So, the long journey continues, to figure out why Citi dropped my account.
Two weeks ago, I got a letter from Citi telling me that my account was closed due to inactivity. I've been trying to both find out why I wasn't warned ahead of time -- one manager said that they mailed me a letter the day before they closed my account, and another manager said that they should have sent a warning letter 60 days prior, but had no information in their records that a letter had been sent -- and why they can't simply restore my account.
Tonight, the journey was resumed when Citi left a voice mail for me, and I returned their call, only to find out that they had turned down my reinstatement.
I inquired if there was something in my Experian score -- the service they had told me last week that they would be using -- that prevented them from reinstating my account, and was told that my credit-debt ratio was not good enough. I just checked -- paid my $1 for the 7-week access which then automatically bills for a full account access -- and they must be lying.
Even after they closed my account under false pretense, my credit-debt ratio remains less than 1/4 that of Experian's average of 48% to 52%. It's so low in fact, that it should not have raised any red flags.
My Experian score is higher than the vast majority of people, to make it a moot issue.
The Experian score is not a FICO score (the combination of your score from Experian, Equifax and Transunion), but I was told that this was the service they would use. So obviously, the last manager I talked to, was lying. In fact, I checked my (free annual) credit reports on all three services, and they were all perfect and green -- zero red flags or warnings.
I filed a complaint with the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau.
One of these days, when this journey has reached its end, I will post a full account of what happened.
UPDATE:
Well, that was quick. I got a phone call from a higher-up at Citibank early this afternoon, informing me that they had received my CFPB complaint. We talked it over, and she confirmed that they have no internal protocol in place to inform customers that their credit card was being dropped, and agreed that they need some additional training so that all of their employees know what their own protocols are.
You see, I'd already done the research to know that there is no federal law that requires credit card companies to inform customers that they're being dropped. I was pushing the internal protocol issue because, knowing that federal law didn't prohibit the act of dropping customers without warning, it would have given me some leverage to question why I was being treated differently. Now, I would expect that she had the definitive answer on the matter, but obviously something is really wrong internally if I've gotten all sorts of answers, don't you think?
Anyway, she agreed to try to work with their credit department to see if she could restore my credit card account as opposed to opening up a new application, and this is critical because my 19 year history with the card is an important factor into my credit history and score.
We'll see what comes of this. Regardless, it's clear that filing a complaint with the CFPB that clearly states what your desired outcome is, works, and the very idea that Republicans have been blocking the CFPB from the beginning (and continue to do so to this day), should be instructive. If the CFPB hadn't been set up, I (along with many others) wouldn't have had access to this sort of immediate Citi response.
The CFPB is a valuable federal program, and all you need to do is look at their database to see just how many complaints have been resolved.
UPDATE 2:
Well, no wonder I never got a call back from Citibank's Presidential Communications. She went through the formal CFPB channel to inform me what I had been previously told, before I filed my complaint with the CFPB. Apparently the Presidential Communications person at Citi has no power to intervene and effect change.
I sent one last response on my original CFPB complaint, but I don't expect a satisfactory answer. It's nearly time to move on and try my best to sever my mortgage sevicer -- Citi -- from my life, too.
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