked there for 4 years 2 months 6 days. I was the head teller one of the notary and the only Spanish-speaking teller. I have at least 40 letters of support from Citibank clients and I can prove that the manager was not equal with all the employees and although he was aware of the teller cooking the books under the direction of the supervisor none of them were put on corrective action yet I was written up for missing my first Saturday and then again when I missed my 2nd Saturday although I had a doctors note to be out of work due to my blood pressure and stress brought on by the manage and the unfairness in treatment. I had been threaten with job abandonment but at that time I hadn’t missed any work long enough to be accused for this. Citibank violated code 132A of the worker comp law and I do have an attorney for that but they are unable to deal with all the other issues. I have a strong feeling that the manager never told HR that my doctor had called in for me nor did he share my doctors note with them, he is to get approval from HR before firing me yet fired me by 4:30 pm or so, I had also emailed him that day at 1:45 pm and explained that my doctor had spoken to the supervisor and faxed in a note, again he was aware that I wouldn’t be in. The manager had called my cell phone and left a message at about 10:25 am, he states that he called because I hadn’t called in a half an hour prior to my shift, which started at 8:30 a.m., why did it take him 2 hrs before calling me? And I would bet that the supervisor had made arrangements to have a teller there to cover my shift since my doctor called her. Please help my family and I. Sincerely, Damari
Home 831-583-9077 all calls to this number are screen please leave a message, Cell phone 831-236-0112 Again please help us
Sheri, (4/22/06)
The reason the conversation came to an abrupt ending is due to my frustration with this issue, yes I was upset and angry and my stomach was turning and my chest tightening, I had it get off the phone and calm down and I took some Xanax to calm the anxiety attack which I felt coming on.
As I explained on the phone, I have lost 25 pounds since Jeff Ursino first threaten me with job abandonment, I don’t sleep well, I grind my teeth , I have gone to the emergency room for chest pains and a heart doctor and so much more. I have nightmares. From my house I see Highway 1, a constant reminded of the unjust done to me.
I have seen about 10 different doctors and I have been given about ten different medications, I have been seeing a therapist every Friday since Nov. 2005 and I have only missed 2 appointments with him.
My job was very important to my family and I, I have cashed in my IRA and 401k, my pension is on the way, I have sold some stocks at a lost to insure I have funds and all this because I was fired and I don’t know how long I will be ill and I have bills. I have spent hours doing paper work for things such as unemployment, disability, activating credit protection dealing with connect one, Met Life. health insurance and more. I don’t know how my benefits are being paid, I am not being directly billed and no one sends me the information I requested. I have lost my employee rate on my credit card and I still have to make payments to one of them.
Can you imagine arriving home and seeing a UPS envelope addressed to me from Kevin Squires only to open it and find a letter from Jeff terminating me. Every time I see a UPS truck I feel I will be getting more bad news from Citibank. I did call him, he was with a client, I called his cell phone, he didn’t answer, I emailed him, he received it and didn’t respond but instead fired me, he lies, he returns my doctors note which stated the time I would be off, they lie to the DFEH, why wasn’t the research done thoroughly in the first place, why were both of my write ups sloppy with incorrect dates and information? I wasn’t fired for my performance, Jeff just wanted to hurt me more and this was his way.
I was told that the center didn’t have enough employees for some one to have Saturdays off but even though the center is short staff he fires me and allows Andrea to be out every Tuesday and Thursday but yet we were short staffed. I can’t believe that all of this has happened to me for being ill and yet other employees did things that were more of a risk to the center than being out ill.
I am sorry for raising my voice at you, I hope you understand it isn’t directed at you, it is about the situation which Jeff created. I can’t deal with more paper work and I don’t trust anything Jeff or Kathleen say, they are unethical and will say anything to make themselves look good. At this point I will not be reading the attached Arbitration policy which you attached to this email, I can’t deal with more paper work, I will research other avenues and continue to tell my story since I can’t sleep.
Met Life denied my long term disability but yet didn’t talk to any of my doctors and I need to deal with that and other issues. Thank you for you time, Sincerely, Damari
SENT TO SHERI PAULO 5/01/06 Hello Sheri,
I received your phone call and all I want to know is what is it that we need to speak about?
I don’t understand what we have to say to each other. I feel that you and Citigroup will stand behind Jeff Ursino no matter what really happened. Jeff states that he called to see if I was coming in 2 hours after my shift was to begin and if not to call HR. I did call him and emailed him but he ignored that and fired me. He returned my note which stated that I would be out and yet called to see if I was coming in, did he not read the note he returned with my letter of termination and did not Kathleen let him know that my doctor called in at least I did something about it and my doctor and I were just protecting my health. Why did they lie? You said that they got bad information and now will submit a new response to the DFEH why not check your facts first before submitting information to the DFEH? why, because Jeff Ursino couldn’t tell the truth.
Hope to hear form you soon. Sincerely, Damari God bless us all
AS OF 5/3/06 ==CONNECT ONE OF CITIBANK STATES THE I AM ON LEAVE OF ABSENCES WITH PAY AND THAT I HAVE 163 HRS OF VACATION TIME 80HRS OF HOLIDAY PAY AND 96HRS OF SICK TIME YET I HAVE LETTERS WHICH STATES I WAS FIRED ON 12/13/05
05/06/06 ==IS THIS APPROPRIATE? SEARCHING FOR A CHAIR ON CITIGROUP TIME, I BET HE DOESN’T GET FIRED!AND ALL THE OTHER ONES DOING PERSONAL SEARCHES ON CITIGROUP TIME, I BET THEY DIDN’T GET WRITTEN UP OR HARRASSED AS I DID FOR BEING ILL AND WANTING TO PUT MY DAUGHTER FIRST!!!
ronald.a.walter@citigroup.com I am interested in buying a good condition mid-nineteenth century Shaker rocking chair. Ron Walter office – 212-559-4393 home – 212-752-8453 fax- 212-793-3402
On 8/27/2003, X Sananda Maitreya FAN wrote:
I want the old….not the new. The hard vibrator with batteries. Not the soft, supple dildo. What the hell did you smoke, drink, eat or whatever to make your career drop like cow excrament. Your ego get to be so big that it couldn’t fit on stage with your band? Yeah you’re music is (slash that) WAS cool but you should’ve kept your mouth shut on your opinion of being a God. We’re all Gods….and you’re no more special than anyone else. I don’t know a soul in the US under 25 that even knows who you are. What the hell happened to you? The name change and all that crap…. I was your biggest fan. Now I think you’re an egotistical idiot shannah.l.olsen@citigroup.com
Zachary Green :: zachary.green@citigroup.com :: 12/5/2005, 6:51 PM
I somehow found my way onto this website, I don’t remember how, but I have been really impressed with how well you guys are doing. I used to work in television sports in San Francisco, and I wish I had this sort of early training when I was younger. Great luck and keep up the strong work.
I am looking for a friend Robert Norton-Edwards who went to the University of Cape Town with me and who was a DJ at the varsity radio. He emigrated to the UK, got married to Vanessa Edwards and worked at Volt Delta Europe. I lost touch with him about 7 years ago and want to re-establish contact so if anyone has an email address or work details or telephone number I would be very grateful! My email address is paula.vantonder@citigroup.com
Dragon Boat Rowing Our dragon boat rowing team practises on Sundays 4-6pm at Kallang Sea Sports Club. All ICAAS members are welcome. Please contact our co-captains Matthew Lim (matthew.lim@citigroup.com) or Chan Tze Hoe (tzehoe_chan@hotmail.com).
Oxbridge Challenge Cup, 26-27 March 2005; SAVA SPRINTS International, 9 Oct 2005
We purchased several limited editions at PWG auctions in the late 1970-s – early 1980’s (in Cleveland, OH & Philadelphia, PA). Is it possible that you have records of these purchases and, if so, might we have the ability to get duplicate certificates of authenticity?
Lou Buccino Tampa, FL – Tuesday, September 30, 2003 at 12:43:47 (CDT) Name – Rich Warner Email – richard.warner@citigroup.com
Date — Thursday, 16 June 2005, at 8:25 a.m. From – Brooklyn Will never forget Echo 1973. The experiences and memories came right back to life when I found the site while looking for a counselor position for my daughter. I remember a bat that was trapped in our bunk and Chuck would laugh that we had bats in the belfry. Bonnie Newman, Susie Trachtenberg, Bambi and Diane Wilk- Where are you guys? I had a Dodge Charger that summer that we rode over to Monticello Raceway for the summer concerts (Jay and the Americans, Four Seasons) I found a softball at home that was signed by all the counselors in August, 1973 on the last day of camp! Here are some of the names of my old friends from that wonderful summer: Chris Mitterdorfer, Tim Marx, Mike Bleiberg, Jeff Luxenberg, Paul Achitoff, Mike Tex Stevens, Nathan Hale, Rochelle Morra,, Julie K, Wayne Weinryb, Mike Alaloff, Jon Hauser, Tom Leopold, Susie Trachtenberg, Diane Wilk, Bonnie Newman, Bambi – BJ, Mike Salemi, Richie Eder, and Mark Paschter. If any of you guys are out there, drop me a line.
Regarding your question about Kew Gardens: I have a 1 bedroom in Hampton Court (Metropolitan & Park Lane S) for $179,900 (negotiable) in Kew Gardens. See my add below. Contact me at Cindy.Hecht@citigroup.com if interested in seeing it! Thanks
Jeff Hack W’87 and his wife, Amanda, recently welcomed their first child, Andrew Lee, on Jan. 8. Jeff was recently named chief financial officer of Citigroup’s Smith Barney unit, while continuing as chief operating officer of Smith Barney’s global private-client division.
Posted 4-15-05Steve Bowers, 1977 – 1978steven.p.bowers@citigroup.com
I was stationed aboard the USS Truxtun CGN-35 from 1977 to 1978. We went to Subic Bay twice that I remember. The last time was in July of 78. I rotated off the Truxtun while it was in Subic. I was a RM3.
Date: 06-Nov-2002 REQUEST #1407Name: MichaelE-mail: michael.c.eterno@citigroup.com
Subject: Anthony Badalamenti Comments: Hi, My cousin’s father was a medic in the army and that he landed in Sicily. That’s all he knows about his father, as the father didn’t talk about it much.
The medic’s name is Anthony Badalamenti. Do you have records of the medic in the 3rd infantry?
I only found three infantries that landed on Sicily 3rd, 1st, and the 45th. The 45th said they have no record of Anthony Badalamenti. Thanks Michael
May 09, 2002 BILL MCDONNELLWILLIAM.R.MCDONNELL@CITICORP.COM>
I AM LOOKING FOR MARGARET LOWE SHE LIVED IN BAY SHORE,N.Y. GRADUATED 1964 I THINK SHE LIVES IN YAHPANK,NY
Name: Allison St. Pierre Email:allison.k.stpierre@citigroup.com
IP Address: 199.67.140.75 ()Location: Rocky Hill, CT USA
Date: Friday, April 25, 2003 at 13:01:11Comments:
Just finished Last Dance, Last Chance. You have to pity a man for his inability to see how stupid he really was, you have to pity a mother for not being able to say “I’m Sorry” to a woman who deserves to be apologized to, and you really must applaud a woman whos love of her children, strenght in her friendships, and commitment to health helped her overcome the greatest challenge she will ever have to face. I honor Debbie Pignataro. You go girl. To Ms. Rule: Excellent job on the writing. This is my first book that I have read of yours, and I’m hooked. Now I have to find volumes 1-7. Sign me…a new and forever fan. Allison St. Pierre
You can reach Damari at dcsbears@aol.com
Why was there “false/wrong information given? What does Citibank expect will happen when the doctors finally release me from disability? Does Citibank plan on giving me my job back? I was offered Cobra and then given my insurance back, why? Why did Citibank wait to the last day to respond to the DFEH and then fax in there reply with false information, they had 45 days or so to get their facts right so who gave them the false information and why? Why didn’t they check their facts first?
I was fired then the status was changed to active employee out on short term disability the on leave of absence? Why was my 401k sent to me? If I am an active employee why was the rate changed on my employee credit card? Why did HR tell connect One that they had made an error yet I have a letter of termination and one letter that was sent over night to make sure that I did not return to work on 2/01/06? Why did the bank not follow their own firing procedure? If I was fired why do I have all that vacation, sick leave and holiday time. Why was I sent a check for my vacation time and then they rolled over the time to the 2006 year? Why can’t I get an answer to my question regarding who is paying for my medical, dental, vision? Why is Met Life now billing me for premiums for the Life insurance policy which I carry for my husband and also mine?
I WAS AT COSTCO (5/17/06) WITH MY NEIGHBOR AND RAN INTO RICHARD WHITE HE MENTIONED THAT HE HAD GONE INTO THE BANK AND MISSED SEEING ME THERE, WHEN HE ASKED WHERE I WAS THEY TOLD HIM I HAD LEFT CITIBANK TO WORK WITH MY HUSBAND, YET AGAIN ANOTHER LIE FROM THE UNETHICAL EMPLOYEES AT CITIBANK , WHAT AND HOW DO YOU FIGHT AGAINST LIARS? I DO NOT WORK FOR MY HUSBAND, I WAS FIRED AND I AM OUT ON DISABILITY
5/19/06 My daughter and I were at Ross to day and we ran into another Citibank clients, we said hello and he said that he had gone into pay his credit card bill and when he asked about me he was told that I had left to work for my husband, yet again another lie from Citibank in Carmel. I gave him my address and asked him to put this in writing and mail it to me, he said he would get the letter out to me on Saturday
Extra! Extra! Read all about it!
DAMARI AND CITIBANK
HERE IS THE TRUTH!!
To set the record straight!
Damari was fired by Citibank in Carmel!
Damari did not leave the bank to go work for her husband!!!!
DAMARI HAD NO PLANS TO LEAVE CITIBANK!
DAMARI PLANNED ON STAYING FOR ANOTHER 16YRS.
THE BENEFITS WERE VERY IMPORTANT TO HER FAMILY!!
DAMARI WAS FIRED VIA UPS WHILE AT HOME ILL DUE TO WORK RELATED STRESS BROUGHT ON BY THE MANAGER AND THE UNFAIR AND UNEQUAL TREATMENT OF EMPLOYEES
ALONG WITH BEING THREATEN AND HARASSED
BY THE MANAGER FOR JOB ABANDOMENT.
SEVERAL OF
Citibank clients have TOLD HER that they have been told by the staff at the Carmel branch :
THAT SHE LEFT TO GO WORK FOR HER HUSBAND!
THIS IS AN OUTRIGHT LIE!!!!
What else will they lie about?
Are they ashamed of what was done??
WHY DO THEY FEEL THEY NEED TO SAY SHE LEFT TO GO WORK WITH HER HUSBAND INSTEAD OF JUST TELLING THE TRUTH ?
IS THERE ANYONE IN THE CARMEL BRANCH THAT COULD SWEAR TO THIS? NO!
You can reach Damari at dcsbears@aol.com
ENOUGH WITH THE LIES CITIBANK!!!
IF YOU HAVE BEEN TOLD THIS PLEASE SEND HER AN EMAIL
Dear Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger, 01/28/06
My name is Damari Carollo Stratford, my daughter, Leah Carollo, attends Seaside High School and I wanted to personally thank you for visiting the school on Friday, January 27, 2006.
My husband, Jeff Stratford and I have a small plumbing business named JND Plumbing, Inc., we, as a company, we donated money to the volley ball team to purchase 36 warm up uniforms for the girls. My daughter was on the freshman team and I was team mom and proud of it. I never missed a game and I drove to all the away games with team players in my mini van. I made sure they had sandwiches, fruit and water for all the away games and water for all the home games and practices.
On, December 13th, Citibank in Carmel, California wrongfully terminated me. On, Dec. 15th, 2005 I received a letter via UPS telling me that I had been terminated on the 13th. At the time I was terminated I was in the middle of a pending workers comp case which wasn’t denied until Dec. 21st, 2005, this is in violation of code 132A of the workers comp law. Also, I had been out of work since the 6th of December with a doctor’s note, 2 notes that excused me from work from the 6th thru the 16th. I was out due do work related stress and anxiety. My doctor called in for me, upon my request, spoke to Kathleen and faxed in my doctors note on 12/12/05. According to HR, Chrys Smith, I was terminated for ‘ failure to follow call in procedure’ on 12/13/05. My doctors note which had been faxed in on the 12th was returned to me with my letter of termination from Jeff Ursine, acting manager of the branch. The note clearly stated that I would be out from the 12th thru the 16th.
I went and spoke to an attorney in Salinas, California and after about 45 minutes to an hour of listening to what I had to say, they took the case on a contingency basis. Also, I have filed a complaint with the EEOC and they have launched an investigation on my behalf.
I was not allowed an exit interview, which is their policy, nor was I ever asked to turn in my keys, which is also their policy. I was a very good employee and my reviews can prove this, one of them even stated the I
‘ Greatly exceeded expectations’. I was the Head teller, a Notary and the only Spanish-speaking teller. Before some one is terminated they are, per their own policy, to consider the employees performance. I worked the for 4 years 2 months and 6 days.
Please take some time and read the pages I have sent you and also forward it to your friend Oprah because when you and her speak people listen. This situation has caused my family and I emotional and financial burden and I need some help. Corporate America needs to be kinder to their employees and more understanding of their personal needs.
I am currently on disability and the legal system is too slow, I need help now. Due to loosing my job I can no longer offer the athletes at Seaside High School the financial support that I was willing to give them but I will still give my time. We need more parents like me, please help me.
Sincerely,
Damari C. Stratford
1291 Ord Grove Avenue
Seaside, Ca. 93955
Home phone: 831.583.9077
Dear Office of Thrift Supervision.
RE: letter dated 06/05/06
Case # 0505382006
Citibank advised you that Human Resources and Employment Legal Departments have handles this internal matter. How did they handle this matter? They lie to clients about why I am not there. They tell clients that I left to work for my husband, this is a lie. Lisa Austin from Citibank Benefits departments states that when I come back to work they will set up payments for arrears regarding my benefits yet how can I go back to work if they fired me? Citibank states in a letter to a former clients on 3/13/06 that they would like to thank her for the comments on “our former? employee.
Citibank lied to the Department of fair Housing and employment and they are telling lies to clients, what else will they lie about? Citibank never offered me FMLA, violated Labor codes and this is all I get?
I would like details of what was said. If Citibank will lie to the DFEH and clients they will lie to you also.
You say you can’t provide me assistance but Citibank gets away with lies, wrongful termination, etc. I was not fired at work I was fired while at home, ill with a doctors note. How can they get away with ruining my life and lying to clients about it. Their Human resources department has had me listed as terminated, then on short term disability and now on leave of absences, so which is it? Am I suppose to go back to work there when my doctor releases me from disability. If I am an active employee on leave of absences then why did they send me my pension, change me employee rate on my credit card and make me do something with my 401k?
Would you kindly ask them what my status is ?
Sincerely
Damari Stratford
June 11th, 2006 at 8:11 am
Karen Minor adds this Comment:
I – like many others – had my mortgage transferred to Citimortgage from Principal Residential – about 1 1/2 years ago. The very first payment was posted late – some confusion between the old mortgage and the new – and I have had nothing but run around since. I have asked for an actual copy of the inspection fee that they have charged me $9 per month for – but I was told last week that they are not required to provide it. I had just spoken with Citimortgage last Wed. night and spefically told them not to call my job – and the VERY next day a lady did call – and told me I could not get an inspection copy – per HUD – but I had to pay the $9. I said ” So you are telling me that you can bill me for this – I have NO proof that any of these INSPECTIONS ever took place – and you expect me to pay this? Does anybody know the details about this?? I also told the lady that called me on my job that I had just spoken to Citimortgage the night before – and had specifically told them not to contact me at my job – and the she says she will note that – as if she is doing me a favor… In the year and a half that I have had to deal with this – only 1 person had the ethics and common sense to understand. They have delayed posting payments – and each time I attempt to contact them I get another person. One night I was on hold for like 45 minutes – and then they disconnected me because it was after 8 PM.
June 30th, 2006 at 5:33 pm
Valerie adds this Comment:
After receiving my escrow statement, I called to request that my payment be removed from escrow.
On the first call, I was sent into the security system to change the voice mail password. I hung up and dialed again, only to hear personal conversations and background chatter from (I assume) Citibank Customer Service Reps. On the third try I reached Janita and immediately asked if she was in the U.S. She said, “No” to which I replied, “I want to talk with someone in the U.S.” Thankfully, I was transferred immediately to Greg.
Customer service is somewhere in India that doesn’t understand the mortgage process or customer service. In fact, I had one experience with a “customer service representative” (I use this term loosely) from India who actually yelled at me on the phone!
Now…I am not normally one to send out things such as this and have never contributed to a blog, but after too many trials with this company, I decided to add my comments to strongly encourage people to never bank with this company.
My mortgage was sold to CitiMortgage about 2 1/2 years ago from Principal Residential (as I see from comments that it has happened to others as well). Since then I have had nothing but headaches, costs, costs, and more hidden costs from CitiMortgage.
The newest financial gouge from CitiMortgage is that I had to pay $250 of MY money to close my escrow account with them, all the while that I have not been earning interest on it (they say they haven’t been earning any either – yeah, right…HA!). Ergg…
I am now leery, based on previous posts, that I am going to have something with my taxes and/or hazard insurance get screwed up.
…suffice it to say…CitiMortgage is not paying for all the marketing and TV ads out of the goodness of their own hearts rather with customers’ (again, I use that term loosely) money.
Anytime you need banking needs, RUN from CitiMortgage, Citibank or any other “Citi”-product.
And about that class action lawsuit suggested by Wendi Olson on August 5, 2005? Let me know when and where…
July 3rd, 2006 at 4:08 pm
John adds this Comment:
Ok, I think I get the picture. CitiMortgage, don’t go there. If they take over the mortgage, SELL!
I have a similar article on my site on equity lenders and how they charge extra fees in order to get you those low rates. A few other less than reputable lenders in there as well.
July 11th, 2006 at 7:26 pm
can;t stand Citi adds this Comment:
Here is the legal department address and phone numbers to CitiFinancial’s legal department. It will help is you have a CitiFinancial mortgage.
Address and phones mays have already posted.
CitiFinancial
300 St Paul Place
Baltimore, Maryland 21202
fax: 410-332-2949
voice: 410-332-7750-legal assistant
voice: 410-332-3528-attorney assistant
I had a problem and called daily. They annoyed me and I called every day, sometimes multiple times a day until they corrected the problem.
July 22nd, 2006 at 9:44 pm
Sandra adds this Comment:
Thank you all for the information I needed. I am also having trouble with Citimortgage after having been sold from Principal Residential Mtge.
My problem is not as serious as some I see but I am having an escrow problem also and about to be canceled by my insurance company.
I couldn’t understand why I was being told it would take 24 to 48 hours for a fax to be sent. Of course it never was. Now I know I was talking to someone in India.
July 27th, 2006 at 4:49 pm
Benny adds this Comment:
Have you guys ever had them tell you that they lost your money order/check? This happened to me recently. I sent them 2 money orders since the highest amount you can get is for $1,000.
After the 16th I begin getting phone calls that my payment is late and will be sent to the credit bureaus and reported. I found out from one of their people that a machine basically takes all the bills and checks you send… scans it, etc and “pays the bill” THEN it shreds the envelope and whatever else it doesn’t need.
Well, of course, the money order for $1000 was missing, but of course it didn’t strike them odd that only a 1/3 of the payment was posted.
Long story short. I faxed them a copy of the receipt AND a copy of the form proving that the post office was researching it and that it would take 90 days before a new money order could be issued. I was promised it would not get reported to the Credit Bureaus.. then of course last night I see that i’m being reported late to all 3 credit bureaus.
I call them and theya are pretty much like ” Oops.. my bad.. well now it’s stuck there till we get the $1000 then we’ll take it off.” In other words in their eyes, no matter how much evidence you send to them proving them at fault, you are STILL guilty until proven innocent. I had explained to EVERY person I had talked to there, that it takes 90 days for the post office to reissue because they have to make sure it’s not cashed withing that time frame. I was assured not to worry about it, that while it was under investigation they wouldn’t report it.
I explained to a supervisor that according
to the Fair Credit Reporting Act, what they did was completely illegal, since it states that you can’t report negatively on a consumers credit report in the midst of an investigation.
I can’t WAIT to refinance with someone else… your checks get shredded and YOU end up paying for it.
September 18th, 2006 at 7:07 am
kyle adds this Comment:
Just as frustrating experience as all of you wit Citi Mortgage. They misapplied mortgage payment to escrow. 8/1 still gettng the run around 9/25. Have called and spoken to 30 supervisors in between.
I caught the problem myself on 9/1 when I red’c a letter from Citi saying I was delinquent. Spoke to Toni Vitale who all but guaranteed it was “fixed” case # and everything. That there would be no reprort to credit bureaus for their mistake. Got a letter from rsearch dept 9/6/06 from Jill Stoker confirming the same. and I quote, “Please be assured no late charges were assessedto your loan as a result of this matter. In addition, no derogatory information was reported to our subscribing credit bureau agencies.” I found out 9/22 as I apply for a mortgage that there is 30 day late from them for 8/1/06. On the phone as we speak with Connie Mathews and Jo Naman. Oh how convenient …disconnected.
September 25th, 2006 at 11:07 am
Donald A. Olson adds this Comment:
I recently received a letter from citimortgage that they had been informed by Cross Country to start collecting the premium for my service contract plan.(what ever that is). I haven’t contacted citimortgage at this time to get clarification. Does any body have an idea what they are talking about?
February 14th, 2007 at 9:10 am
FrustratedCiti adds this Comment:
We are having some of the same problems. Our loan was sold to citimortgage. We sold our house and the payment was sent in for the full amount of the loan 5 months ago. They keep sending us foreclosure letters and have completely ruined our credit. Lawyers contacted them and were told that nothing would be reported or done until this matter was resolved. That was a lie. We were then told that the lien had been released so quit worrying about it, until we got a letter from their lawyers with a date that the house was to be sold at auction. There is another family living there with a loan on it from another bank…boy will they be surprised. In the meantime, our lawyers sent in a second check for the full amount of the loan…which has not been credited either. We’ve had the same problems contacting anyone at citibank. We were finally given a lady’s name and extension number. It always goes directly to voice mail and she has never returned a single call. This institution should be shut down.
February 24th, 2007 at 8:35 pm
Rodney Rock adds this Comment:
Chuck Prince
Chairman & CEO
Citigroup
http://www.citigroup.com
I refinced my house in 05 and payed off citi well I am trying to do it once more and come to find out I can’t citi did not file the paper work with the county.My credit report shows it being payed off but not at the county.I have been given so menny 800 # it is not funny.None seem able or wount to sove my problem.Any one have a idea who I should talk to to fix this.
Thanks
Rodney Rock
rodlrock@comcast.net
March 12th, 2007 at 5:57 pm
Rodney Rock adds this Comment:
I found his address
Citibank
Mr. Charles Prince, President & CEO
Executive Communications
1 Court Square, 42nd Floor
Long Island City, New York 11120
March 13th, 2007 at 6:36 pm
Rodney Rock adds this Comment:
Citibank
Mr. Charles Prince, President & CEO
Executive Communications
1 Court Square, 42nd Floor
Long Island City, New York 11120
Re: Citibank Acct. Mortgage xx-xxxx-xxxxxxx
Mr. Prince:
I don’t normally write letters about service I received, but this time I could not over look this problem. And I am sure you and your team will want know about this.
In March, 2004 my wife and I went through a rough time. Citi Mortgage got behind, while working with the Citi Mortgage people we got it fixed or so we thought. The mortgage was taken over by Citi Financial very nice. We went from playing $180 to $120 a month. The problem started by them not talking to each other.
In 2005 we decide to we decide to refinance our house with GMAC they were out first and you were our second every thing went fine with the refinance.
March, 07 we decided to refinance once more to finish some projects on our house. Everything was going fine our broker (Maria XXX-XXX-XXXX) found us a loan that would work for us, called a 10/20 she started the process. After a few days we get a call from Maria telling us there is a problem seems we have a lean on the house from Citi. We need to fix the problem ASAP or our loan will fall though. Maria and Nancy from the Title Co had been working on the problem for the past few days and were not getting any were. However, on March,7th. I called Citi Financial 1-800- number and give lady the account number tell the her the problem she informs me she can’t find me in the system I tell her that it is the account the credit report shows “she tells me they don’t do loan satisfaction letters and the credit report is all I need?. I told her no, the county record needs to show it being satisfied she tells me once more the same thing. Then “she told me that I should have known it was not taken care of back in Nov. 05’. I asked, her how I would known it , all the papers I signed at closing showed you being paid off then she tells me once more the same thing. I asked her if she has a house yes! I asked her if she was sure she was sure all of her paper were in order yes! I asked how do you know she told me this is what she does for a living. I told her that’s my point I am a mold maker not loan person like you. I asked her name she hangs up on me. I call back and asked for the number of a Supervisor (Melissa 803-835-4808) She starts digging a round and tells me the papers were sent to Mr. Neleson (XXX-XXX-XXXX ) in Dec 2, 05 I called him, he has no idea what I am talking about and tells me to call Citi Mortgage (1-800-XXX-XXXX) they tell me that it is a Citi Financial problem.
I explained once more everything and that I am running out of time on the loan my broker found me. They (Citi Financial) tell me to call the records dept I do and the girl tells me to call Mr. Neleson I tell her no! I need this solved and I am running out of time. She tells me it can take up to 15 days to find out the problem and to fix it .this is the 03/08/07 So after work I decide to go To Citi Bank Plantation, FL and Talk to a nice young Juan man he spends 45 minutes with my wife and I, getting the same runaround as myself finally he tells me a guy named (Anthony 1-XXX-XXX-XXXX ) will call me the next day I am still waiting for Anthony call. Any way I thank him and he give me the Citi Bank Listens card I take it home and fill it out on line when it got to the part about what I think about Citi every thing went from very good to extremely bad and it ask if I would like a manager to contact me sure! At around 9:30 am March 9,07 I got a call from Marsha on my Voice mail I call her back and tell her what is going on She tells me she will try to help me.
I get a call March10,07 from my broker The 10/20 loan has been pulled and it will not be reoffered to me. She told me she’d try to find me another loan. This story is very long with a lot left out and a lot of the 1-800 numbers left out.
I got a call back from Marsha telling me her progress so far not good she tells me not to worry she is not going to give up .Wow! I tell her about the loan being taken away this upset her (me as well )So she calls my broker and try’s to fix It she can’t every thing change that last Friday with the news of all the defaults it was all over the News .
On Tuesday my broker calls me and tells me she found me a new loan 5/25 and it is not going to cost me $6000 at closing like the last loan but $13,000.I get a call from Marsha to give me a update I tell her what happened makes her very sad. She tell’s me she thinks she has the right person to solve the problem and they need more info, can she get it from my broker? I tell her no problem she can have all the info she needs. This lady Marsha called each and every day to let me know what was going on! Thursday March 15,07 and I get the call that she now has the right dept and some one working on my case but it could take up to 30 days to get it resolved (oh god help me ) I tell her I only have 6 days left on my new loan she tells me she will keep pushing them. So after talking to her I call CitiFinancial Records and talk to Vanessa (888-XXX-XXXX) a very rude person. She tells me you have a third party working on this and go through them. And she told me not to call her any more!!! So I call Marsha and tell her what happened she tells me not to worry that she was working with some one over Vanessa head .Later that day I get a call from Marsha telling me she has the Satisfaction of loan in her hand and was faxing a copy to my broker as we spoke, What a lady !!!
The problem started when the Mortgage was turned in to personal loan in 04 and a loan satisfaction letter was never sent to the county office. In 05 the personal loan was paid off by GMAC they did not see the problem because they did not do a title search, the loan was staying in house. Then in March 07 we want to refinance again. Now the problem shows up and no one wanted to take ownership, of the problem.
There are endless people that should not be on your team that are not working in the best interests Citigroup or your customers. You should try to solve the same type of problem and you will see for your self what I am talking about.
You do have a bright spot in your Citigroup team and that is Marsha (XXX-XXX-XXXX) I will be opening a account at her branch my way to say thank you She holds the standard that all Citi employees should strive for. A person who took ownership of a problem and got it solved. You and your Management Team should be very proud of her and her Plantation team she has the spirit Citi should be looking for at the top and through out your organization.
Sincerely,
Rodney Rock
Ft Lauderdale Florida
CC Marsha
March 21st, 2007 at 3:12 am
katie hates citibank adds this Comment:
My fiance and I bought our house in october and have not had the same payment since the company we originally bought our loan with sold it to Citi mortgage Inc. First they sent us a check for some odd reason in December, then they wanted $1200 from us for a shortage in escrow. I work for a real estate company and have contacted our lawyer about this. Has anyone had any luck w/ this or is it just futile? We don’t know what else to do and I can’t spend two hours of my work hours a day on the damn phone with these fools. Any ideas PLEASE HELP!!
March 26th, 2007 at 3:54 pm
stefanie roemer adds this Comment:
“We are a class action law firm looking into a potential class action lawsuit against Citimortgage as a mortgage servicer regarding (1) the failure to properly post/apply payments, and (2) improper late charges.
If you have had any of these problems with Citimortgage, please email us at sroemer@nydclaw.com with the following information:
1) A brief summary of your major complaint, including dates and
2) Your contact information.
Hopefully, we will be able to bring some justice to those who believe have been wronged by this Company!?
May 2nd, 2007 at 12:04 pm
robert adds this Comment:
i work for citimortgage why are you guys such in a bad mood were’re a great company!
May 2nd, 2007 at 5:23 pm
dave adds this Comment:
I’ve had my mortgage for 3.5 years (it was also sold to Citimortgage almost immediately.) My problem has been that they will not cancel my PMI. I basically make double payments per month and I am now at 75% Loan-to-value compared to the original price of the house. I have not had any late payments. I was told multiple times on the phone that they would not cancel my PMI without an appraisal. According to the Homeowners Protection Act they are required to cancel PMI at 78% LTV, but they state they do not abide by this law. Funny thing is when I logged onto their website and looked up PMI cancellation it said PMI would be cancelled at 78% LTV! Why should I pay them for this appraisal when they’re legally obligated to cancel? I’ve written letters (actually including copies of this law and their website page), made phone calls, talked to supervisors and gotten nowhere. Everywhere I look on the internet it says that it should take one simple phone call and the PMI should be cancelled. I’m an ideal customer and they won’t help. Why should I keep paying PMI when I’ve proven I’m a good customer and there is no longer the same risk that I’ll default on the loan (the reason for the PMI in the first place)?What’s the next step?
May 14th, 2007 at 8:20 pm
john spearing adds this Comment:
I have a va loan with citi. I have had problems with cit-mortgage that has gone on since they bought my paper may of 2003. I have over paid 3 months in payments plus late fees. no matter how many faxes or certified copies i send them, they will not credit my account nor will they correct my credit report.
I received a call from a stefanie roemer two weeks ago. They are a firm out of washington.
To date there is no government regulatory agency to look over these corporations. It should be simple… contract law. Yet when they disput a certified check with copy of bank statements and a copy of the check they endoresed where do you go from there. Her is my question!
May 16th, 2007 at 7:55 pm
julio adds this Comment:
Dave, I feel your pain. Citimortgage makes dropping PMI almost impossible. I’m at a 60% LTV and still can’t get them to drop it. Read my story at:
http://alexking.org/[...]omment-55803
The next thing I’m going to do is complain to the OCC. See Pat’s comment for info:
http://alexking.org/[...]omment-53836
May 23rd, 2007 at 6:13 am
margo mallicoat adds this Comment:
citimortgage is a pain. Their service is inconsistent, they change the rules everyday it seems, and no one will take responsibility for anything. if you ever want to modify your lot lines, start 3 months before you think you need to and disregard their promise of 6-8 weeks. also, you can forget anyone returning your callsm, and they have an answering system for their customer “service” line. rates rae going up and I cant start my reno until this is complete and citi doesnt give a damn…but they kept my $300 “service” fee – you can bet your boots on that.
I am going to post every place I can possibly think of so that NO ONE willingly gets a bank account, a credit card or a mortgage with this incompetant inconsiderate group of people…and ps – when you get your mortgage make sure that it cant be sold to citi!!!
good luck to all of you. I have been trying for 11 weeks and have had zero action.
m
June 15th, 2007 at 5:37 pm
Bobbie adds this Comment:
I just can’t believe that a company as large as CitiMortgage can get away with such unfair business practices and unprofessional behavior.
We were sent repeated letters telling us to call if we needed or wanted a deferment. We called and were told we were granted a deferment.
Those letters, by the way, had the wrong number on them – error #1.
Then we received a bill saying we were past due and a letter saying we were in default. That letter had a wrong number on it too – error #2.
We called and got put through voice-mail hell. A week later when we did get through to a human we were told too bad there’s nothing they could do because we didn’t actually qualify for a deferment – error #3.
After that I continued to call and leave message after message, never actually reaching a human.
When I finally got through to a human I was again told sorry, there’s nothing they can do. I asked to speak to his supervisor and was told that person was on vacation, but when he returned he’d call me.
The call never came – error #4.
I called and left multiple messages and never returned a call back.
Finally today the person who is supposed to be my account manager called me back, not his supervisor, and told me I better pay up.
They have reported this to my credit report now and are ruining my credit. If there is a legal way to sue them and anyone knows how, please answer this blog!
They should not be able to get away with making a verbal, binding agreement and then ruining what I was trying to rebuild.
August 20th, 2007 at 3:06 pm
J.Griggs adds this Comment:
Thanks for this site. I was looking at Citi for financing my new home purchase. Think I’ll stick with Wells Fargo.
August 21st, 2007 at 3:49 pm
m adds this Comment:
Bobbie… CitiMortgage does not offer deferments. It is quite possible you misinterpreted the letter. I’m sure it was a letter advising you that Citi would attempt to work with you to cure your delinquency if you qualified. The type of loan you have determines what you may or may not qualify for in terms of assistance. Mortgage companies, like Citi, really do make every effort to help you get back on track… believe me, its in their best interest to do so. They lose a substantial amount of money when a loan is in default.
Also, mortgage companies do not ruin credit. Delinquent borrowers ruin their own credit. Negative credit reporting is simply based on whether or not you pay the balance you are contractually obligated to pay. If they made a payment posting mistake that caused a negative credit reporting, you can provide proof and they will be legally required to fix your credit.
I have many years experience in all areas of the mortgage business and here is my suggestion to you… save the money you plan to pay a lawyer to sue Citi and pay as much toward your delinquent balance as possible. After all, you made a legal binding contract when agreed to pay back the money they loaned to you.
Your best bet is to address the problem that caused you to run behind in the first place. If its credit card debt… try a credit counseling service (but make sure it’s a non-profit agency). Or contact HUD if you have a government loan type. Worst case scenario, sell your property and get into something more affordable.
Hope this helps your frustrating situation.
~M
8-21-07
August 21st, 2007 at 3:55 pm
Tom adds this Comment:
In response to “M”. Have you not read the previous posts? Citimortgage is not applying the money they receive to their accounts! How do they get away with this. Easy. Crooked politicians, and lawyers.You name it. They are paying off the very people who are supposed to protect us. They are very much aware of what is going on. They choose to do nothing because they are getting money from Citimortgage and its affiliates. NO ONE can be this incompetent by accident.
Sadly, it will most likely be quite awhile before something is done. Meanwhile, they are stealing peoples homes and hard earned money. By the way, you sure you don’t work for them? Sure sounds like it!
September 6th, 2007 at 12:09 pm
Kristin adds this Comment:
I have had citimortgage ever since Amtrust sold my mortgage to them in 2004.
I have had no problems that any of you speak of. My bank info is online so all I do is hit pay and its FREE to pay all the way up to the tenth of the month!
I am now thinking of getting a 25,000 equity loan (since I have $150,000 equity) but I clicked on the link & see citibank is who my loan would go through….
I find citibank telemarketers to be a pain in the @ss. I am going to have to think about this one.
September 23rd, 2007 at 11:44 am
Kristin adds this Comment:
P.S. Waterfield Mortgage & Chase are the absolute worst IMO
September 23rd, 2007 at 11:46 am
Jesus Casal adds this Comment:
I have a problem with Citimortgage reporting incorrectly to Consumer reporting agencies .If you had enough you can contact THE FEDERALTRADE COMMISION at 1-877-382-4357
October 2nd, 2007 at 2:40 pm
LJ adds this Comment:
I was sold to Citimortgage. After the first escrow review they decided I should pay $300 more into escrow. For what? My taxes and ins. don’t require this additional $300. I requested to have the escrow removed from my loan on 8/30. After requesting this letter weekly I finally get it on 9/24. I mail it back on 9/25. On 10/9 I call to see if they have received it. No we haven’t, takes 7 days. Well it has been 12 working days! What could she do, request the letter be sent again so that I can wait another month to receive it. I plan to call on a daily basis and I plan to mail a copy of the escrow removal letter to every address I can find. I asked the rep if I could fax the letter, and she tells me no because they don’t have a fax # for that dept.! Unbelievable.
October 9th, 2007 at 9:35 am
G-Mo adds this Comment:
Citimortgage took 2 months of payment out of my account when they were only authorized for a one time payment. By them doing this it sent my account into the negative. I called and asked if they would put the money back into my account by electronic transfer and I was told a check was mailed today 10/25/07 and that they couldn’t do anything about it. Well, I know they didn’t mail out the check when I called because the mailman does not come at 9 am to pick up mail. I sure hope they don’t keep my money it’s almost 2k they owe me. I have reported them to the better business bureau and I will write the CEO. Even the supervisor lied and said there was nothing they could do about it. So, I’m stuck paying for all those checks that Citimortgage caused to bounce. I’m in the process of re-financing with another company and I’ve only been with Citimortgage 2 months! They will not get a chance to burn me again.
October 25th, 2007 at 12:22 pm
Ed and Barbara adds this Comment:
We have been sparring with CitFinancial for three years about their failure to credit paymants, false reporting of our redit history, and for the past 12 months returning our payments in plain, hand addressed envelopes without explaination. Written communications with their head office in O’Fallon. Missouri have been of some help, but their Dallas-Fort Worth office that handles our mortgage to correct our records. Now they are pressing foreclosure. We are interested in joining any class action suit against them.
October 31st, 2007 at 3:35 pm
Tiffany adds this Comment:
Oh boy we could gooo onnnnn and onnnn about the trouble we’ve had with Citimortgage. Since we were sold 7 years ago. Our escrow accound has been screwed up since day one. One day their asking for more money the next there sending me refund checks and this is no lie. We missed a pmt one month and before we missed that pmt we called and asked if we could do something pay it late or what we should do. They told us about the repayment plan. You pay a little bit back over a 10 month period we will not report you late and no late fees we did that. Once we paid it off in the time frame that they asked we were slammed with $497.00 in late fees and get this we still owed the amount that we originally were paying back on so we made no ground all those months of paying back what they told us to. After calling every month to make a pmt because you can’t pay online you either had to pay by phone or mail a check nobody ever said we weren’t paying enough. Apparently when we made the arrangements they also reviewed our escrow that they said we weren’t paying enough in so they collected that money and not the extra toward our payoff then come after that 10 months we got a refund check of $500 for overpmt in our escrow,…. none of this make sense…. I don’t understand. I’ve not been able to talk to anybody that will straighten it out after numerous attempts….
November 3rd, 2007 at 8:19 am
Amanda adds this Comment:
AHHH!! I am SOOOO frustrated with the “loss draft” department of CitiMortgage. I had hail damage to my home in April 2006 (over 1 1/2 years ago) and the insurance company issued the first check of $10,158. We sent it to Citi, with the insurance estimate (so they KNEW from the beginning that the final amount would be over $20,000). They simply endorsed the check and returned it, saying that since it was so close to the $10,000 mark, we wouldn’t need to do the inspections and everything. We then signed a form saying we would be acting as our own “general contractor.” Well we hired all the right people and eventually all the work was complete, and we paid for it all, most of it coming out of our own money. We got the check for the remaining money from the insurance company after submitting all of our reciepts and sent it on to Citi to endorse. Well suddenly, Citi is holding our check captive!! All of a sudden we DO need an inspection because the amount is over $10,000 (THEY KNEW THAT ALL ALONG!!)… OK, FINE, I dealt with it and sent in all of their “required documentation” and all of my reciepts. I’ve been calling and calling to check on the progress, and suddenly they tell me that my “reciepts aren’t good enough,” because on some invoices, the “Paid in Full” is handwritten and then signed by my contractors, rather than an “offical PAID stamp.” They are telling me I have to track down all 5 contractors and have them re-issue a more “offical” invoice that confirms that I’ve paid them. WHAT!?! Have they ever worked with roofers and drywallers? It’s hard enough to get them to come do the work, there isn’t a chance in hell they will take their time to redo an invoice. The OTHER OPTION – I can locate a copy of all the cleared checks (FROM 8-14 MONTHS AGO) as confirmation of payment. My bank doesn’t let me download the check images from that long ago. This is ridiculous! The insurance company didn’t even require all this crap for proof, and they were cutting me a check! Citi is just making this difficult so they can keep everyone’s money longer while they argue details. THEY ARE MAKING INTEREST ON MY MONEY!! CITI – GIVE IT BACK!!!!
November 6th, 2007 at 4:17 pm
Amanda adds this Comment:
Rather than faxing the “more official” receipts to the “loss draft” department, I might just print off the hundreds of pages of this blog and fax it to Citi, instead.
November 6th, 2007 at 4:18 pm
Pete & Leslie adds this Comment:
We’re interested in ANY class action lawsuit pertaining to “late-fees” and potential foreclosure because CITI didn’t apply mortgage payments when received! ERIE,PA.
November 6th, 2007 at 5:06 pm
m adds this Comment:
G- MO, you’ve got a genuine gripe! Dont let them off the hook. If citi caused overdrafts on your bank account because they took a larger payment than you authorized, you are entitiled to have the overdraft charges reimbursed… and of course the difference put back in your account. Call back and get a fax number to send in proof of the charges (overdraft notices and statements of account activity). Keep record of all the faxes you sent and dont stop calling until you have the reimbursement in your account!!!
-M
November 12th, 2007 at 2:07 pm
Jack Corr adds this Comment:
My law firm has handled many consumer class actions (against companies like Ford, Wyeth, etc.) We have been asked to look into a possible suit against citimortgage regarding the company’s electronic payment plan. We would be interested in speaking to anyone who has signed-up for the plan, especillay those who paid a $10 fee for paying between the 8th and 15th of any month. We believe the plan may violate the terms of most mortgate agreements. Please send me an email at jackcorr@comcast.net
November 13th, 2007 at 1:22 pm
Anitra Johnson adds this Comment:
OMG. I am experincing this as we speak. I have been on hold for an hour and half. And have had to call each month for the past three months to have the same issue resolved. I have been hung up on twice, they took out 876 out of my account for my payment that is supposed to be 813. I was told I would not recieve the reimbursement until 12/26, that is not acceptable to me, then I was told that it would be 12/19 which was still not acceptable to me. If this had been my first time calling I could respect the 12/26, but I spoke with someone on 9/28/07 and 10/22/07.
December 12th, 2007 at 2:20 pm
Dumb me adds this Comment:
I was just wondering if anyone was as stupid as I was. I got an appraisal on my home for 125,000 and I live in a very, very small town. I would be so lucky if I sold my home for 35,000. But my apprasal needed to come in at that figure in order for me to get the loan. Any one have any ideas. I didn’t realize this. It was all done over the phone and me being a single mom and didn’t read any of it. STUPID ME!
December 12th, 2007 at 6:23 pm
Jennifer Jones adds this Comment:
WOW!!
This site is what I’ve been looking for. My Morgtage co ABN Amro sold to Citimortge in September. All I received was a letter from AMN letting me know of the situation and a phone number if we needed to contact CitiMorgtage. I waited 30 days and never received anything from Citi regarding our account.
I called Citi and was told that they don’t send out statements and it was my responsibility to get them a payment via online or phone (which is a $10 fee). At that time I was 2 monts behind, I made the 2 payments and was charged $358.00 in “other fees”. I have since recieve several letters form them all with differend amounts due and as much as one a day for the month of December.
I called them again on 12/21 to make a payment and spoke with a man that could not speak english very well. He put me on hold several times and said “payment to come out of checking account?” I said yes and he said “Thank You, GoodBuy”. Did I make a payment? I hane no idea when I called back that were no comments on my account as to the phone call I had whit this gentlman.
I called again on 12/27 to find out what I owe and why I’m being charged $265.00 this time in “other fees”. The only response I received was they are late fees.
At this date I am 2 payments behind again but I did finaly receive a statement dated 12/17. I have to come up with $3800.00 by Jan 31st. If anyone has any advice please e-mail me at chrisjenqm@yahoo.com.
Thanks for reading
Jennifer
December 28th, 2007 at 8:57 am
Steve adds this Comment:
As an attorney, I do pride myself on patience and understanding of both my view and those opposing. Dealing with CitiMortgage has pushed me to the limit and I must bring to your attention my experiences with CitiMortgage in just trying to get a simple piece of informantion, that is, a correct Fax number since the letter they sent me had listed a number that had been disconnected.
The gist of my action was trying to get Citimortgage to correct my escrow for taxes since my taxes were reduced by $500 because of a senior citizen discount. They had been asking for the additional amount of real estate taxes and so I faxed them the letter from the tax department twice w/o any response. Finally I received a letter asking me to send the documents that I had already faxed and they included a fax number of 1-214-879-4895. I tried this number numerous times but the fax would not go through. I then called the Fax only to find out the number had been disconnected. I then called customer service and of course got India and the person asked me to repeat the information I had already plugged into the system. I told him all I wanted was the correct fax number to which he replied with all the standard requests, social security, home address, dog’s name. etc. He then asked me if it was ok to be put on hold and I agreed. After several minutes, he came back and said he was going to transfer me to a department that I could not understand the name of even after I had asked him to repeat it several times.I finally said ok – transfer me. That department’s number rang and a recorded voice said “we are not here now, sorry” and the line disconnected. I now am trying to get a payoff balance to end this misery.
December 28th, 2007 at 9:38 am
Sharon adds this Comment:
I thought we were the only ones. I changed Ins. companies and Citimortgage took out Ins. even though I didn’t need it. I personally faxed to them 17 times my coverage, as did my new ins. company. I have spent hours and hours on the phone, faxing to multiple people and numbers to no avail. They continue to say I owe $3700 for insurance, despite that I have given them proof that I have coverage. They state it is my fault they did not receive coverage proof timely and so I still owe the $$. I too have had to ask for the supervisors each time, to no avail. The “research” into my complaint is that I owe the $$. ABN Amro sold me out to Citimortgage and nothing but problems since then! I have been transferred so many times I lost count. I have been hung up on. They drafted too much money, causing me to have an overdraft on my account, etc. Does it ever end! I can not find the information to complain to any leadership or administrative position at Citimortgage. Having read this I wonder would it even do any good? I am considering legal counsel! I can’t even get someone that speaks English when I call the “customer Service” (what a joke that is) phone #. ANy suggesstions or anythgin that has worked for you? Any contact information for a perosn with some common sense at Citimortgage?
January 8th, 2008 at 3:10 pm
Muriel adds this Comment:
I’m another one who’s mortgage company, ABN AMRO, merged with Citimortgage. They are HORRIBLE! From day one they never had our payment right. My husband had to tell them our taxes were paid 2X a year because they lowered our escrow payment to $36.00 when it should be more like $400.00. Now, Merry Christmas to us, they send us a letter telling us we’re over $2,000.00 in deficit in our escrow. Come to find out it’s because instead of paying our taxes like the escrow was set up to do, 2x a year, in October they payed November 2007 and May 2008’s payments at one time. So instead of taking out about $1,800.00 they took out over $3,000.00. When we called they tried to say we always paid our taxes once a year and we had better call our old mortgage company because that was the records they got from them. We did and low and behold, our old mortgage company IS Citimortgage because they merged. So anyway, we proved it’s always been 2X a year and the next brilliant scheme from them was that they would have to research it to see if they could put the money back into our escrow and for us to call back on 10 January. Now they say “too bad, it’s our policy to pay taxes once a year”. So kind of them to give us the choice of paying the lump sum of app. $2,500.00 now or spread it out and increase our already sky high mortgage payment another $200.00. Is this fair? If our escrow was set up to pay the taxes twice a year can they pay them once a year? Please help!! Anyone have any numbers, address, anything that is more current than those posted earlier?
January 10th, 2008 at 5:45 pm
Bsmith adds this Comment:
Wow! am i amazed to find this site, and equally not suprised. I actually was a previous CitiMortgage employee who worked in customer service as a supervisor for two years. While i do not want to disclose any negativity that could cause legal issues on my part i would like to offer anyone advise as i know the anwsers to many of theese questions very well (legally that is) One problem first off is that being a large company the entities of the departments are spread state to state and as many of you have discovered in India aswell. The tax and insurance departments are not even Citi owned companies they are seperate companies contracted to pay taxes and insurance for Citi and other large Mortgage companies. One problem off the bat with that is if you call customer service to ask if they got anything in theese departments they wouldnt know as they have seperate systems. Ways around issues Tax/insurance issues 1. ask for a supervisor they can call the tax department (First American) or the insurance department (assurant) directly and even conference if you wish also all supervisors have a direct fax and contact # so they can relay info for you and you can stay in touch with them directly if needed rather than 13 different people. ESCROw issues. With escrow unfortuanatley there are many issues that can come into play and can be a fualt of anyone from title companies to your local tax office to the mortgage company. If you face a increase that you cannot afford to pay ask for a supervisor and ask about a program called Escrow hardship. What happens with escrow hardship is the increased portion you owe back spread over 12 months can be divided up to 48 months (4 years) to help ease the burden (no intrest by the way if your wondering) If all else fails and your issue is ongoing then: Ask for the contact Information for the Executive Unit. (This go’s to the presidental dept in O’Fallon Missouri) Unfortuantley there is no fax or Phone # initially only a mailing addy. Once you write however within 2 weeks your account will be marked with an excutive unit code and you will be provided with a number to the executive unit rep directly. (this department is a small number of highly trained individuals and will resolve your issue) I hope this helps somewhat
January 14th, 2008 at 5:32 am
Bsmith adds this Comment:
p.s. i will check back at this site to see if there any other questions that pop up that i may be able to offer any knowledgable advice on.
January 14th, 2008 at 5:43 am
dave adds this Comment:
Maybe you can help on this issue Bsmith:
My problem has been that they will not cancel my PMI. I have lived in my house 4 years and basically make double payments per month. I am now at 75% Loan-to-value compared to the original price of the house and have not had any late payments. I was told multiple times on the phone that they would not cancel my PMI without paying an added fee for their professional appraisal of my house. I’ve heard reports that these appraisers tend to side with Citi and lowball your home appraisal. I would be out several hundred dollars and still paying for PMI, not what I’m looking for at all… According to the Homeowners Protection Act they are required to cancel PMI at 78% LTV, but they state they do not abide by this law. Funny thing is when I logged onto their website and looked up PMI cancellation it said PMI would be cancelled at 78% LTV! I’ve written letters (actually including copies of this law and their website page), made phone calls, talked to supervisors and gotten nowhere. Everywhere I look on the internet it says that PMI cancellation should not be this difficult. Have you dealt with PMI cancellation when you were at Citi and how is it that they can circumvent the law regarding PMI?
January 18th, 2008 at 9:34 pm
Shay adds this Comment:
Hello BSmith..
I have more of an problem. Citimortgage is trying to foreclose on my home even though I have made payments. No one seems to know where the money had been applied.. I even have proof of every payment that I have ever sent them– who would I need to contact to get this cleared up- thanks
January 22nd, 2008 at 9:12 am
bsmith adds this Comment:
reply to dave on PMI: PMI is based on the investor of your loan most are backed by the bank themselves, fannie mae or freddie mac and all have 3 criteria. 1 loan is 2 years old 2. no 30 day lates in last 12 months 3. 78% ltv ltv is calcualted by taking the original loan amount (not appraised amount) and times that by .78 (example a $150000 loan times .78 = 117000) that is your LTV. if your principal balance is anything above that you would need an appraiser and citi onlt uses citi approved ones. If you are below they required amount call ask for a supervisor if the get you nowhere ask for the excutive unit mailing addy send a letter it may help to include RESPA (real estate protection act guideline info) theese are the laws that govern the process tyou can google them. hey would be hard pressed to deny your claim. One side note please don’t confuse PMI with MIP MIP is an insurance on HUD backed and an VA loans (if your loan is government backed) their guidelines are much stricter and based on when loan originated and how much money you put down LTV is set for a specific term ranging from 5 years to the life of the loan
January 23rd, 2008 at 12:58 pm
bsmith adds this Comment:
hi shay, yes that is a tough perdiciment. firstly in order to foreclose you need to be 90 days past due, and they would send notices. proof of missing payments can be procurred in multiple ways if you sent checks. every check is scanned in the lock box before being shredded. if you do not have check copies call ask for a supervisor they can pull up a system called PIA or check imaging and using your check amount routing numbers and specific dates locate a copy of the check wich will show what account funds went to. if you send paymnt electronically via online banking a bank statement dose not really help because it only shows transfer to citimortgage not where funds went ask your bank to fax what is called a transmittal transaction copy to payment research 301-696-5431(reference your account #) and ask them to locate funds remove any fees and reverse any negative credit reporting.
January 23rd, 2008 at 1:07 pm
Jon adds this Comment:
I tried all the 800 numbers and the number 301-696-4000 NO ONE PICKS UP. How do I get a hold of somone at citi mortgage ????
Been on hold for over 10 hours in 2 days! NO ONE IS PICKING UP THE PHONE. BAD CUSTOMER SERVICE!
January 23rd, 2008 at 1:49 pm
bsmith adds this Comment:
jon the only active number to citimortgage customer service is 1-800-283-7918 it is open m-f 8 a.m. to12 a.m eastern. the 301-696-5431 number is a fax to account inquiries in maryland. unfortuantly you are subject to hold times, but that amount of time is outragous
January 23rd, 2008 at 8:52 pm
va adds this Comment:
What a freakin joke. Why is it that customer service is getting worse and worse in the us? don’t they realize that you are paying them hundreds of thousands in interest?
January 24th, 2008 at 8:47 pm
Gene adds this Comment:
I am extreamly concerned about what I have read on this site. I just refinanced my mortgage and I learned that the loan is being sold to Citimortgage.
Does anyone have any tips for proactively trying to combat Citimortgage’s tactics, or should I just hire a lawyer now?
The escrow payments for taxes and insurance are spelled out in the loan papers. And if I set up an automatic payment through my bank, will that alleviate most of the problems? I use Bank of America and they say if I use their billpay and a payment is considered late, that they would pay the late fees. I imagine that they would get to the bottom of the problem if Citimortgage tried to pull that with them.
What else should I be watching out for?
January 25th, 2008 at 7:09 am
bsmith adds this Comment:
Gene , an automatic bill pay service through your bank is smart and you always have a 15 day leeway with making a payment per the mortgage document. If your payment is due on the 1st you have until the 15th of the month. One thing i would advise is with the Escrow especially if your loan is less than a year old. There is a form from closing titled HUD-1 settlement statement and it (is) looks like an itemized bill this was set up by your title company. in the 1000 section of this document you will see reserves deposited with lender namely hazard insurance and taxes. the montly amount is how much they collect for escrow, make sure it is enough. It is common in the first year of a loan for this too be off because the title company is not always certian of the areas tax amounts. IF your loan is a newly built property especially make sure they are collecting more than just land tax because this will cause a massive back bill later. Mortgage companies adjust escrow once a year based on state and send you a notice of any increase in paymnt 2 months in advance. Watch for your tax bill in the mail and compare to your hud-1 statement or call Citi to find out in advance if you have enough so there are no suprises. Other than that you should be ok.
January 25th, 2008 at 9:19 am
Gene adds this Comment:
Thanks for the information, bsmith. My house is 20 years old, so the tax information does include the whole property already. The amount just went up this past year and the new number is reflected in the paperwork. The escrow amounts in the 1000 section look accurate. There shouldn’t be any surprises there.
I’ll set up the bill pay and keep my fingers crossed.
Thanks again,
Gene
January 25th, 2008 at 2:27 pm
Teri adds this Comment:
Would anyone care to file a class action lawsuit against CitiMortgage with me?
It was a fluke that I found this blog. I did a CitiMortgage search in Google and it popped up on the first page.
CitiMortgage is trying to put the screws to me as a result of an error that THEY made when they paid my property taxes in error. (My taxes had already been withheld and paid by the title company during COE. CitiMortgage bought my loan around the same time the tax bills came out, but didn’t bother to check to see if they had already been paid.)
I spent half a day last November trying to find out why CitiMortgage hiked my mortgage payment up another $143.52 for “taxes” above and beyond what they were already collecting from me.
When I discovered what they did, I found out and informed CitiMortgage how to get their money back from the Tax Collector right away, instead of coming after me for the impound deficit they created to my account. I even gave them the fax number and the contact name just in case they had any questions.
They didn’t even bother trying to contact the Tax Collector to resolve their error. Instead they ignored the information I gave them and continued to add $143.53 onto my monthly impound account amount.
When I paid what I actually owed (not including the $143.53 that they starting charging “over and above” my payment), they applied my mortgage payment to an “Unapplied Funds” account and added a $55.46 late payment even though my payment wasn’t late.
I’ve wrote them a very condescending letter today, after I waited 35 minutes to talk to customer service rep. The customer service rep asked me if I wanted to speak with her supervisor – when I said I did, I was placed on hold until a busy signal beeped and my call was disconnected.
The Tax Collector is going to send me a check for the taxes that CitiMortgage paid in error – since CitiMortgage hasn’t tried to get their money back – then I have to reimburse CitiMortgage.
But, that doesn’t resolve the additional late charges they’re applying to my account because they won’t accept my “real” mortgage payment.
These people are really SICK!
This company needs to clean up its act. They are hurting a ton of us “customers”.
The employees don’t give a hoot nor a holler as they’re the ones who are creating all this insanity.
January 28th, 2008 at 6:14 pm
Teresa adds this Comment:
My mortgage was recently bought by CitiMortgage. Before I go further, let me say that my husband and I have a great payment history on mortgage: always early, etc. CitiMortgage insists on working on the invoice system, whereas my past mortgage companies gave us coupon booklets. We didn’t get an invoice from them in December and missed making the payment. We didn’t realize it until we starting getting these computer generated messages saying to enter the last four digits of our SS# to hear the informtion. We thought someone was trying to sell us a credit card. I finally did as they said b/c they were so persistant. That is how we found we were late. I called them the next day and worked out a deal: I would pay two payments to have them waive the late fee. I held up my end of the bargain, but they didn’t. I have been recieving notices and even a letter form a credit manager saying it would be there until we paid it. Another issue was that my inoices came just days before my payment was due. When I complained about that I was told to pay in the grace period or send a check with an account no, on it before I received the invoice. I won’t do that. My husband is ready to refinance the loan just to get rid of them. I am calling them again today, to see if there is anything else I can do to get all of this worked out.
February 4th, 2008 at 8:00 am
Gene adds this Comment:
bsmith,
Another question:
My mortgage funded on 1/28, and I have been trying ever since to signup online so I can keep tabs on my account. I haven’t been able to sign up yet. How long should this take? I fill out all the info on the screen and then a page comes up that says the site is temporarily unavailable.
Any suggestions?
Gene
February 5th, 2008 at 12:21 am
Pete adds this Comment:
Does anyone have the address of the new ceo Bill Beckman???
February 14th, 2008 at 6:39 pm
Teri adds this Comment:
Thank you bsmith. You gave us excellent advice when you told us to contact the Executive Unit. (I’m not sure if I would bother the Executive Unit about setting up online payments, however.)
I had been experiencing a nightmare ever since 11/28/07 – when CitiMortgage bought my loan. But this morning I talked with a wonderful lady in the Executive Unit at:
CitiMortgage
1000 Technology Drive
O’Fallen, MO 63368-2240
phone #: 1-636-261-7200 or 1-800-695-0384
This wonderful woman had a gentle voice and a willingness to HELP me. She straightened out my account immediately. This was a 180 turn around from my past experiences – no one before her would do ANYTHING to help straighten out the mess that the escrow department made to my account.
It’s sad that the Executive Unit is having to do all the other department’s work – expecially the incompetent escrow department who refused to take responsibility and lied to me – twice.
I informed the Executive Unit about this Blog. They need to know how their customers are being treated by the various departments.
Anyway, good luck to all of you out there.
February 15th, 2008 at 10:05 am
Teri adds this Comment:
Teresa, I would think twice about refinancing your loan as CitiMortgage can just buy it up again.
I called my mortgage lender about refinancing in order to get away from CitiMortgage, also. My lender told me that he has heard many, many complaints about CitiMortgage, but explained that there is no guarantee that they wouldn’t get my new loan too. Call or write to the Executive Unit at one of the numbers I posted above.
I am hoping that the Executive Unit will perform an investigation and find a way to dispose of those employees who are not willing to listen and work with CitiMortgage’s customers.
February 15th, 2008 at 10:39 am
Dave adds this Comment:
I had a problem with my account number being changed on a three year old loan, with Citimortgage taking over the payments from Citibanc. After utilizing the published 1-800 numbers and talking to 10 different people in ten different countries, and getting ten different answers, I got ahold of CitiMortgage at 1-800-695-0384, and finally got someone competent who did not want to transfer me or make me jump through hoops to resolve my problem.
February 20th, 2008 at 7:11 am
Rob adds this Comment:
I had a chapter 13 BK 4 years ago, just dismissed on 11/09/2007 when I found out Citi had not credited my account for 2 payment made by the BK trustee. They aslo asessed 32 late fees to my account without ever telling me. i sent in all of the court docs showing the chck dates and amount and when cit actually cashed them and they still wont credit my account. tried everything with them, they simply wont respond. Contacted my attorney, he said this is common practice for them, this is how they make extra money hoping you will give up go away or just pay. Filing a motion to re open BK, file suit against Citi for fraud and violation of the BK laws. they are terrible, every word out of their mouth was a lie in order to drag it out. Beware!!
February 21st, 2008 at 7:10 pm
Patrick Stuart adds this Comment:
Wow. Sorry for the late reply and not reading everyone’s accounts, but what a similar story. We had hail damage back in October of 2006, and the contractor finally finished in January of 2008. Now we’re dealing with Citimortgage.
I thought the insurance company (Nationwide) might cause some problems, but they’ve been great. Citimortgage, on the other hand, has screwed things up from the beginning. Because Citimortgage still holds the loan, all damages have to go through them. The final check was cut and sent(they’re holding over $24,000), and they’ve still managed to mess things up. Despite my sending a letter that documented exactly what they still needed to do. I just typed in a search for their loss/draft department (to get some forms to refill since they’ve lost my old copies) and this site came up first. Amazing. I’ve read some of the replies and it’s appalling.
All Citimortgage has to do is release the final payment for our contractor. We turned in the forms requested by them, and now we’re on our third representative. Our situation is nowhere as bad as some of the scenarios here. But I’m keeping my fingers crossed. Funny. Earlier this week a colleague and I were talking about CEOs and business managers who seemed to get rewarded for being horrible at their jobs. It explains where all the bogus late fees, etc. are going.
February 24th, 2008 at 7:11 pm
Stephanie adds this Comment:
I am having a similiar problem Rob. 3 months of payments were “lost” by the bankruptcy dept. They will only take money orders so I have to contact moneygram for the front and back of the check. The worst part is that MY 2600 hundred dollars was credited to someone elses account because the lady from bankrupcty told me so and said she would fix it. She of course hasn’t and won’t return my phone calls and I have left her 4 messages over the last week. I am going to try and call some of the contact numbers listed on the site because I am getting nowhere on the 1800 number.
February 26th, 2008 at 10:31 pm
kristy adds this Comment:
citimortage is the worst company that I have ever had to deal with. They have been losing my payments since October 2007 and now I foreclosure letters every other day. I have sent information from my bank to payment research and all I get back is that my bank statement is not enough information. Well that does not make sense to me since it cleary shows that it went to citimortgage. I have talked to so many people at that company that have no idea what they are doing. AHHHH. Very Frustrated
Kristy
February 27th, 2008 at 2:40 pm
kristy adds this Comment:
Bill Beckham’s office good luck getting him on the line. 636-261-2383
February 27th, 2008 at 2:50 pm
Spencer adds this Comment:
Bill Beckmann
President & Chief Operating Officer
CitiMortgage
Global Consumer Group
1000 Technology Drive
O’Fallon, MO 63368-2240
Phone: (636) 261-2484
February 28th, 2008 at 12:09 pm
kaye adds this Comment:
I have three accounts with citimortgage. Afew years back they credited all three of my monthly payments to one account and turned the other 2 accounts in to the credit bur as delinquent. I made several phone calls and every month they told me they saw the error and they would correct it. This went on for months. I finally hired an attorney who wrote a letter. I ended up with bad credit for months, higher interest rates on other accounts, as a result. They finally did get it corrected after about 6 months and a lot of frustration and money out of my pocket. NOW, I just discovered that they have done it AGAIN. I would not recommend that anyone stay with this incompetent company if they can get away from them. The havoc they will reap on you is as bad as identity theft. Some attorney should pich this up and file a class action law suit.
Kaye
February 29th, 2008 at 12:40 pm
bsmith adds this Comment:
Gene,
Sorry for delay as i havn’t been checking this site reguarily. but if your question has not already been anwsered. You should have acess to the website once youre account is active on the system.
Some loans do not have web acess due to their complexity IE: piggyback loans, but this is rare. If you have filed bankruptcy and not reaffirmed then thay will also block acess. the reason for this is by law they cannot send anything that can be viewed as trying to collect a debt (bill) and the website with it’s payment alerts doese just that.
If niether of these scenarios apply to you , then call customer service and ask a rep to walk through the process with you. If you prefer (or get no progress) ask for a supervisor who can submit a form with your phone # to the IT department for assistance. You should get a call back from them within 24-48 hours.
March 21st, 2008 at 3:31 pm
John adds this Comment:
If you’re experiencing problems with Citi Mortgage, trust me, and call Mr. Beckmann’s office – hang up with that customer serive department runaround right now!
You’ll be transferred but that’s ok, the person you’ll be speaking with should be competent. I’ve been trying to PAY OFF my mortgage since November, and finally it feels I’ll have a resolution to all this.
To the individual that posted Beckmann’s office info: Thank you VERY, VERY much.
-John
March 25th, 2008 at 8:06 am
Joe Tomlinson adds this Comment:
March 29, 2008
Bill Beckmann
President & Chief Operating Officer
CitiMortgage
Global Consumer Group
1000 Technology Drive
O’Fallon, MO 63368-2240
Phone: (636) 261-2484 Re: Loan Account #: 0643085414-8
Dear Mr. Beckmann:
I may be writing this letter in vain, but I hope not. I have spent several years in Human Resource development and conducted many seminars in customer service, and have to admit that the way the following situation was handled with me and my CitiMortgage home loan was frustrating, dehumanizing and fraught with poor administrative judgement and control.
Your organization sent me the enclosed letter (dated 3/20/08) stating that “your tax service” had checked the county tax records and found that I was delinquent in paying my 2006 real estate taxes. I would like to discuss in detail below the unprofessional details of your search, the customer service (over the telephone) that I did not receive, the mistakes “your tax service” made, and the anger that developed in me as a result of trying to straighten this mess out that your letter assumed. Let me consider the details one by one:
1. The letter of 3/20/08 and its tone and mistaken information.
2. My history (both credit and payment) which obviously did not matter and wasn’t checked.
3. My attempt in calling your customer service representatives who were about as useful and helpful as one police officer at a thieves’ convention.
4. My research with the Champaign County Recorder, my tax payment records, and excellent customer service I received there.
5. My evidence of payment and final observations about a company to big to care about the individual and/or getting things right.
#1: The CitiMortgage letter of 3/20/08: When I received the letter (enclosed) and read the first paragraph, I wasn’t that concerned about proving that I in fact did not owe any taxes and had paid in a timely fashion. What really sent me into a rage was the “tone” of the later and the implied threats. This is a letter that I would write someone when they obviously were in arrears or were not going to pay the debt. Your company’s letter made me feel like a deadbeat, which if any of your “trained” tax service” employees had done their research, would have learned that my credit (792) and payment history are excellent. Statements like “If we do not receive evidence of payment, you will be in default under the terms of your mortgage.”, “If proof of payment is not received, CitiMortgage may elect to advance payment of these delinquent taxes on your mortgage account.”, “All tax penalties and interest will also be assessed to your account.” or “If an escrow account is established, your monthly payments will increase to cover the payment advanced for delinquent taxes, as well as the new monthly tax escrow collection.”
If your intent was to frighten me into action, you did just the opposite. Your letter angered me so that I checked with local bankers, attorneys and county officers to verify my rights in this mess before proceeding. First of all, “your tax service” evidently researched my records online and did not call the Champaign County Tax Collector to verify the information. “Your tax service” made an egregious error by indicating that my Parcel Number was 41-20-09-105-066 instead of 41-20-09-067. Once that initial error was made, one assumption after another followed through the letter and with your Customer Service personnel in India or wherever.
My point is that I would hope that I never accuse someone of something until I had done my research and had the accurate information or facts. Even then, I would give them benefit of some doubt before conviction to allow them to prove their innocence. I realize that loan defaults and foreclosures are at an all time high, but there are some of us out here who do it RIGHT, pay our bills and taxes on time and build for our retirement. But “your tax service” personnel were not interested in a person who does it right, they just assumed, made a BIG mistake, and got it wrong.
#2: My Credit and Payment History: I alluded to this information in #1 above, but research would have shown that I have never defaulted on any payment (loan, taxes or otherwise) in my 30 some years of owning a home or borrowing money for other items. It seems to me that CitiMortgage personnel are not at all interested in the individual during this time of crisis in the mortgage loan industry; rather you are interested in getting your money, closing the deal, or assuming information that is not true. In my line as an HR Consultant, I conduct many mediations and hearings, and I never assume the initial information is true until I have all of the facts in and heard the testimony from both sides. I never got that chance. My guilt was locked with your “tax service personnel” and sent in the form of the offensive and erroneous letter I received from your Escrow Administration.
#3: CitiMortgage Customer Service Representatives: Before I faxed or sent anything to support my innocence, I decided to call 1-800-283-7918 just to see if I could talk to someone who might understand, do some research on my account and the Champaign County Tax Records, and really help me so that it could be cleared up without the situation in which I find myself. I should have known (based on other experiences with other companies and their call centers) that I would be dealing with someone in a foreign land who had difficulty speaking English and understanding what I was trying to say. All I received was the company line, “Mr. Tomlinson (couldn’t even pronounce or say my name correctly) you will have to follow the directions in the letter and wait 30 days for a response or outcome. I asked for a supervisor who did come on, speak a little better English, but was unable to deal with me as a person or direct me to somebody who could. Outsourcing is great for you, but bad for the customer like me who believes that each client is a person who deserves the utmost in service from me. I received that from the employees and personnel (Sarah) at the Champaign County Tax Office.
#4: Champaign County Tax Collectors Office: I realize that the tax collectors office may not be as big as your company, but they do serve over 200,000 tax payers in our Illinois County. It is a matter of choice. An organization or company can choose to give clients or customers excellence customer service or average to below average customer service and hope for the best. I recommend that your HR department and leadership strongly consider “FISH” training that originated in Seattle, Washington at the Pike Place Fish Market and has spread world wide as one of the top training programs for customer service and work force development. Companies such as Microsoft, Discover Card, and Southwestern Airlines have found the “FISH” training to be very beneficial in improving the attitude, productivity and growth of their employees and companies.
When I called the Champaign County Tax Collectors’ Office, a lady named “Sarah” took my call in stride recognizing that I was very frustrated and angry. She put aside everything else to help me research the problem finding that I had paid my taxes on time, and that no one from the CitiMortgage tax service had called to find out the truth or the mistake. I submit to you that “Sarah” was probably just as busy in her own right as any of your employees and could have “put me off” just as your customer service agents did; but she didn’t. My entire attitude changed after talking and working with “Sarah”. She found: the dates of payment, the error in the Parcel Number, and indicated that no one from CitiMortgage had talked to them about my suggested default. She was nice, efficient, and made me feel like a worthy individual which was not how I felt dialing the CitiMortgage “800” number. “Sarah” even stated that she would fax her findings to CitiMortgage, and send a copy of the fax to me. Wow! Can you imagine how that can change one’s attitude; because I was ready to also yell and scream at her.
#5: My Observations of CitiMortgage: I don’t think I need to go into to much detail here about my feelings at this point about your company, except to say that because you are big doesn’t mean that you still can’t care and serve the individual. I worked in a large organization as a Human Resource Administrator, and I know that there are people who may be deadbeats and like to play games to put off the inevitable. I also know that it was my job to find out the difference and give each a fair chance to prove their worth (or lack thereof) before assuming or making a final decision about their future. A one-number mistake “066” instead of “067” on my Parcel Number, the tone of the 3/20/08 letter, and my dealings with your customer service representatives have caused all of this consternation, anger, and frustration on my part. If I were to sell my property today, buy somewhere else, and consider loan companies; CitiMortgage would not be given any consideration even if your rate was much cheaper.
I have included additional copies of the following:
1. CitiMortgage Letter of 3/20/08 from Escrow Administration.
2. A copy of my fax cover letter to CitiMortgage Escrow Administration.
3. A copy of my monthly CitiMortgage Account Statement dated 3/07/08.
4. A copy of my 2006 Real Estate Tax Statement showing my Parcel Number as 41-20-09-105-067 instead of 41-20-09-105-66 as stated in the CitiMortgage letter of 3/20/08.
5. A copy (front and back) of my canceled check #2890 for the first installment of real estate taxes payment dated May 27, 2007.
6. A copy (front and back) of my canceled check #2950 for the second installment of real estate taxes payment dated September 1, 2007.
In closing, I don’t expect nor ask for a reply to this letter. I do, however, hope that somewhere in the information above the CitiMortgage leadership will understand why I chose to write the letter and hope that you do consider changing some things to help your customers in the future.
March 29th, 2008 at 1:13 pm
chris adds this Comment:
I am so thankful to whoever posted Bill Beckmanns office phone #, I have been dealing with this company for months now getting nowhere with it. I FINALLY got a hold of the sweetest lady at the 1-636-261-2383 number. No one in customer service will help you so don’t waste your time. This lady so far is taking care of my problem which is a first since last year that anyone has actually helped me, I will keep posting, but I would suggest if you are having problems to try this #, it actually works but after all I have read I’m still not convinced that my problems will not continue, this office had no idea what was going on. Scary that our homes are on the line for a bunch of inconsiderate people.
March 31st, 2008 at 3:15 pm
Lorraine adds this Comment:
The lady is extremely nice. Her name is Kim – God bless her. I have issues with citibank escrow account after my mortgage was sold to them by ABN Amro. I’m looking for a positive outcome but if I have to choose a lender in the future, it will NOT certainly be Citibank Mortgage. It has been a very frustrating journey and very painful experience dealing with Citibank in general.
April 1st, 2008 at 9:56 am
Deb adds this Comment:
I had the same problem as John Brantley. My mortgage was bought by CitiMortgage and they took out a payment as a direct withdrawal as well as telling me to send a check. I was overdrawn all over town and had to pay $32 per overdraft. All they could say was “sorry”. They would not pay for the charges nor would they credit back one of the payments.
Other than that, I haven’t had too much trouble. Isn’t that enough?
April 1st, 2008 at 12:25 pm
Darlene adds this Comment:
Thanks for the number to Mr. Beckmann’s office. I called today to get a status on a payoff that the title company sent via wire to Citi on 2/29/08. Customer service opened a research record to investigate. the Title company provided info to Citi to prove that it hit Citi’s system(Fed Reserve transaction #). I’ve been chasing this since early March when I started receiving calls and letters that I had not paid the mortgage. The nice lady I spoke with today, locked my record to to prevent credit reporting, and has placed the case in Presidential query status and informed me that she needed a week to resolve and not to worry. They do not see the information that customer service sees when you place a call. I will update you with the final results.
April 7th, 2008 at 6:31 am
Darlene adds this Comment:
The wire was finally found and applied to my account. Seems that there was some issue with an extra zero on the Citi side. However, the Title company obtained a “full trace” of the transaction (3 pages) from their bank and once Citi got that info it took 2 days to resolve. The money had been applied to someone else’s account! I actually received a call from Citi to provide me with the status.So the number to Mr. Beckmann’s office resolved my issue.
April 11th, 2008 at 8:50 am
Nebraska Resident adds this Comment:
I am sorry to hear of all the concerns. I can say, I send my payment 1 week in advance every month, and I have yet to run into a problem. I say this only to share that it is not ALWAYS bad, however after reading this it does concern me!!!!I have been in my home now for 19 months and my home was sold to citi before I even made my 1st payment! I financed 100% so I understand the PMI however we have put a SIGNIFICANT amount of money into the home and I am ready to have it removed. Any suggestions???
April 26th, 2008 at 7:23 am
Chris adds this Comment:
Ok, I got my loan all taken care of and reinstated after the mess up was not my fault to begin with, thanks to kim in Mr. Beckmanns office. I thought everything was ok, but I knew the problems wouldn’t stop. Customer service keeps calling me saying I owe
$7,000.00 and that my home is in foreclosure ugghh!! Which it’s not, I’m so frustrated, I called Kim back she’s so sweet but I feel bad she’ s running the whole company by herself because customer service is a damn mess! SO I suggest if you do get your problems cleared up don’t think it will stop, it doesn’t, these people have ruined my credit but as soon as I get it back up again I am refinancing with someone else. If you do have good credit still and your problems are just starting with them I suggest you REFINANCE NOW! These people are a nightmare, they have turned my life upside down for the last year… it’s not fun and I’ve had it! Something MUST be done soon, how can this all be legal? I would definately like to talk to an attourney about it when I get time, this is not right with the economy the way it is you’d think they would work with the ones who are trying instead of pull this crap! They are losing money big time, I don’t know why they don’t see it.
April 30th, 2008 at 2:55 pm
SB Smith adds this Comment:
I think I’d rather have a mortgage loan from the mob…..they’d act more professional.
May 15th, 2008 at 11:38 pm
JM Friend adds this Comment:
January 3, 2008 – In a conversation with my original lender that occurred at approximately 10:09 AM and lasted approximately 6 minutes, I informed them that I had been forced to close my retail business on very short notice just before Christmas and although their January payment had already been mailed, I wasn’t sure if I would be able to continue making the payments beginning in February. I explained that the closing of the store left me temporarily without much income and that I was going to attempt to sell the store inventory which I had to put into storage. I was told not to worry and that they would work with me if it became a problem. They told me to give them a call and let them know how things were going later in the month. This was the entire scope of the conversation.
January 10, 2008 – I received a letter from CitiMortgage telling me that they would be “servicing” my loan effective February 1, 2008.
January 11, 2008 – In a conversation with CitiMortgage that occurred at approximately 2:47 PM and lasted approximately 6 minutes, I informed them that I had notified my original lender that I had been forced to close my retail business on very short notice just before Christmas and although the January payment had been made, I had not been able to replace my loss of income as of yet and that I would not be able to continue making the payments beginning in February. I explained that the closing of the store left me virtually without any income and that I was going to trying to sell the store inventory which I had to put into storage. I further explained that I had a job offering that would require me to leave the area for extended periods but wanted to get the issue with the house resolved before I accepted the job and in order to expedite this, I was willing to give up the house by immediately signing a Warranty deed for the property in lieu of having to go through a foreclosure proceeding. My intent was to make the loss as quick and painless as possible while trying to keep my credit relatively in tact while I moved on. I was told that they couldn’t discuss that or any other options that may be available to resolve the problem until the loan was 90 days past due and if the house had been listed on the market with no activity for over 90 days. When I questioned this mentality I was told that that was the way they had to do things. I told them that I would be sending a follow-up letter that would confirm my willingness to resolve this issue quickly by deeding over the house in lieu of foreclosure so that I could get on with my life.
January 12-14, 2008 – Over the weekend I composed a letter to CitiMortgage explaining the entire situation again and informed them of my desire to get this situation resolved quickly. That letter was mailed to them on January 14, 2008.
January 31, 2008 – House was listed with a Realtor as requested by CitiMortgage in order that options could be explored after it had been on the market for 90 days. This listing expires on October 31, 2008.
March 6, 2008 – I was contacted by a Greta who told me that she would be “the one” working on my file. I gave her the Realtor’s information while we spoke for about 15 minutes about the situation. She left me with the impression that something could be worked out but we had to wait until the account was 90 days past due and the house had been on the market for 90 days with no activity. She promised to get back with me with some answers for me on what could possibly be done after the 90 days elapsed.
April 9, 2008 – I received a default letter from CitiMortgage dated April 1, 2008
April 15, 2008 – After several attempts over almost a week, I finally made contact with Greta again who told me that the default letter was a formality and now that the 90 day timelines had been met, we could discuss options. I reiterated to her my situation again and she said she would work on it and get back to me “in a day or so” but in the meantime she wanted me to have the Realtor contact her so that he could be put in touch with the “Short Sale” department to see what could be worked out there. I told her that I was not comfortable with the pace at which things were getting done and she assured me that “something” could be worked out but that she had to do some looking into before she could say what.
April 16, 2008 – Made contact to let them know that I had spoken with the Realtor and that he had already tried to make contact with Greta several times and that she was never available and did not return several messages left for her to call him. I was advised by this representative that the CS representatives were not “allowed” to contact the Realtor and that the Realtor HAD to contact them in order to be connected to the short sale department. I was assured that someone would look into it and get back to me.
April 18, 2008 – Attempted to make contact but was unsuccessful. Left message for Greta to call me.
April 21, 2008 – Made contact with Greta and we discussed the situation AGAIN. I again explained that I was lucky to still have the new job waiting for me and was getting increasingly impatient that things weren’t getting resolved. I asked her about contacting the Realtor and she told me that she was not “allowed” to contact the Realtor and that he had to contact her. I told her that he had tried and left several messages for her to call him back and she replied that he would just have to keep calling. I also told her that I never heard from any supervisor as they had promised me back in January. She assured me that they were doing everything they could to try to come up with a solution to the situation as fast as they could and she was SURE someone would be getting in touch with me soon about my options. She promised to call me in the next “day or so” and let me know what was going on.
April 25, 2008 – After getting disgusted with the whole mess, I decided to begin recording the conversations with CitiMortgage CS department. I made 4 attempts to do so and as soon as I advised whoever initially picked up the call that I was recording the conversation, I was immediately disconnected.
April 30, 2008 – Made contact with Greta. She said that “everything” was on hold while things were being worked out and that they really preferred to work things out rather than going to foreclosure especially because I had already agreed to sign the house over if necessary. She assured me that I was “worrying too much” and I told her that it was my neck on the line and not theirs. She promised me that someone would be making a decision on my options and she or they would be contacting me very soon to resolve the situation.
May 12, 2008 -7:30PM … Foreclosure papers were served – 7:46PM … Called and spoke with a CS representative (Greta was not available). She was rather rude and informed me that there was nothing that could be done and that there were no options available to me now because the foreclosure had already been filed. She said that they wouldn’t accept a deed in lieu of and when I asked her why she replied that “We can’t just let people sign their houses over to us when these things happen”. I said to her “No, but you don’t have a problem misleading people and dragging someone through a foreclosure making a bad situation worse for them when the result would be the same for you”. She told me that if I had sent “what I could” every month that they would have tried to work things out and I wouldn’t be facing the foreclosure and when I asked her how she could say that when I was told that the account had to be 90 days past due and on the market for 90 days with no activity before they could “discuss options” with me. She said that less than full payments would just get set aside and not applied to the loan while I would still be charged the late fees and other charges as well as being reported as past due. I was livid and demanded that I be able to speak to a supervisor. After being put on hold for several minutes I was informed that the supervisor “was busy” and that all she could do was send a message over for a supervisor to contact me. I hung up disgusted. – 9:08PM … After not receiving a call back, I called and spoke with another representative. She said that as she was reading over the notes she saw that other representatives had been giving me conflicting information about what was going on and apologized that I had been “misled” all this time. She ran some numbers and told me that I was upside down in my finances and the house because of the current market around here so a modification was not an option and that they would not accept a deed in lieu because I “didn’t qualify”. When I asked her why she said that she didn’t know or understand why but that there wasn’t anything they could do now because the foreclosure had already been filed. I proceeded to tell her exactly what I thought of their company and how they had done nothing but deceive me all along about what was going on because I feel that they really don’t give a damn about anything but making as much money as they can on my misfortune. She said she didn’t know what to tell me and again I asked to speak with a supervisor. She attempted (or so she said) to get a supervisor for me but none were available. She saw that the previous person I had talked with had sent a message for a supervisor to call me and said to give them a chance to call me back the next day.
I still haven’t heard back from anyone and I never did get a response to my “qualified” letter of January 14, 2008.
The actual foreclosure filing is another whole story in itself. It states in part that they have “lost” my note and are asking the court to just take their word for it that they own the note and have the right to foreclose. (The note has probably been sold as a security and CitiMortgage is possibly making thousands a month on my note through this avenue while they strive to make my life miserable). I have spoken with two attorneys today regarding my situation and both of them told me of many horror stories regarding CitiMortgage doing similar things to many people but nothing would be done about it until someone “with much deeper pockets than you or me” was willing to take them on in court and the courts make them stop. BOTH attorneys told me I was pretty much screwed because I would never be able to afford to fight them in order to get them to do the right thing. Personally, I think we may have a better chance of hell freezing over first.
May 16th, 2008 at 10:05 pm
Tricia Elting adds this Comment:
To any and all persons who have some fight in them.
As a result of CitiMortgages deliberate and malicious actions you have experienced depression, extreme stress, loss of opportunity, health problems due to the stress directly created by CitiMortgage failings,
To All entries of Frustration dealing with their CitiMortgage loans and the apparent company wide policy of CitiMortgage, to deliberately and with a clear agenda of malicious intent to, too many of the holders of a mortgage with Citi that have or are currently experiencing,
1) Created problems that never existed in the first place, such as payments not posted when your check has cleared your bank or being charged a forced pay for Homeowners Insurance when you were paid up for the entire year.
2) NO cooperation from any of the Citi Mortgage agents, at any level, to resolving the ‘created by Citi’ problem. In fact agents exacerbating the issue by engaging in a shouting match where you can’t get a word in edge wise or getting an agent that sounds like they will be helpful then later, never being able to get hold of them again no matter how many time you leave a message attempting to follow up.
3) Mishandling of payments, which result in extra fees, negative credit reports, even to the point of Foreclosure.
4) Fraudulently changing payment information, such as check by phone payment where another account is used resulting in your check bouncing.
5) Not receiving reimbursement for over payment, late fees, bounced check charges, attorneys fees, etc. due to CitiMortgage’s continuing deliberate malic
6) Destruction of Credit, and subsequent loss of monies due to an inability to say, refinance.
7) Failure by CitiMortgage to right all Reporting Agency information so credit worthiness can be reinstated.
Are you ready to fight back for what’s right? Don’t loose your home or if it’s too late, at the very least be paid back your losses?
First, to say that I am angry is not the point. I have been dealing with my mess with Citi ever since they bought my mortgage in July 2006 without so much as a, this is what’s going to happen.
Until December 2007 I felt lost until I ran across this blog. Thank you all for expressing your frustration. It made me feel human again in seeing proof of the unscrupulous doings by what most would consider a ‘Reputable Banking Company’.
If you’re truly interested in perusing this please contact me on this blog. I don’t know if you can post your e-mail addresses or phone numbers and will read the policies on this sight before doing so. In the mean while reply and comment to this message with your situation and interest and I will post my information as soon as I can read the policies.
If you reside in California I especially want to hear from you.
At the end my story there are some avenues you can take to get satisfaction. I hope you do the right thing for yourself and for those who have lost their voice because of intimidation.
My Story In a Big Nutshell,
In June of 2007 we were prepared to refinance our house, which would have saved us monthly about $500 to $600. Were shocked at the report form the Credit Reporting Agencies. Refinancing was not possible our friend and financial planner told us. When I told him of the changes in the mortgage lenders his remark was, “I hate CitiMortgage and stay away from it. We need to clean this up ASAP and get you out of there. But till it’s resolved we can’t do a thing. Get a lawyer. ”
1) We bought house in Feb. 2006 with my husband as sole mortgage holder as I have my own business and it would be too much of a hassle at the get go. Our intent was to refinance later when things settled down. Our mortgage lender wanted us to pay a full (1) one year of Homeowners Insurance upon the sale which we did and paid to Feb 2007 for the amount of $560.00 + or -
2) Mortgage was sold to 3 mortgage companies by July 2006 with Citi being the last and current loan holder.
3) Citi acquired our mortgage in July 2006. All payments were made in a CitiBank in Temecula, CA until January 2007
4) Feb. 2007 Payment was called in when I learned that a, ‘Forced Pay’ was added to our account since July of 2006 for Homeowners insurance to the tune of equal to our months mortgage payment about $2000.00. I went to the branch Citi Bank and spoke with a Loan Officer thinking I could straighten this out with little effort.
a. I then found out that from July 2006 to Feb 2007 our payments have been 30 days delinquent each and every month due to our payments being short the amount of forced pay. E.g.: (Regular mortgage payment of $200.00 Forced Pay of $10.00) (July payment of $200.00 is placed in an escrow account and sits there until the additional $10.00 for the forced pay in received. Being unaware of the Forced Pay at all my next payment in August would be received at Citi. Citi would then take out the $10 of my Aug. payment and apply it to the July payment on hold in escrow and post my July payment as paid but 30 days delinquent to the credit reporting agency. Now my August payment is lacking $20 ($10 taken for July and $10 not included for August), Subsequently, September was lacking $30, October $40 and so on till February 2007.
b. Why did I not know this each time I went into the CitiBank with my payment? Because it will not show on a CitiBank computer because they do not have any account information for CitiMortgage. We received NO notification in writing, e-mail, voice mail, by phone or in any other way about this until February when I called CitiMortgage to make payment. By then we were a total of 8 months of Forced Pay amounts leaching into our monthly payment to the tune of over $2000.00.
5) In talking to the Loan Officer at the CitiBank Branch with my insurance policy, check book, copies of bank statements, we could see that the mistake should be resolved but I was asked to make the forced payment this month so it wouldn’t go to a 30 day late and it should be put to rights by the next month. Leaving I profusely thanked the Loan Officer thinking, “well I’m glad that was caught now and taken care of and with the overpayment reimbursement I will have NO mortgage payment next month, ”. How great was that?
6) I went home and immediately paid our Homeowners insurance due again by months end and was now paid to Feb. 2008 with a big sigh of relief.
7) Over the course of the next 10 months our original Homeowners Insurance Company sent our policy to CitiMortgage 6 times showing that we had never lapped or had any claims. However we were still charged for additional ‘Citi Forced Pay Insurance’ until December of 2007, which I paid so our credit would be saved the reporting of late payment. Now I’m not only paying 2 Homeowners Policies but one that is 4 time more expensive than the other.
9) Also in June, my daughter announced her engagement. I knew that our finances had to be straightened out and now. Besides your house, and college tuition a wedding is the biggest ticket item you will ever encounter. As an event planning business owner I knew right off the bat just how much it would be costing. Refinancing would have been the ticket with the savings we would have on the mortgage payments and with the others contributing it would be a breeze. My last daughter to send down the isle at 30 and her fiancé of 34 had done it right up to now and being the Mother of the Bride and an event planner I was ready.
10) In the subsequent months I had never been so lost and alone directly because of CitiMortgages deliberate course of actions in purposely trying to confuse or acknowledge the evidence I presented, each month having to endure screaming matches with agents, not only not being able to refinance but, having our credit so messed up we couldn’t get credit anywhere. My husband began questioning my handling of the payments, I wouldn’t talk to anyone about the saturation because, ‘a bank would never do that’, or the eyebrows would go up. Know one could believe that this was going on for 10, 12, 14 months and the bank would let it go on and on.
11) Then, in October of 2007 a blessing in disguise happened. Typically I would pay our household bills from our Joint Checking Account but this month, because of wedding expenses taken from our joint checking, I decided to pay all our bills out of my Personal and Business Account which was on a completely separate number but from the same bank.
a. I got into the habit of making my payment by Automatic Check by Phone as I could document on each check as written the time, date, person, amount and confirmation number then a bank record when deducted and, to be even more paranoid, a phone record of the time I called. An event planner is big on backup.
b. Each check used to make payment would require me rattling off the Routing Number, Account Number and Check Number, which was done for about 8 bills from mortgage to utilities, etc…
c. After 2 or 3 days I could see the amount canceled on my bank records and satisfied for that month. All came in with out fail accept for CitiMortgage. Giving the benefit of the multitude of doubt I waited for a week. When it didn’t come in I new that they were up to no good.
d. About 4 weeks went by and an arrogant young snipe informed me that my check had bounced. With a balance to make several mortgage payments I informed him that this was impossible. After some minutes of his ranting he read off the confirmation number and the account number given. Both were correct as per the check I was now holding in my hand. He was so adamant about the check bouncing that I began to search the other four access account I have on this account number thinking it could possibly gone to the business account or holding, or savings shares. No nothing was recorded of a bounced check on any of my accounts not even the one I gave for payment. So I went into our Joint account with a completely separate access number and guess what, the check had been submitted twice and bounced twice. Thankfully it had come through after the other check for the wedding had cleared or there would have been another mess to deal with.
e. I informed him that CitiMortgage had taken it upon themselves to change the account number given to our Joint Account used in previous months payments.
His response was, “ We do not keep that information on record”.
My reply was, “of course you do you just read me the account number from the check I gave you but, it was submitted on our other account. If you didn’t change the number then who did? Can you explain how it happened if you don’t have record of the account?
Big Pause. . . Then I said, “I want a supervisor that can explain this deliberately fraudulent behavior, now.”
f. The supervisor came on and said, very politely, that this can be resolved and that they would have to go to their research department and would get back to me in a few days. Now I felt that there was some hard evidence.
12) By now we were due for the next month and needed to pay the previous months mortgage, which was done.
a. A few days later she came back and informed me we were still one month behind on payments and a new ball of wax was created. I just lost it. Thankfully my husband came home early as I was still loosing it on the phone and I told him to sit down and just listen as I turned the phone on to speaker and had my banking account up on my computer screen. I was done being questioned.
b. Unfortunately, his extensive expertise in negotiation wasn’t any more fruitful, however he had a very clear view about what has been going on.
13) Rightly or wrongly, I stopped paying the mortgage and demanded for the umpteenth time to have a history of charges and payment e-mailed or fax.
a. I was told again as I had in the past that they are not allowed to communicated via e-mail or fax and it would have to be sent. I requested it to be Fed Ex’ed and of course that was not possible. I will receive it in 7 – 10 working days. Well it has been months and I never receive anything from any agent, the research department nor could I access it on line.
14) The wedding was to be in March and all arrangement were made and confirmed with deposits and partial payment for months.
a. In this time from December 2007 to March 2008 the stress level was so great I didn’t think I would survive it.
i. I couldn’t talk to anyone, #1, I hate being questioned, #2, my husband had enough stress in his job and I always handled the finances and #3, my daughter was going to have this happy time remain just that, happy.
ii. My hands were tied to any credit possibilities and the balance I owed for the reception, in just a few weeks was about $12,000.00
b. With no solutions and only two weeks before the wedding I canceled arrangements made for the decorations, my gown was returned along with anything I could spare to conserve. Worse, I had to tell my daughter the situation. I wanted to die in seeing her happiness turn to devastated.
c. The next day we went to the bank to see how much of a loan we could take out under her name. They would only go up to $6,000.00.
i. Then, once again, I offered my car as collateral, which was paid in full, and in tears as I begged Camille, the bank officer, to look at it one more time she promised to do everything she could and would call me later.
ii. She was an angel as she got us a loan for the balance that was just a few weeks earlier rejected. She said due to our 20-year relationship I have had with this bank. This was just 9 days before the wedding.
d. If we were unsuccessful, the wedding would have had to be canceled.
i. The reception was to have full payment within 30 days before the event and they I had arranged a few events with them in the past and they had been very lenient with us up to this point.
ii. Several guests who had paid for airfares and hotels in advance would have had to be told.
iii. The previous deposits and payments to this point would have been lost due to a cancellation time line.
iv. A loss of thousands of dollars, the humiliations both personally and business and most important, what it would have done to my daughter.
15) From that time on I was a basket case. The trauma of it all is still very much with me, even now, more than 2 months later.
16) Event planners are like a bull in a china shop in that the mantra is, ‘anything less than perfection is not an option’. I have never had a situation where perfection, at least to the client, wasn’t achieved. Of course this was different as it was my daughter and nothing was to perfect for her. Typical Mom.
17) After the loan was approved I just shut down. I couldn’t function reliably and thank goodness for the bride and friends literally taking over, the wedding was beautiful. I had no dress but the wedding was lovely for everyone but me. I was so traumatized by the constant hitting my head against the blatantly deliberate stupidity of the agents with CitiMortgage.
a. About a month after the wedding my other daughter who lives in Houston called to let me know that CitiMortgage had contacted her saying that we were delinquent in the payments and couldn’t find my husband.
b. Two days after that my ex-husband that I have been divorced from for about 25 + years was contacted by CitiMortgage saying the same thing.
c. Why would they contact my ex-husband and daughter when I am not on the mortgage for one, and there contact information was never given at any time what so ever. They always had both my husband and my cell numbers, fax and e-mail that they could have contacted us at any time.
d. This was Defamation of Character at its lowest level with Malicious Intent. Why, because I was the one in their face.
18) After I stopped paying the mortgage I went looking for an attorney but no one would take on Citi without a huge retainer.
19) This changed me. I was incensed to think that more help and satisfaction would be readily give to a woman who spill her own coffee on herself than this issue of being screwed out of our home Cheats, Liars and Manipulators all with the go ahead of our government simply because they are afraid to do the right thing.
20) I just paid $6000.00 to Citi so the house would be safe and not in foreclosure. This even though Citi is in debt and the debt is now 16 months delinquent, on money owed to us by them.
21) Attorneys are a joke; there was one who was on this very blog, Stefanie F. Roemer – D.C. Attorney who I contacted for 2 months and several e-mails who I haven’t received an answer from to date.
22) I am in Southern California and would like to hear from you if you would like to go after CitiMortgage. My thinking is,
a. Citi, the government or anyone with clout won’t give a hoot if one person gives them grief but many can make enough noise that can not be ignored. This is happening to many not just me or you.
b. We have elections coming up and a housing finance problem that’s all over the news. Its one thing to be talked into a mortgage you can’t afford, its an other to have the mortgage company create, exacerbate and refuse to handle a resolution with the expressed agenda for that homeowner to loosing there home, encounter trumped up charges and fees and be made to feel that there is nothing they can do.
c. I can’t do it alone.
23) These financial institutions are governed directly by your state official that you voted for or were commissioned by who you voted into state office. Examples given are for California. You will have to Google your states seated official in these following departments.
a. Your state Governor, California State Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger
b. CA Department of Finance Michele Genest Commissioner
c. Department of Insurance CA Commissioner Steve Poizner
d. Department of Corporations Commissioner Preston Dufauchard
e. Attorney General Edmund G. Brown Jr
f. U.S. Attorney Karen P. Hewitt
24) You can also contact
a. Chairman and CEO Citigroup, inc. Mr. Sanford I. Weill
b. CEO Citigroup’s Consumer Group Mr. Robert B. Willunstad
c. President & CEO Executive Communications Mr. Vikram Pandit recently appointed
d. CEO of Citimortgage Bill Beckman
25) Any and every news and radio trouble shooter and finance fighter you know such as,
a. Bill O’Rially Fox New
b. Dave Ramsey Fox Radio
c. Television Stations CNN, CNBC, NBC, CBS, ABC directed to talk shows or News shows producers and Celebrities.
This can and should be done. With your participation it will be done much faster.
Tricia Elting
Temecula, Ca
May 30th, 2008 at 6:13 pm
WDevine adds this Comment:
Good Grief. We thought we were the only ones being left out to dry. We refinanced our current mortgage at citimortgage and rolled our old equity line of credit into one and reduced our rate and terms. Oh we felt so good. Then in Jan 08 came this -$806.00 escrow balance. It has taken 5 months to figure out what THEY did. I took all the papers to my finacial advisor. She found THEIR mistake. I have called over and over, I have told this account to at least 25 people, I was sent a letter telling me it was my fault they sent two County tax payments in and until they get it back We are to replay them and they are charging me “interest on Escrow Advance”. We were given an ESCROW WAIVER> We don’t have an Escrow account. If there is a lawyer who starts a class action count us in. WKD
June 7th, 2008 at 10:26 am
Lena Ageeva adds this Comment:
Hi, I am another victim of the Citimortgage company. My story is very similar to previous one. The only difference is that they sent City tax payment for 3 years second time by their mistake. After that I got more -$2.3K escrow balance. Then they increased my monthly payment “to pay off my debt”. I called many times and sent a letter with copies all receipts confirming that I didn’t owe any taxes. They ignored me absolutely.
Thank you for this site, it gives me hopes. I don’t have power to call anyone again. I am cancer survivor and any stress may reduce my ability to survive. So I’ll continue to pay my increased monthly payments and please count me too if anyone’ll start class action.
July 6th, 2008 at 7:27 pm
Gertim adds this Comment:
This morning at 6 am, I began a search for the name and address of citimortgage’s CEO to whom I could vent my “annoyance” – to put it euphemistically – with the company’s mailings and/or customer “communications.”
I came upon this site.
What an amazing number of similar experiences. I just feel as if I have had a a “group therapy” session.
My letter to Sanjv Das (CEO as of 7/08) will now be brief. I will simply suggest that he read all that has been written by you contributors to this blog.
We are all part of the browbeaten and economically squeezed American underclass – the consumer.
July 15th, 2008 at 5:01 am
jim adds this Comment:
I feel for all of you . I have had to deal with the Idiot’s also . Here is what you have asked for CEO CitiFinancial , Harry D. Goff 399 Park Ave New York, NY 10043 (212)559-1000 CEO CitiMortgage , Sanjiv Das 1000 Technology Dr. O’Fallon, MO 63368 (636)261-2484 AND THE BIG BOSS CEO CitiGroup Vikram Pandit 399 Park Ave, New York, NY U.S.A 10043 (800)285-3000 HAVE FUN !!!!!
July 19th, 2008 at 12:09 pm
Claudia adds this Comment:
My mortgage was recently purchased by Citi mortgage and I too have had nothing but trouble. I received an escrow statement that I have been trying to have someone at that company explain to me since they are asking me to send them $1740.05 to cover a negative balance that may occur at the end of the year. I have reviewed by monthly statement against this escrow statement and come up with different amounts. I am looking for someone in upper management to contact to resolve this matter. Right now I forced to pay $145 more each month for this mistake. I agree with all of you. They are just stealing money from hard working people.
July 30th, 2008 at 12:44 pm
Kyme adds this Comment:
I am crossing my fingers for now. It seems to be as effective as anything else. We recently purchased a home and the loan was sold to Citimortgage before the ink was dry. We have a personal loan with the same company and had been having positive experiences; so, no concerns. Received notice (from prior loan company) dated Jan 8th that the loan was sold, and effective 2/1/08 all payments would go to Citimortgage. Never received any correspondence from Citimortgage. We were already paying the personal loan with on-line payments, through our bank, not Citimortgage. I began paying my mortgage via on-line payments to the account number given me by the previous loan holder.
In May, I received a call about my loan but refused to discuss the matter with caller as I hadn’t initiated the call. I then called customer service and was notified that my account was in arrearage by $3000+. I was told that my escrow had been analyzed and found to be deficit. The reanalysis was done in February and took effect in Mar. I informed the customer service rep that I hadn’t received any correspondence from the company – including payment statements. He was given the correct address and stated that I would be receiving the reanalysis shortly. Ten days later, I received yet another call stating that my account was now $4000+ in arrearages. This caller magnificently attempted to tell me that I had been receiving statements at the correct address. I informed her that the address had only been changed 10 days earlier; she also made numerous statements that would have indicated unlawful activity. She also indicated that the reason for the increase was that my PMI was being increased from $132 to $482/mo. I received my very first written correspondence from Citimortgage, dated June 17th. It was a default notice.
When the issues began, I started checking into things and found this interesting little site. I didn’t find it very therapeutic at all. Never did view it as group therapy. On June 20th, I utilized the phone number listed above and spoke with “Lee” in the executive office. I was assured that all of the late charges were being reversed, the escrow reanalysis was being re-reanalyzed and the credit bureaus would be notified. She indicated that the payments were to be $1920+/mo. The initial payment (as signed on loan documents in late Nov.) was to be $1909+. This seemed to be more in line than the $2239+ I was being told verbally. I had been paying $2000 per month. Still haven’t figured out how under paying $239/mo for 3 month brought me $4000 in arrearages. My second written correspondence from Citimortgage arrived on Jun. 30th and was my statement for the July 1st payment. I had already sent the payment. It indicated the higher monthly amount and a significant amount due. I noted that the statement was dated the same date I spoke with Lee. Stupidly, I brushed aside my concerns.
Mid July, new phone call demanding that I pay my July payment (already sent June 25th) and would I like to pay that $2339 by phone payment? Took awhile to get to the “wonderful” lady who demanded to know why I was contesting the payment since this is what my payment had been all along. N
She never indicated that there was $2000 sitting in unapplied funds. So, the demand for the large amount was definitely unwarranted. I insisted that she needed to speak with the executive office, instead she transferred me to Benjamin in the Escrow office who was immediately able to see that there had been a review of the account but no changes made. Benjamin remained on the phone me for a significant length of time and assured me of the same things Lee had assured but gave me dates when things would happen. So far, my statement arrived Jul 29th with the incorrect amount (Benjamin indicated it had already been sent, so it would be wrong), my re-reanalysis arrived with the changes to the $1920 amount and repayment of $1200+, and the changes have been made to the company website. I am still waiting for the notification of the loan companies which is to be 7-10 days after Aug 5th. Apparently, the additional $80/mo that I had meant to be applied to the loan can’t be applied and must instead be returned. I am again waiting until next month to see what they come up with next. If your issues are of an escrow nature, I would highly recommend that you ask to speak with Benjamin. He has seemed to be the most responsible and reasonable employee I have spoken to about this account. Good luck to all!!
August 5th, 2008 at 11:07 pm
Erin adds this Comment:
I can’t believe I found this site….thank you! I have only been having trouble with Citimortgage for the past 6 weeks, but if this is any indication of things to come, I am not hopeful! I seem to have the same issue as Claudia, in that they are charging me about $130 extra a month to cover a “shortage in escrow” that doesn’t exist. CitiMortgage insists that I owe more in real estate taxes than I do, and are making me pay an extra $130/month to cover the shortage. In 6 weeks, I have made about 10 calls (only 2 times did I get an American–both times, however, the Americans knew what the issue was and “promised” to solve it. I still have no resolution.) I am going to use some of the numbers above to try to take this to a “higher level.” This is so frustrating–All I wanted to do was become a homeowner.
August 15th, 2008 at 7:29 am
Ken adds this Comment:
To say this is unbelievable would not be true. It’s completely believable. CitiMortgage is the worst company I have ever dealt with. The company I had my mortgage with for the 3-1/2 years was acquired by CitiMortgage. The initial change was a monthly payment increase as a result of their analysis of my escrow account. Wait – what a surprise – it turns out they overestimated and I received a refund check almost a year later after they held on to the extra money over that period. Of course they didn’t readjust my escrow and I was still overpaying. Yes – I know there are regulations regarding this and I can absolutely complain to the appropriate government agency and maybe receive a response withing 8 months. I chose not to deal with it and just considered it a modern form of the Christmas savings account I used to do in high school with my local bank. Other than that all was fine until I went through an assumption process. I bought out the interest in the property from the co-owner and assumed the mortgage solely in my name (result of a break-up – ugh!). Let me see how coherently I can describe the mess this caused.
1. I mailed the assumption application AND all associated documents on December 12 (year is irrelevant). I called on January 11 to check on the progress. Now I understand that it was over the holidays which results in a loss of productivity with business. Shoot – I’m less productive over the holidays – other than an increase in eating activity:) I found out that the application hadn’t even been logged in yet. The rep told me it typically takes 4 weeks to log in an application and then the processing starts. She proceeded to tell me that factoring in the holidays that I should call back the following week and check to see if it had been logged in and the process was officially started. I had previously been told that the assumption process would take 45-60 days. So the next logical question was if that timeline included their crazy log in time, to which the answer was NO. So – just to be thorough and summarize – 4weeks after I sent the package (2day FedEx no less – so I knew they rec’d it because someone signed for it) it still hadn’t been logged in and the 45-60 day time frame starts at log in! Unfortunately for me I had a legal agreement with the previous co-owner to have the assumption approved by a certain date as part of the purchase agreement. I set the date 60 days out from the application date which was the middle of February. Well I was clearly in danger of missing that date and would be in breach of contract. So I took matters into my own hands. I overnighted a copy of the original package and another cover letter explaining the urgency to get this matter resolved. I also left 3 voicemails over 3 consecutive days to the manager of the assumptions department. The calls were never returned. However, apparently this worked because within 2 weeks I had an approved assumption. I then had to scramble to fulfill my obligations under the purchase agreement.
2. The assumption was approved but not without additional hiccups. CitiMortgage initially insisted that the previous co-owner signed my mortgage application! This includes information that under no circumstances was I going to allow that person to see (again – we just went through a break-up). I finally was able to convince CitiMortgage that there was no legal reason for the previous co-owner to sign my mortgage application. I thought along the way – these people are supposed to be the experts – why am I educating them on legal issues associated with real estate transactions?
3. To complete the assumption you need to have something similar to a typical “closing.” So we had one and all applicable documents were signed. I then proceeded to wait 3 months to get a copy of the new deed that was filed 2 months AFTER the “closing.” It took 2 months to file the deed? Note – this was not the County Clerk’s fault – the dates rec’d are stamped on the document. It was recorded the day it was filed. It was CitiMortgage’s fault. Actually it was the fault of the company Citi contracts with to conduct these transactions (which is nothing more than providing a notary). I actually had to orchestrate the closing and inform the notary which documents had to be signed by whom! Note that I had initiated litigation against the previous co-owner (long convoluted story) and was refraining from dropping the suit until the transaction was completed – which anyone with an once of sense in real estate understands that a transaction is not completed at closing – it is completed when the deed recordation. So I had attorneys calling me asking what the holdup was. What a debacle!
4. Now the real fun begins! After assumption the first payment was processed just as the previous 48 monthly payments had been processed – automatically withdrawn from one of my bank accounts. Then the next payment, the second after assumption, was not withdrawn. I did not catch this since it was from an account I rarely checked – shame on me. I rec’d notice in late May that I was in default. Citi never sent correspondence informing me that they were going to stop the automatic withdraw. In speaking with them about I understood the reasoning. Typically an assumption results in the withdraw occurring from a different account. That certainly makes sense. The account prior to assumption and after would likely be different. OK – concurrence from my end. HOWEVER – if that’s your policy then why did you take a payment from that account the first month after assumption? Also – this doesn’t excuse them from notifying me of the change! I went back and reviewed the assumption documents – it was never disclosed in there either (I try to be diligent – wish it was reciprocated by them)!
5. I then proceeded to try and make a payment. Understanding the urgency my first attempt was to make a payment online. I initially tried logging into to my Citi account that I had used prior to the assumption. To my surprise I couldn’t log in and it provided me with a number to call. I called the number and found out that it is standard Citi policy to NOT allow online account access on an asumed mortgage. They are apparently concerned that the assuming party can get information about the previous mortgage holder. Well first off – I was the previous mortgage holder. Secondly – there IT solutions for this concern that would still allow the party assuming the mortgage to have online access. I mean who doesn’t have online access to their mortgage accounts in 2008! I was also informed that it was not a temporary situation – I will never have online access! For me this is a huge logistical issue. I mean NEVER???? EVER???? Wow – this was certainly never disclosed to me during the assumption process either!
6. I then proceeded to try and make a payment over the phone, after finding out the online option was not available. Unfortunately I wasn’t home and didn’t have my checkbook on me. Again – understanding the urgency I offered to pay by credit card. Uh uh – not an option with CitiMortgage! So no online access, unfortunately no checkbook, and credit cards not allowed.
7. After hanging up, and incredibly frustrated – no wait – PISSED OFF – I proceeded to go online to make a payment using Western Union. Hah – got you CitiMortgage. Great they’re listed as a vendor. OK – put my information in, credit card number etc. Processed what I thought would be a payment. NAH – Citi refused the payment – won’t accept me paying Western Union with a credit card and Western Union paying them with cash! UNREAL! I am trying everything to get money to these people and apparently they are putting as many barriers up as they can to avoid that!
8. The next day I call Citi back, checkbook in hand, and process a payment. Oh wait – pay you a $58 late fee and a $20 processing fee???? Isn’t this situation a result of Citi not informing me of a change in their automatic withdraw?? Are you kidding me – after the debacle the previous night! I pay because what are the options – allowing them to continue to label me in default! Again – I know there are”avenues” to complain. I am a realist and understand that these “avenues” are extremely inadequate and rarely effective. I have filed a few complaints with the Fed and have NEVER been contacted regarding the complaint, much less have a resolution!
9. After resolving the payment to bring my account back to good standing I proceed to try and resolve how this all happened. Two hours (YES 2 hours!), 5 people, reiterating my situation 5 times, rejecting 4 of their “resolutions,” explaining 5 times that they are wrong about what they were telling me regarding credit reporting and associated laws, and an inhumane amount of frustration later – I thought I had a resolution. I had a “manager” who assured me that the negative reporting to the credit agencies would be rescinded. I requested written confirmation which he assured me would go out no later than July23. Well I did receive the letter. It was dated July 23. Can you believe it – the letter stated that they would NOT change the reporting to the credit agencies! The letter further stated that the company reports when payments are received. I interpret this as regardless of reason – even if it’s predominantly CitiMortgage’s fault that it gets reported! My question is…why have a research department then? I mean if you don’t consider and additional information then there is nothing to research. I do recognize my responsibility here by not diligently ck’ing my balance to see if pmt’s were withdrawn. However this was started by Citi without my knowledge.
10. August rolls around and I get another notice saying I’m in default. I immediately think what the F*@k! I go back and look at the payments I made. Well this time it was my mistake. I mistakenly thought I had included the August payment in the payment made over the phone. I didn’t. ARGHHHHH! I would not even be in this mess if they hadn’t f’d up the automatic withdraw! So I call and make another phone payment. I then decide that since I already had 15 minutes invested into the call and I was actually speaking with someone that I would AGAIN try to resolve the reporting issues that I believed was previously resolved! I tried a new tactic, and it seems to have been highly effective (we’ll see in about a week). I refused to repeat what happened the first time. I was NOT going to reiterate my story four times to people that didn’t have the ability to effect change. So I told the first three people I spoke to that I needed to speak to their supervisor. The of course resisted but I insisted stating that it had nothing to do with their customer service. It had to do with an issue I knew they didn’t have the authority to correct. Once I reached a senior supervisor – they decided to put a halt on my ladder climbing. So I succumb and explained my story. I received the same spiel that I had previously received. You know – “well you’ll have to work with the credit reporting agency to have it removed. You can write a letter contesting the late payments…blah blah blah.” First, if you don’t know, the credit reporting agencies will not remove late payments when requested by the consumer. Otherwise we would all have perfect credit because we would just write them and say tell them to remove it! The origination of the reporting (i.e. the vendor) needs to correct it, unless you want to hire an attorney and spend money to try and force the reporting agency to remove them. So I inform the supervisor that he is wrong. At this point I have no other mission in life other than getting this issue resolved – now that’s PISSED! I proceed to tell him, nicely but assertively, that I was not getting off the phone until I spoke to someone with a VP title or similar that had the ability to dictate action to the research department and not just request an “investigation.” I followed that by saying if they refused to connect me with such a person that my next phone call was going to be to my Senator’s office. I barely finished that sentence and the gentleman said please hold I will connect you to someone. The next person on the phone was from CitiMortgage’s executive department/office. The person I spoke to was articulate and asked all the right questions (inclusive of critical questions of my actions – which I thoroughly appreciated because it showed she was engaged in the conversation and was actually thinking about the issues at hand). She seemed to be results driven and for the most part far, although she refrained from admitting fault on Citi’s behalf. However she said that she would remove the negative reporting. She stated that a letter would be sent out the next day stating our agreed resolution. One step better – we had a good conversation about the issue of not informing me of the change in withdrawal and the standard policy of Citi to not allow online account management for assumption clients. She thanked me for the feedback and said she was going to follow up on those issues! Wow – can’t wait to see the letter! Let’s see if their commitment is kept.
11. Now, I don’t have automatic withdraw I rely on Citi to mail me an invoice. Well that gets mailed on the 15th! That means it’s mailed on the 15th with a due date 2-1/2 weeks later on the 1st. This coming from a company that took nearly 2 months to approve an assumption! I could have new mortgage from a different company in less than 2 weeks!
One question you may be asking, if you didn’t dose off 30 minutes earlier in this post – why don’t I set up automatic withdrawal again? Answer – my house is listed for sale (sucky sucky in this market!). I am very fearful that once sold Citi would continue to deduct payments! Sounds crazy and paranoid – but with this company anything is possible! I just assume sever the relationship for good when the house sells – hopefully real soon!
Absolutely horrid company. On all future mortgages I am going to request an addendum to the standard clause allowing them to sell my mortgage to others. I will request that CitiMortgage or any Citi affiliates be excluded from the potential buyers. I’m sure it won’t fly but I will request it!
Down goes Citi! Down goes Citi!
August 28th, 2008 at 9:35 am
Cindy Mollica adds this Comment:
All of you should be reporting these offences to the Federal Trade Commission. I was told if they get enough they will start a lawsuit. I have been working on since Feb 2008 getting a Account Deliquent removed from my credit report put there by them when they bought my mortgage from ABN Ambro in Oct 2007. Payment has never been late. I guess its time for me to contact an attorney since them telling me they are sorry just isn’t fixing my credit report.
August 29th, 2008 at 11:07 am
homeless in ny adds this Comment:
our horror story—-citi is foreclosing and taking our home. my wife and i have gone through everything on this blog, the escrow problems, the pmi crap, default letters, etc you name it. we went through the executive office too, by the way, there is 1 very nice lady there, named kim. she really seemed to care. but to no avail. we bought our 1st house in 92 fixed it up, had some kids then bought this house in 03—-the typical american dream. then citi bought our mortgage, and that started the american nightmare.—escrow adjustments, ballooning interest rates, oh my god,—-by the time they were done–our monthly payment went from 3,500 to 5,700. my wife and i had credit ratings of 780–790, now, we cant buy a candy bar on credit. we had 2 credit cards, both of them cancelled us —even though we never missed a payment. because of what shitimortgage put on our credit report. we sent in the workable solutions packet,–that was a big waste of time. no concessions no “we’ll work with the borrower”—their solution was pay the arrearage, screw you, and we’ll continue to charge 5,700 a month. so now we have 2 options,—foreclose or bankruptcy. either way they get the house. these bastards have noooo problem throwing a hard working american family, w 4 kids out in the street. they’ve taken our equity, our credit, our savings, and now our home.–everything we’ve worked for. gone with the stroke of a pen–i really don’t know what were going to do. another middle class family pushed down into poverty. if anyone knows someone high up in citi , where we can get some satisfaction, or has an idea as to what we can do —please post it. we’re at the end of our rope. well, best of luck— we’ll see you all at the shelter.
August 29th, 2008 at 1:41 pm
Janine H adds this Comment:
I was just informed by my 68 year old mother that this attack (CitiMortgage) has now hit her home and pocketbook in Dallas. I have instructed her to write a detailed letter and send copies to everyone by certified mail. with RETURN RECIEPT. ie, Attorney General, Federal Trade Commission,BBB,Tx. Dept. of Savings and Mortgage Lending,Bill Beckmann, Pres. & COO-CitiMortage. Everyone that this crisis affects Must start writing these people. The word needs to get out about this CORPORATE CRIME and they must be stopped
September 2nd, 2008 at 10:37 pm
Janine H adds this Comment:
Here is another agency to contact. CitiMortgage is owned by Citi Bank Comptroller of Currency Administrator of National Banks 202-874-4900 or 5000
September 2nd, 2008 at 11:32 pm
Kay adds this Comment:
I cannot believe what people have been going through for years with CitiMortgage! Since my mortgage was sold to them my monthly escrow went up $150 with no explanation, someone in India made a $20 mistake on a payment and now I’m getting threatening foreclosure letters, and I have spent hours trying to get a human on the phone, only to have the call dropped when I finally did reach someone. Now after reading all these comments, it looks like my troubles have only started!
September 10th, 2008 at 12:40 pm
Karen D. adds this Comment:
My daughter & son-in-law have been having problems with CitiMortgage for about 4-months. They have recently seen their business go down with the economy and are having problems making ends meet. They have 2 babies under 23-months. They contacted the company 4 different times requesting some leniency and were told they could either pay additional in each monthly payment to make up for the missed one or they could apply for a loan program to start making payments on the missed month in 6-months with the added caveat they probably would not qualify for the loan…and this came from what they referred to as the “hardship department”. On September 1, 2008 they received a letter their loan was in default and has been reported to the credit bureau. They informed them if they did not bring the loan current, CitiMortgage would send out someone to do a monthly exterior inspection until the loan was brought current and that my daughter & son-in-law would be responsible for the cost of the inspections!! They’re having a problem meeting the monthly payment and now in addition to late charges, delinquency expenses and “other fees”, CitiMortgage is going to add another charge!!! The letter ends with a paragraph telling them “if you are unable to make your payment today, please call us toll free (that’s nice of them, they charge $14 to make a payment over the phone)…”to discuss payment arrangements with a Collection Specialist.” THAT’S WHAT THEY’VE BEEN DOING TO NO AVAIL!!! Does anyone have any suggestions? I’m trying to research this issue for them in hopes of somehow helping them get these idiots off their backs and keep their home. Thank you.
September 10th, 2008 at 5:42 pm
Jessica adds this Comment:
Wow, at least I now know that I have been in good company during my long and wasted hours on hold/being disconnnected/unhelpful phonecalls/etc…. you all, obviously, get the idea. I have had a simaler frustrating experience with this company over the past 4 months. Thanks to everyone who provided addresses and phone numbers… the question is, in addition to contacting Citimortgage administration, what do we do now? Has the BBB or the FTC made any progress?
September 12th, 2008 at 11:11 am
Bob Finch adds this Comment:
Man, this really depresses me. We were flooded out of our home by Tropical Storm Fay. My insurer, State Farm has been great so far. Comcast has been awesome, giving us credits for service. Embarq got off to a rough start in responding but has been great too. But Citimortgage is holding my State Farm check hostage to their “procedures.”
What would have been a 7-10 repair job looks to turn into a 2-month ordeal waiting for them to dribble out checks to me and my contractor as they receive “proof” from their buffoonish, decrepit “inspector” that their arbitrary benchmarks have been met.
Citimortgage is a big corporation. Were it a human being that inflicted such pain upon another, it would be arrested for assault and intent to commit bodily harm. Every day that we go without flooring, a working kitchen and with this flood-damaged, smelly air conditioner is another day our health is at risk.
I pray that there is a special place in hell for people who work their customer service lines; there is no way a person with an ounce of compassion could ever do such a job.
September 18th, 2008 at 12:41 pm
Homeless in NY adds this Comment:
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Homeless in NY adds this Comment:
Hello again.–If you’re reading this , you’ve most likely read my entry a few above on Aug. 31st. I feel compelled to help others who are now facing what i was back then.————-CALL THIS NUMBER—1-800-695-0384—-ext.–27200., this is the direct line to Kim Zinn, she works for the executive response unit. (sorry kim to throw extra work your way, i write this because she reads this blog, she told us so). I can’t begin to tell what this woman has done for us, she gave us our life back, not to mention, our sanity. I got her # off this blog, and she saved our house. when my wife spoke with her, right off she was so calming and told us not to worry. she told us to fill out the workout packet and send it to her, and she forwarded it to the Arizona office. at 1st it did not work, it got passed to some bean counter in a back office, who put it into a computer model and spit it out –DENIED. My wife called back and she put us in touch with Sarah (sorry no last name, #1 520 662 8989 ext. 47205). sarah reviewed it and sent it to Rich (# 480 753 2634 ext. 50408), who told my wife that he’s going to save our house, and he did. he pushed and pushed and finally got them to redo the loan, and roll the arrears into the tail end of the loan. I couldn’t believe it. we are now locked into a 30 yr fixed rate we can afford. and to boot, when we called kim to send her flowers, she said the call was enough. I no longer sit with my head in my hands worrying. I don’t think these 3 people realize what they have done, not only for me but for my children and our future. to Kim, Sarah, and Rich, i thank you, you have made a difference you will never know. my point is don’t give up, keep calling, if you don’t get satisfaction, call again,and again, ( the squeakiest wheel gets the most oil). try going through Kim, she is an angel on earth, and possibly the only person at CITI with a heart.
October 25th, 2008 at 6:24 pm
October 25th, 2008 at 6:33 pm
David adds this Comment:
Citimortgage does NOT care…get it through your thick dense heads…Why should we care? We have jobs. The CEO makes a great salary so why do we need to even consider better customer service? After all, we already have your mortgage so tough crap if you do not like our service!
This posting was written by a non Citibank employee to make a point… They DO NOT CARE AND NEVER WILL.
Bottom line…Citimortgage SUCKS!!
October 27th, 2008 at 2:52 pm
Rose Harbaugh adds this Comment:
I have had a terrible time with citi mortgage. The constant automated phone calls about being late, and was not. The probelem I am having now is that their account embaciles were constantly hounding about being 3 payments of 2173.88 behind. The phone rang off the hook about this. I had requested a payment history from them on several ocassions, and of course, no documentation was recieved.
Finally, when the threat of forclosure came about, they said they would gladly ad the payments to the end of the mortgage. Which they did!!!! Imagine that. Now these people must be payment magicians because they made my money completely dissapear!!!! Even though I have cancelled checks to prove my case, I still cannot get my funds credited to my account or sent back to me.
I am now in the process of refinancing my home and get away from the thieves. I have hired an attorney to try to get an accounting of my funds. He has run into a brick wall, again, imagine that. This company should be investigated by the U.S. Attorney and prosecuted to the fullest extent. They should also be audited by reputable accounting firm to see just how many billions of dollars they have STOLEN from their mortgage holders over the years.
If anyone knows of class action lawsuit against these crooks, I would be delighted to join their quest.
October 31st, 2008 at 9:52 am
Kim adds this Comment:
Citi is screwing us a little different, however with the escrow also. We are refinacing with another company so I called in Decemeber to see if the payment was paid or when it was to be paid. They said that the check went to the tax collector on Dec 22. I assumed (everyone knows what that means make a — out of you and me) that it was done. A week before we were to close now in January I called the Tax collector to confirm (which I should have done in the first place) and it was not paid. The taxes were finally postmarked on Jan 8, however they must have thought the tax collector would not actually look at the envelope because they dated the check Dec 22. What a scam!! Now I am hoping they send the check for the extra in the escrow almost 2,000.
January 15th, 2009 at 7:47 pm
Thekees adds this Comment:
My heart goes out to ALL of you!! Our nightmare began in June of 2008- 8 months ago! I have sreamed my story to sooo many people at CITI, I could not even begin to count them all. Each one of their ‘representatives’ had a different extension, different accent, and probably a different city; or maybe even different country.
Let me begin with a little history, we obained our Citi Nightmare from Primerica (a Citi Company) in Sept 2007. At the time my husband was hesitant about going with a company that was not local. He stated that he likes to have someone local; that if things go wrong, he could walk into their office and have someone to scream at. Our Primerica rep said that she was that person! Things went great for 9 months. Our payment came out of our checking account every two weeks like clock-work; we were on their equity builder program. In fact things were so good there for a while we were acually starting to pay on the principle! WOW- huh?
In June 2008 things changed. With the recent wedding of our daughter in April 2008, finances were starting to get a little sluggish. So we thought we would check with Citi about a derferrment of our July payment. My husband called our Primerica rep because she said she was the one to call. She said that was no problem! And that she would take care of it for us and return our call. This she did. She said she took care of it for us and that our next payment would be due in August. Sounded like great customer service to us. Were we mistaken. What a case of buyers beware!
Mid-July came and the phone calls from Citi started. We were no longer on the equity builder program, therefore our payments were due monthly- not bi-weekly. No payment was deferred. I have spent the past 8 months now trying to get this straightened out. We are still 30 days past due and , like I explained to one very rude Citi employee, we will continue to be 30 days past due. Because we only make so much money per month, like everyone else! We now pay an additional $72.00 a month more for late fees also. No one at Citi seems to care, the rude phone calls continue, and we are so frustraighted about it all, we wish we knew of the currect address to mail the house keys to.
We have filled out numerous forms that they have mailed us; in fact one set of forms (for the deferrement) took 6 weeks for us to receive (through the US Mail). Now I know the US Mail is not that slow with delivery. When I called after waiting 3 weeks, some ‘nice young gentleman’ told me that “three weeks is within our guidelines” as far as delivery time, and that no he could not email or fax them to me.
Ok, so why is it not ok for 3 weeks to be within OUR guildlines?
Currently we are waiting for yet another set of deferment papers to be approved. We are so very regretful of doing any type of business with CitiMortgage! And what’s most frustrating is the fact that our federal government used our federal tax dollars to bail Citi out. None of this is right!!!
February 5th, 2009 at 12:43 pm
Kathryn adds this Comment:
I am glad I found this blog. I am in the same spot as many others here. I have contacted the OTS regarding my problems with Citimortgage and suggest everyone do the same. Here is the information.
Office of Thrift Supervision
1700 G Street, NW
Washington, DC 20552
Phone: 1 (800) 842-6929
TTY: 1 (800) 877-8339
Monday through Friday 8:00 a.m. – 5:30 p.m., Eastern Standard Time
Fax: (202) 906-7342
If anyone has any other suggestion on how to resolve a dispute with Citimortgage, please email me at kitkat5695@yahoo.com
March 3rd, 2009 at 7:47 pm
john adds this Comment:
http://www.bizjourna[...]daily30.html
This gives the name of citmortgage ceo
March 8th, 2009 at 6:58 pm
sheridan Greenhaw adds this Comment:
My husband and i have ben fighting Citi from 2006. We filed a medical bankruptcy in 2005 and citi held all our mortage payments on some guys desk for 6 months. It took close to 25 phone calls in a one week period to get them to straighten that out. Then they tried to foreclose on us.
We call the section of citi for a workout solution and spoke with a vary nice gentleman who was great. He got us into a plan that put the balance in dispute at the end of our loan. and tried valiently to get copies of citi’s payment record for our loanto us. That was when all hell broke loose.
Turns out that citi was not paying our mortage insurance and there for could not do thier own modification on this loan. Furthumore the government did not have them EVER paying it…When they took over Prudential.. seems this info got lost somewhere. we kept paying our mortage, but now they were sending back the payments to us.. saying they could not find our loan # or tht the money was not sufficent to cover the loan. Go figure…?
At this time our statements also stopped.
All calls were now routed to India.. whos various people said that they did not send statements to people who owed them money, or that they would have a supervisor call us back. ( No One ever called). This went on for a year untill thier lawyers in OKC got involved.
We answered thier foreclosures pro se.. and had an attorny who called us hicks and such while making fun of us to his secretary. He answered our answeres by pulling the foreclosure and then sent us the informational pages on another forclosure he was doing along with very weidrly worded interrogetories. BTW Jose rodriguez… i have your SS # previous adress etc.
Repeated calles to thier office were also not returned… i reported this nonsense to the Barr.
Now enter 2009.. this attorny has once again tried to revisit foreclosure…This time he mailed us papers postmarked 3/10/09 after telling the court they were sent 5 days earlier ( same firm diffrent lawyer).. and still no response from citi..
we are still put on hold, transferred around the worls etc…. i think if its not resolvd in a week i’ll will this story and all those boxes of paper to CNN and FOX news.. bailout mu ass….
The stress of this is killing me… literaly.. i have lupus and this is putting me into a grave… from this mess i have ended up with brain surgery( NOT A JOKE) and several complications…i just wanted my family to be able to keep thier house.
If this happens to the people who pay thier bills what happens o the people who don’t?… bailout money.
March 25th, 2009 at 8:11 am
sheridan Greenhaw adds this Comment:
our email is galen1217@hotmail.com if anyone has any suggestions.
March 25th, 2009 at 8:28 am
pprgrl adds this Comment:
Just wanted to say I feel all of you pain! I have been in a battle since I discovered that Citi is holding 2 (two) sets of closing papers on my account due to the fact that the day of my closing, my mom had to act as attorney in fact for me because I was working out of town. I did not know that they had these until last June/July and neither did they. I was on the phone trying to explain that I was being charged the wrong PMI (private mortgage insurance) amount , when the rude CSR guy asked me why I have two sets of closing papers! I had no idea what he was talking about until he explained that one set had my signature and one my mothers! The one with my mothers is the correct one which according to my attorney is the correct and final papers. So far I have paid in nearly $1000 too much in the last 2 1/2 yrs.! That is more than enough for one of my house payments, but they will not resolve my problem. Citi told me that it was the fault of my PMI company, and when I called the PMI company, they told me that they had no control over that, and that I would have to get Citi to take care of the mistake because they just collect the insurance from Citi. Because of employment issues ( I work 7 nights a week!), I had become past due on my payment. I received a Workout solution packet from Citi because I emailed and asked for it, and a packet from my PMI company, I called and asked for it also on the same day. The packet was dated on 5/4/09, and then I received a letter from Citi on 5/7/09 saying that foreclosure had been intitiated! – mind you that is only 3 days to get a problem solved! This “Workout” package has a clause on it that says it may take up to 30 days to review, and that if foreclosure has been started that it will continue during the process of trying to resolve any delinquencies. I received a letter on 5/15/09 which was dated 5/11/09, from the attorneys that have been retained by Citi on the foreclosure. This company is a joke along with any options that are offered on so-called “Workouts”! If anyone out there has any suggestions give me a yell – I’m open for any. My issue falls under the TILA, and I’ve also been told that it is a possible RESPA violation, and it may even constitute a right of recission! I’ve got someone working on it for me, and as soon as I find out something, I would be more than happy to share this with all of you to hopefully stop the PAIN that you endure when Citi Mortgage buys a loan from another lender like they did mine on the first month I took it out!! What the crap is a “make home affordable plan”?… or bailout plan? Isn’t that what this new “Change” is suppose to take care of?!!! Oh, by the way, there HAS BEEN RECENTLY a lawsuit by the NAACP about overcharging, and unfair lending practices because of racist issues against several lenders including CITI! Would you think a single white mother would fall into this category??!! I am sure we are considered minority, but I believe that is an issue a little different than race. I truly don’t believe it matters what color your skin is, I think as long as they can get some poor minimum wage guru to say “don’t worry, we’ll handle it”, then they will stick it to anyone!! Can I get an AMEN??!!! Contact me at bridgesbecky@yahoo.com Take Care!!!
May 17th, 2009 at 10:52 pm
Cara and David adds this Comment:
We bought our house in June 2008 and our loan was almost immediately sold to Citimortgage. No problems with them until Jan 09 when we received a notice from the county that our taxes had not been paid. WE checked with Citimortgage and were informed that in fact they had paid from our escrow account $2992.44 in taxes on our behalf in December 08. Problem is the taxes were only supposed to be $804.41! Finally in March Citimortgage sent us a letter saying they had paid the taxes in the wrong amount to the wrong account number. They then paid our past due taxes ($807.41) from our escrow account on April 3rd. although the country says they didn’t receive the $$ until April 15th! Our escrow account has not been refunded the $2992.44 as of this date (5/25/09) and our new escrow analysis indicates that our escrow account is short (due to the overpayment of our taxes) and now they have increased our house payment as of May 1st almost $400! We have made repeated calls always asking for a stateside CSM. We have spoken with THREE supervisors and all have told us there is nothing they can do until the county refunds the incorrect payment that THEY made on our behalf! The county can’t tell us if the $$ had been refunded yet unless we provide them with the original check number or at least the account number the payment was made on behalf of. Citimortgage refuses to provide us with this information. We are beginning to wonder if any payment was really made to the county. Our attorney has sent a demand letter requesting that the $$ be returned to our account NOW and the letter has been ignored. We have been given the number of two of the supervisors who have NEVER returned any of our phone calls after speaking with them once. OUr last payment was listed as “Additional Funds Received” and we were assessed a late fee! I demanded that they fee be removed and the payment applied. I was told they had missed the “permission to pay short” for April and May! WTF? They gave us “permission to pay short” because of THEIR error! We want to refinance and can’t until we get this straightened out since Citimortgage can’t provide a clean payoff balance. I am afraid next month’s “short” payment will result in late fees being assessed.
May 25th, 2009 at 8:56 am
Keep Comments Open | alexking.org adds this Pingback:
[...] CitiMortgage Frustrations – posted in October 2004 (and the follow up post). [...]
May 27th, 2009 at 12:31 pm
Betty J Mau adds this Comment:
Please email me if there is a class action suit I can join against Citimortgage Thank you
June 1st, 2009 at 5:11 am
Laura adds this Comment:
Report CitiMortgage to the OCC
FOR STARTERS
To ALL: I have been through the ringer with CitiMortgage.I want to give up but Im not. File a Complaint below with the OCC…
https://appsec.helpwithmybank.gov/olcc_form/
Also go to ripoffreport.com there are so many citi complaints there. (TYPE citi mortgage and citimortgage in the search)
After I post this I will be googling to see if there is a class actiion lawsuit started somewhere.
June 9th, 2009 at 7:35 am
Teresa adds this Comment:
I had a HELOC with CitiMorgage. In the summer of 2007, I fell behind. I got someone to tell me at CitiMortgage that if I took my $200 mo payment and made a payment of $350/mo for 3 consecutive months, my account would be reaged. That was supposed to happen Jan 08. I repeatedly asked everytime I called for documentation acknowledging our agreement, and after I met the terms, asked for confirmation that the terms were met. I never received it. I wanted to at least show I was making payments. Every month, I would call to find out how much was due. I would get transfer around, hung up on, took time off from work to try to get a Rep that would work with me. NOTHING. Kept sending in payments per verbal amounts. No statements were received from the Fall 2007 to Summer 2008. I had a credit check done for financing purposes and found out Summer 2008 that CitiMortgage was largely responsible for destroying my credit. I called them and demanded statements and acknowledgement that I had reaged the account and met the term. I GOT A NOTICE OF DEFAULT, and started receiving statements. I consulted an attorney through a Philadelphia Credit Counseling Agency and my account was under review until Oct 2008. The agency did nothing. I went back to repeated phone calls to CitiMortgage to get something in writing with an agreed upon payment arrangement. My payment at that time was $175. I was offering $250/mo. I just wanted to get caught up. THEY WROTE ME OFF TO A FORECLOSING ATTORNEY WHO AGREED TO TAKE THE $250/MO FOR 3 MONTHS ONLY – AND NOW WANTS TO FORECLOSE, MAKING MY 30 YEAR MORTGAGE (PAID INTO FOR 3 YEARS, MAKING IT 27 YEAR MORTGAGE INTO 2 YEARS). THAT MEANS I AM SUPPOSED TO PAY NOT A REASONABLE AMOUNT OVER $175, BUT $1,100 A MONTH FOR 24 MONTHS OR THEY’RE TAKING MY HOUSE. I’M A SINGLE MOTHER WHO ALWAYS TRIED TO WORK WITH THEM. MY OTHER BILLS ARE INTACT INCLUDING MY FIRST MORTGAGE —————– WHEN DO WE CLASS ACTION SUE —– I’M IN. TeresaLorino247@aol.com
June 12th, 2009 at 9:58 pm
Debbie adds this Comment:
I have never been more upset in mylife with a mortgage company. Honestly one often feels complaints may not have been founded; however, I am convienced all these are. I have had many morgages bought and sold in my life and all have gone flawlessly until Citi bought not my mortgage but my mortgage company. One would think it would have been seamlees…no account number change ect. It has been a complete night mare and they reported me to the credit B even after I talked to an employee who lives in another country. Also even though from “their” records every payment was paid on time and documented. I was even told it would not be reported to the credit b. Well quess what it was and my 800 credit has been lowered despite never being late. They had my money but never credited my account. I felt they owed me interest, at least in the amount of what I pay. I finally resolved they won. Then again they marked my payment as partial and did not credit my account because the payment went up 40.00. Assessed a late fee and most likely made some interest on the money as well as charged me a late fee. Again I was told by a gentleman in India the late fee would be credited and to make a follow up call which I did. NOT FIXED. Now I can not see straight I am so mad but determined to make sure they do not take my house as I don’t owe much on my balance I make my July payment on the 15th of June so while I am on vacation there is no risk of a late fee. Wrong they applied it to my principal and assumed that is what I wanted????????????I give up. I want to kill myself and put me out of this no win situation. Has this ever happened to an attorney?
June 26th, 2009 at 8:43 am
kathy adds this Comment:
Today 6/27/209 citimortgage has called my home 18 times. My husband was out of work for two weeks and it caused us to fall behind. We have gone online to modify our loan and at the end 1 hour later they locked our account so our modification wouldn’t go through. Wasted time. Even when we make a payment they call to find out when the next one will be made. they will not work with us the people who answer the phones know nothing! Every time they say they will nots your account they don’t! We gave this company billions to help them and they will not help us at all. I wish they had not gotten any money and were all out of a job. This is horrible! I will get another 18 calls toay and I paid my mortgage two ays ago. Its just wonderful….
June 27th, 2009 at 7:52 am