Here is the letter I sent to Citi. Let me know if you guys have any other ideas to get some leverage with them. I have several checking accounts, a savings account, and several credit cards, as well as a private student loan account that I paid off when I realized they were going to jerk me around on my consolidation.
Student Loan Consolidation Dept.
Citibank
605-357-2081
Good day, As an existing Citibank Student Loan customer, I applied for a Citibank
consolidation student loan in June 2005, in order to lock in the 2.8% fixed
rate that was offered until July 1, 2005. In August 2005, I received a letter
from Citibank stating that I still had in-school status with my lenders, and
that I would need to correct this before the consolidation could continue. I
contacted the University of Foo Student Loan Collections center,
told them to change my status to early repayment, and faxed the information
back to you as you had requested. In September 2005, I received a letter
stating that the information had been received and that the application would
continue. I have attached copies of both of these letters for your reference.
I received no further communication from Citibank, so I assumed that there were
no more problems with the application. Last week, I noticed that Direct Loans still showed a balance on my account,
and I called Direct Loans to inquire why I still had a balance with them. They
told me that I needed to call the consolidator and find out why they had not
received the consolidator's check yet. I called Citibank and spoke with Shelly, a supervisor, on the phone on 3/13/07.
She indicated that the reason that the consolidation was not processed was
because Direct Loans had not responded to Citibank's February 2006 certificate
request, and so the consolidation application was terminated. I have attached proof from both of my lenders that they responded to Citibank's
certificate requests in a timely manner. I spoke to Kathryn at Direct Loans
(800-848-0979) about this problem. The issue seems to be that Direct Loans had
not placed me in early repayment by March 2006 when they responded to your
request. Direct Loans did not call me about this problem because their policy
is to not initiate external contact. Therefore, the only way I would have
known that Direct Loans had not yet placed me into early repayment would have
been if Citibank had notified me of that fact. Given the nature of the communication, requiring action by myself to correct,
and the looming July 1, 2006 deadline whereafter early repayment would be
impossible due to new government regulations, it would have seemed reasonable
for Citibank to attempt to contact me by phone, e-mail, or any other method in
the event of ANY problem with the application. Because Citibank failed to
contact me during the application, and I did not even receive a letter
notifying me of the application having been terminated in April 2006, the July
1, 2006 deadline passed. I became aware of the problem after the deadline, and it is now impossible to
consolidate my loans with ANY lender until 6 months after I graduate; my
unsubsidized loans continue to accrue 6.8% variable rate interest and there is
nothing that I can do about it until 6 months post-graduation. Even at the
point that I can finally consolidate, I most certainly will not receive the
2.8% fixed rate that I would have received when I offered to consolidate my
loans with Citibank in the first place. So, to sum up, because as an existing student loan customer I chose Citibank to
consolidate all of my student loans, I have not only lost the opportunity to
consolidate my student loans at the historically low 2.8% fixed rate, but I
have lost the opportunity to consolidate the loans AT ALL while in-school due
to the federal policy change. Citibank could have prevented both by exercising
a reasonable amount of diligence in contacting me during the application
process, but no good faith attempt at all was even made. I, on the other hand,
exercised diligence in contacting my lenders and having paperwork prepared and
faxed to Citibank at my expense, and would have continued to exercise that same
diligence in correcting the Direct Loans problem if Citibank had bothered to
make me aware of it. I am sorely disappointed with Citibank's performance, to the point of disgust,
and will not only be terminating my own relationship with Citibank but also
recommending to others that they reconsider doing business with Citibank --
UNLESS Citibank makes amends with a reasonable offer towards my student loan
consolidation, which will be in repayment starting in November 2007. Cordially,
(name)
Former Citibank Student Loan and Citi Cards Customer | 
