I don't have any faith in companies who do business through email spam. They're culling addresses and names for other businesses I'd guess.

I opened an account at Citibank with a smallish deposit, about 7 years ago, and got a debit card with it...because they offered an introductory high interest rate on deposits.
Used it a few times, but found the web site exasperating, and after that didn't use it, withdrew the money and closed the account a couple of years later.

Two months ago, got a letter from a Citi, saying that due to my refusal to pay $47.00 that I owed them in unpaid fees, that they had passed the "debt" to a collection agency.

Of course, the letter had no account number on it, and I had long tossed the old debit card that was long expired.

I had to find a local Citi bank, and ask them to look into it. I was told that the account was closed 5 years ago, and that the letter was sent in error.

A few days later, I got a letter from Citi saying that the closing balance was $0.00

So far, no collection agency, no entry on credit report.

I would never suggest using Citibank.

Credit companies are looking high and low for a means to recoup the money they're losing due to more stringent federal laws. It's a rare week that we don't get an offer from American Express! Perfectly happy with the same two cards we've had *forever*.

No way to stop these 'free offers' (to make our money their money)!

You know, though, the first offer I got from them was a letter that specifically referenced my account number, as did the second one.

And, Chisue, I agreed that they could make money off me their way - it was they who decided they didn't want to make money off of me! (Stupid of them, because I'm a good bet.:)

Ah, well, two more years (with good health) and I'll have them paid off and will be back to living without credit cards.

As I think about it, I was thinking about getting a Visa a couple years ago and was "pre-approved" for Citibank, and when I sent in the acceptance they declined my "application". Forgot about that incident but I'm pretty sure it was Citibank though probably 2-3 years ago.

Don't get me started on Citibank. We have a charge card that we pay off every month. When it was expiring they sent us a new card which we verified. I bought a couple of apps on itunes...one for 99 cents and the other for $2.99. I went to buy a laptop for my DH for Christmas and they denied it.....when we phoned to ask why they said that the two charges from itunes were suspicious. HUH? I have been buying apps using the card for a year. Our guess is that when we phoned to verify the cards that someone forgot to do it and they weren't about to admit it.
I know it probably happens to people but we were embarrassed.

heather_on.....people steal credit cards, then put several itunes on them to see if they go thru, testing the cards out. Why.....I don't know. We've received 2 calls now telling us itunes were being charged on our card.....wasn't us. So we cancelled the card each time and reopened it again.

That makes sense, Nicole, but *your* credit card company called you to check. CitiBank did nothing - and when Heather_on tried to use the card, it was denied. Big difference, to me.

I suppose they're "not legally required" to contact you. (Can you tell I think that's a poor excuse? Staying within the law is supposed to be a minimum standard of conduct, not the standard of excellence!)

Nicole I had also been buying apps on itunes for a year so it wasn't anything new to them. If they had looked at the past charges, they would have seen that. We have been paying it off each month for years and to deny it's use because it had a four dollar balance was rediculous.

I do agree that some thiefs test the card with small amounts and then go for bigger items but if I were a thief I would at least buy something more expensive than four dollars!

Yes...well....not making excuses. My card was denied because I put $6K of appliances on it when I was doing a kitchen remodel....they wanted to make sure it was us before they let the charge go thru....and froze the card without telling us. Cleared that up. Then they did it again when "I" made an online purchase(I shop online all the time). I was at a gas station and couldn't pay for the gas I had just pumped. :0) They told me if I left to go home to get another card they'd report me to the police for nonpayment. The attendant said he was being told "I was over my limit, when he spoke to a person". So I borrowed his phone, cleared it up, again, and it went thru.

We pay the card in full each month. It was just a misunderstanding. Things don't always go smoothly. I am "NOT" going to start carrying cash. I figure it's the world we live in....it's full of bumps....

I am "NOT" going to start carrying cash.
Me neither but I do carry more than one credit card for exactly this reason. Once we were at a craft show and I'd made purchases at several different booths, then bam, all of a sudden, my card was denied. I just used a different card and later called the CC company. They canceled it because too many purchases came in a row from different locations around the country. Obviously due to the fact that the vendors at the craft show came from lots of different locations.

This was before I carried a cell phone so now, hopefully, I could just call right then or if the CC company was trying to call me (which they have also done after a large purchase), it could be resolved right then.

But just in case, it doesn't hurt to have more than one card.

When you put it on the card ...

... you buy more stuff.

At least, most people do, according to various studies.

"Credit" card companies know that: stores know that.

Passing out cash seems to have a deterrent effect on decisions to purchase.

ole joyful

Dh & I both have CitiCards, but aren't customers of CitiBank. I suppose that's different? We've never had the first problem them. We tend to use one for a while, then switch off to the other so we can collect the max on their rebates. Once when we switched, we made a big purchase the first thing off the bat, then several hours later went to purchase gas & the card wouldn't work. It was inconvenient ( & @ midnight, out of state) but totally understandable. Now we know to call them first to alert that we're making a big purchase. We pay nearly everything by credit card & are the exception to "most people" (do not buy more stuff) & pay it off every month.

I would be more than a little ticked by your scenario, Joann. That's poor business practice in my opinion. I wonder if they think that some people are just desperate enough to fall for their "scam".

Another reason I hate banks. Remember how we are bailing out all those horrible banks? Yet they maintaion their devious consumer practicEs, like offeRing credit cards and the3n Shutting down the offers? What's the point? As for me, I was in a car accident a month ago. Not injured but my car was "totalled". Took weeks and weeks, delay uon delay, to get a check out of the insurance company. Then we deposited the check in Citibank on a Friday afternoon, hoping it would clear by the following Monday. But No! It took to the second Monday after before the funds were freed up for us to use. Since when does it take TWO WEEKS for a bank to rocess a checkK? Aren't we in the age of the electronic transfer? Banks have everything stacked in their favor, qand we customers are just their dupes.

We pay nearly everything by credit card & are the exception to "most people" (do not buy more stuff) & pay it off every month.

Ya, same here. I was out shopping once with a friend and I was purchasing something on my CC and she asked, when you charge everything, how do you know you can afford it?

I guess the answer to that is I just do. I don't tend to buy frivolous stuff often, although certainly occasionally. But in any case, I do have a pretty good sense of what price I'm willing to pay for something and whether I will have the money to pay for it.

I like
-not carrying a lot of cash
-getting back money on what I spend
-being able to look back and see what I spent my money on over the last month

I do agree that some (most?) people do buy more stuff and do get themselves into debt and that that is how those CC companies make a LOT of money. But for the ones of us who don't fall into that trap, IMO, CCs are way better than cash!

We have that same "sense" of knowing what we can afford, Lowspark. I think if people wanted to put everything on their cc for the rebates, convenience,,,,, they could just write every purchase in their checkbook & subtract the amount so they wouldn't over spend (if they were afraid they might) & then they could just write the check out each month.

"Since when does it take TWO WEEKS for a bank to rocess a checkK?"

Yep. Although we're electronic, banks can still take up to two weeks to process an out of state check. That happens with me and my credit union every time I sell stock in the company where I work. The check comes from Pennsylvania, but apparently since Pennsylvania and Virginia don't physically touch, it's an out of state/area check and takes forever to clear.

Fortunately, though, Federal law REQUIRES the bank to pay you interest on that money from the second it is deposited, even if it's held for verification.

Did the e-mail offer have a disclaimer like offer available to qualified applicants? If they did, they may have a case for denying you a card - although who knows why.

However, they advertised it. So I would try calling them back again and suggesting that a false advertising complaint could be lodged with the Department of Consumer Affairs in the state in which they do business (on the mailing address)

I despise credit cards; for almost 4 years we were cc free. Then, like idiots we charged about $7,000 on some "necessities". DH lost his job a month later and now we're slaves to debt. When these are paid off, I WILL NOT have another cc!!