Citi ripped me off on my Student Loan consolidation

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

runderwo said: 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 ******** 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

1. Why the heck did you wait two years to follow up?!?!?!?!

2. Why consolidate with Citi when you could have consolidated directly with Direct Loans? My brother consolidated in 2005 while still in school (he got that great rate) and it took about 5 days total, but he did not switch lenders.

Beernuts82 said: erinm said:
1. Why the heck did you wait two years to follow up?!?!?!?!


I was wondering the same..

runderwo said: I assumed that there were no more problems with the application.


Let this be a lesson to never ASSUME the clowns at Citibank are doing their jobs.

Did the OP not receive a single account statement or make a single payment in those two years?

Your letter is too long. I didn't read it; Citi didn't read it.

Citibank is correct that it is illegal to reset your rate to the old 2.87%. Your only avenue would be for them to admit they are right and your interest rate would still be at the 6.8% but they would give you an interest rate reduction on their system to bring you down to the 2.8%. Most likely they will not take a 4% loss and you will be stuck at the 6.8% If this is the case i suggest you just consolidate elsewhere so you at least get your debt out of there.

To share my experience...I had a consolidation issue at the same time with Citi. I consolidated in May 2005 two citi loans and one small perkins with my school. The consolidated loans showed up about a month later. But it took me until March 2006 to get them to send a check to my other lender.

I was totally onto it as well and it still took that long. I had to pay duplicate interest on the perkins loan balance for 9 months!!! All they could tell me was at least I got the pre-July 2005 rate.

I think this is the consolidation site I used a few years back
and it worked out well

link

I followed through with everything that was required. Please, name one thing that I did not do, besides assume Citibank was going to do their jobs...

And thanks for the compliment, but I am not a "kiddie".

Citi isn't losing money on a 2.8% student loan, the Fed Gov actually subsidizes your loan to Citi so that Citi, or other lenders, do not lose money on student loans. Fed student loans are great for lenders, they are subsidized and backed by the fed government. Not a bad way to go.

So by your logic, when someone comes to me and offers me money to do something, I agree to do it, and then do absolutely nothing instead, then when they come back to me later yelling at me about how they were relying on me to get it done, I can just blame them for my own inaction -- because they should have been riding my ass on it if they REALLY wanted it done?

Sorry, but I'm not going to take the blame for this one. Yeah, in few ways I ENABLED Citibank to drop the ball by not riding their asses, but it was still Citibank that dropped the ball by dragging ass and being uncommunicative. I don't see how hard it would have been to send me a postcard or a phone call when they were about to terminate the consolidation. Such a small bit of effort to retain a customer relationship would make sense anywhere, except Citibank-bizarro-world it seems.

I may take the loss in the end, but I'm not going to just shrug and blame myself as other posters have suggested. I didn't post this thread to cry alligator tears, I posted it to ask for others' advice who have deal with Citibank. So if you have something actually useful to contribute regarding actual experience with Citibank, I would appreciate hearing about it. Otherwise it's just threadcrapping (but maybe that's your thing, whatever).

runderwo said: I may take the loss in the end, but I'm not going to just shrug and blame myself as other posters have suggested. I didn't post this thread to cry alligator tears, I posted it to ask for others' advice who have deal with Citibank. So if you have something actually useful to contribute regarding actual experience with Citibank, I would appreciate hearing about it. Otherwise it's just threadcrapping (but maybe that's your thing, whatever).

You are young and inexperienced. It is unfortunate that you are unable to take the most valuable thing away from this, and that is a life lesson that you can't count on people to do what they say they will do or what they are supposed to do. Instead of taking this VERY important lesson to heart, you ignore it and say you shouldn't have to worry about it.

That is fine, but I guarantee you then, that many more times in your life you will lose something substantial because of your lack of willingness to follow up on what someone else is responsible for... it is your life, but part of growing as a person is learning from this situations and learning how to prevent them in the future, not just blaming someone else.

Out of curiosity, what do you plan to do with your degree? I would recommend not doing any job that requires you to supervise even one person, because you can't manage or supervise people if you believe you should never have to worry about or follow up on what someone else is supposed to be doing.

aeiouy said: You are young and inexperienced. It is unfortunate that you are unable to take the most valuable thing away from this, and that is a life lesson that you can't count on people to do what they say they will do or what they are supposed to do. Instead of taking this VERY important lesson to heart, you ignore it and say you shouldn't have to worry about it.

No. I'm saying that as a *customer*, entering an agreement to pay them *money*, I shouldn't be *expected* to have to worry about it. I would have taken my money elsewhere had I known this is how Citibank treats customers. I don't like dealing with businesses that don't care enough about my business to follow through.

As an example, I called 3 parts houses looking for some seals the other day. All of them said they would check on the price and give me a call back, but only one actually did. Guess which one made a sale? Didn't matter that the other ones may have beaten their price. They didn't follow through.

I guess it's different strokes for different folks on this...

Out of curiosity, what do you plan to do with your degree? I would recommend not doing any job that requires you to supervise even one person, because you can't manage or supervise people if you believe you should never have to worry about or follow up on what someone else is supposed to be doing.

What the heck kind of company do you work for? At the places I've worked, including my current job, they have these things called "probation" and a "pink slip" when an employee is not doing his job. It'd only be a government or union job that you could get away with such behavior... not in a professional private sector position.

Let me fill you in on a little something.

At 16 or 17 years old we think we know a lot.

By 19-21 we know we know everything.

By 23 we are a little less sure.

By 25 we know we know jacksquat.

Want me to guess how old you are?

runderwo said:

No. I'm saying that as a *customer*, entering an agreement to pay them *money*, I shouldn't be *expected* to have to worry about it. I would have taken my money elsewhere had I known this is how Citibank treats customers. I don't like dealing with businesses that don't care enough about my business to follow through.[/quote]

And people are telling you if you do not follow up you will continue to have these costly things happen to you, and you will be left with little recourse. I doubt many of us care if you choose to live your life the hard way.


[quote]As an example, I called 3 parts houses looking for some seals the other day. All of them said they would check on the price and give me a call back, but only one actually did. Guess which one made a sale? Didn't matter that the other ones may have beaten their price. They didn't follow through.[/quote]

And what if none of them called you back. Would you have simply assumed none of them had the part? I don't understand the analogy or comparison. Lots of places will redo your student loans. Since it is not the price and only the call-back you are interested in you should have no problems.

 


[quote]What the heck kind of company do you work for?[/quote]

My own. But I have worked for several others as well. I have been managing people since I was 17 years old.

[quote]At the places I've worked, including my current job, they have these things called "probation" and a "pink slip" when an employee is not doing his job.[/quote]

Is that how you think the world works? If someone does not do something precisely as expected that they just get fired? Is that how people are trained or learn? Like I said, make sure you take a job where you either work absolutely alone or are on the bottom of the pyramid. When you supervise people you follow up with them to make sure they are doing what they are supposed to be doing. Kind of right there in the word supervise, ala supervisor. Make sure there are no issues, no unforeseen problems etc.

Or I guess you could wait 2 years and then tell your boss the reason why the project you were in charge of did not get done is because Bobby missed a key element and it did not get finished.

Besides Bobby, who else do you think will be fired? Oh that would be you.

Why are you so adverse to taking on responsibility for things that impact you.

This thread is a good example of why I am very reluctant to seek advice on FW, and very careful when I do choose to seek advice.

A large community forum is always filled with obnoxious, self-righteous, annoying, rude people, and the last thing I want when, whether I'm "right" or "wrong," and I'm frustrated/worried/uncertain is to read a bunch of blather from those that just want to rub it in and stand a soap box spouting false wisdom.

aeiouy said: Let me fill you in on a little something.

At 16 or 17 years old we think we know a lot.

By 19-21 we know we know everything.

By 23 we are a little less sure.

By 25 we know we know jacksquat.

Want me to guess how old you are?


Is this a carnival game? Entertain me.

Does one ever grow out of being a pretentious troll on internet forums? How old do you have to be to grow out of attacking people's character instead of simply being helpful?



And people are telling you if you do not follow up you will continue to have these costly things happen to you, and you will be left with little recourse. I doubt many of us care if you choose to live your life the hard way.

So why the hell are you bothering to reply if you so couldn't care less and you're so bored?

If I were to do it again -- and could stomach doing business with them again -- yes, I would follow up with them, given the knowledge gained. It in no way changes the fact that THEY screwed up!


And what if none of them called you back. Would you have simply assumed none of them had the part? I don't understand the analogy or comparison. Lots of places will redo your student loans. Since it is not the price and only the call-back you are interested in you should have no problems.

Because of Citi screwing up while the government regulations changed, it's IMPOSSIBLE for me to have my student loans re-done WITH ANYBODY until I have diploma in hand. That is the point. I now no longer HAVE a choice to take the most responsive company, because I happened to pick the *least possible* responsive company as my first choice.

Is that how you think the world works?

Yes, of course you're the only one that actually has a life here. Anyone else's experience and perspectives are irrelevant, and of course you are the only one of drinking age here :rolleyes:

If someone does not do something precisely as expected that they just get fired?

It's not a matter of not doing something precisely as expected. It's a matter of not lifting a damn finger. You wouldn't fire an employee who just loafs and half-asses through the day, acting completely disinterested in his job and shrugging off any criticism? Remind me not to invest in your outfit.

Or I guess you could wait 2 years and then tell your boss the reason why the project you were in charge of did not get done is because Bobby missed a key element and it did not get finished. Besides Bobby, who else do you think will be fired? Oh that would be you.

Managing companies that I do business with should not be my job. That has nothing to do with a job that I take on with full knowledge that managing others is part of the job. Citibank sent me a letter saying that they would contact me as the loan application progressed. Why is it unreasonable for me to demand of them that they simply live up to their word? Should I now apologize to them for making such demands of them, and tell them that I have come to realize they had every right to silently drop my application because I wasn't riding their ass?

Why are you so adverse to taking on responsibility for things that impact you.

You are not asking me to take responsibility. You are demanding that I take the BLAME for not only my own failure, but someone else's failure as well.

Me dropping the ball would not have resulted in the loan being killed. Only Citibank dropping the ball killed the loan. I enabled them to drop the ball without consequences by not being more proactive, and that is all the blame I'm going to take.

I helped edit his useless letter down to a short 2 paragraphs that Citi would investigate and respond to.

Your reply was among the only useful ones, and yes, I'm faxing it on Monday.

Did he send it and wait for Citis response, or just keep coming back to argue here, among people who are willing to help but dont want to hear a rant from someone with no personal responsibility.

Hardly anybody here is willing to help. Most responders just want to blame the victim, because they get a kick out of the rise they get out of me -- knowing that if I want real help, I'll keep coming back here and biting.

Please stop judging me, as you know absolutely nothing about me.

My personal responsibility does not include taking blame for the failures of others. I'd hate myself day and night if I were to blame myself every time someone else I dealt with screwed up. This one slipped through, and it was a biggie.

I am trying to fix it in a way that minimizes my damage, instead of just throwing up my hands and "learning an expensive life lesson". Isn't that personal responsibility?

My gf had a similar problem with Citi and her med school loans. She consolidated before the rates went up a couple years ago. The rate change casued a HUGE back log in cosolidation apps.

In some cases Citi did not notify people that the process was stalled because of whatever reason. Cryptic letters were sent out that made just about no sense... of course not having a correct address in file with Citi only complicates the issue.

Citi is known for "figthing" to keep student loans and preventing consolidation. It took about 1.5 years of persistent calling to move the $140k in loans from Citi to PHEAA an lock-in the 2.8%.

Oddly enough it took 3 months to move the $140k + another $40k for the last year of med school from PHEAA to CFS.

I don't think the letter is correct way to go. You need to make lots and lots of phone calls and ask for supervisors.

Constantly say things like "i am sorry, you are not helping me resolve this situation", "can I speak to your supervisor" or "can I talk to someone else who can help me out". My gf was also very good at getting PHEAA to call Citi directly and have them work the issues out, casue PHEAA wants the loan as much as Citi want to keep it.

Good luck.

How much money are we talking here? I don't think I see OP mentioned it somewhere.

If we're talking about 15-25K, you might just do 1 to 3 round AOR (and then just pay off). I just don't think you will see much benefit from such small amount by going through hell w/ citi + seem we know that it's almost impossible to get the 2.8%.

Eeek..OP, some people will try to help you, some will try to help then criticize after it sounds like an argument, and others will just say the "shoulda coulda's." It's okay. I'm only 24 years old and didn't even know about loan consolidation and locking in interest rates until 6 months after graduation. I currently have a 5.125% rate. Just do what you can to mitigate the losses since it's already after the fact. Cut your losses and go forward since, short of a near miracle, it doesn't look like Citi will help you. Put a whole bunch of money into a high yield account until the interest will outweigh interest paid on the loan, do AOR, invest, etc., anything to get over the interest owed. Like me you might always think that you'd be much better off if this whole event was averted, and yes, Citi messed up, but it's okay. It's a minor thing in the long run. Going forward...

Edit: I forgot to mention my loans are through Citi as well - and yea, it's kinda crappy with such a high interest rate we're better off making high payments instead of the minimums. My loan payments are equivalent to that of a luxury car.

Why did you use CITI? Citi like most large banks screw you. You should have used the US Dept of Education for loan consolidation. I know CITI was using promotional gimmicks to get people to consolidate but a lot of people got screwed, not just by citi but other banks. I helped 3 family members consolidate 2 with US Dept of Education and 1 with Wachovia back in 2005 and the only one that fell through was the Wachovia. Which now they are stuck with paying 6.8%. The US dept of education was a smooth not hassle or tricks process. Mostly because they are not in it for a profit, i think.