Severe Adverse Action from Citibank

when the US Government allowed us to buy savings bonds on credit cards, I financed mine by maxxing out my Citi cards with 0% APY offers. Ironically, at the end of the 0% APY period I lost my job, so I applied for a credit protector feature and had them freeze the bill while I was collecting unemployment.

When unemployment ran out, I didn't have any unemployment check stubs to prove I was still unemployed - so the credit protector was de-activated and I paid off the balance in full immediately.

My AT*T citi card was closed by Citibank in the very next statement cycle.

My current App-O-Rama consists of 3 CITI cards, I'm hesitant on pushing the envelope further. I am utilizing Discover, AMEX, Chase, and Capital One at the moment. I consolidated all my private student loans at a ghastly 8.5% to 4.99% on AMEX. Dumping $25k of the App-O-Rama to 6.01% checking, but after taxes doubt that will help me much... the rest goes into the loan repayment, since it will be a biteable amount to repay from my employment before the 0% offer expires.

stook2001 said: All of my Citibank credit card accounts were closed yesterday.

This includes, I believe 5 new credit card accounts (both business, personal, cobranded, etc.) as well as my 3 pre-existing accounts that were in good standing. I have not yet confirmed that ALL were in-fact closed, although this is what I was told by the Credit Analyst I spoke with this evening.

The reason given was exclusively the number of recent inquiries, which I was told were 13 on experian. This is, of course, the result of my App-O-Rama from 2 weeks ago, detailed in FW Finance.

In any event, Citi expects around 5 inquiries per year (this is what I was told). I discussed with the analyst that I had comparatively high and stable income that I could demonstrate with Tax records, current pay stubs, etc. Also described myself as a long time customer with moderate revolving balances that are PIF monthly. No movement whatsoever and I normally do very well on the phone with CSRs since I come across very professionally and courteous.

I was given the names of the Credit Managers to speak with tomorrow, which I will do.

Any advice?

Edit: Link to my AOR is here - AOR Thread Link

The best advice I can give you is don't do anything the banks would see as unusual behavior that couldn't be attributed to a normal consumer.

5 new credit card accounts from one borrower, that could be seen as not normal. Through my 2 AOR's the only time I ever got rejected (actually, requests for more information) were from Citi when I applied for three cards at once. As a general rule of thumb, never apply for more than two cards from a lender at a time. You may be able to stretch that to 3 if one is a business card, but I still think 3 could pull a red flag and wouldn't do it personally.

Obviously, we've seen many adverse actions due to oversized AORs here recently. I would recommend trimming down your AOR's to under 10 cards, just the ones which get you the most bang each, no more than 2 per lender. You may even see almost as many approvals from a 10 card AOR than a 20 card AOR since approval rates will be close to 100 percent if your credit is good.

74ak said:
I live in EQ-pull state, and they always pulled EQ (for all applications and CLI) before, this time they pulled my virgin EX (I wanted to freeze it but thought 1 inq will not hurt)...

Interesting ...
On the # of inquiries concern: having exactly one typically results in a higher score than having exactly zero (on the flip side it's easy to go from 0 to 1, but not the other way around).

74ak said: Lab rabbit update:
I live in EQ-pull state, and they always pulled EQ (for all applications and CLI) before, this time they pulled my virgin EX (I wanted to freeze it but thought 1 inq will not hurt)...One thing that I know is that they read this thread religiously and know how to play our game now.Looks like they know about bumpage. It'll be interesting to watch where they pull in the next few months.

74ak said: I am waiting for results. If succesful, I will try one more time...only one time, last time
OK, I got the card with CL almost twice the size of previous one. Should I push my luck for one more?

I finally beat Citi on a credit card issue with one card, and got them to modify CR and SURPRISE! they closed all of my other accounts. The reason? Well they listed all of the reasons posible CA reason. I did not do AOR with them.

frank10b said: I finally beat Citi on a credit card issue with one card, and got them to modify CR and SURPRISE! they closed all of my other accounts. The reason? Well they listed all of the reasons posible CA reason. I did not do AOR with them.
could you update QS with your info? and welcome to the club

Did you do A.O.R at all?

swishyx said: 74ak said: swishyx said:
I have never heard of or seen CCSI. What does it stand for?
according to CB, it is Citicorp Credit Services Inc. And since I could find it only on CB, most liekly it handles deadbeats' account review high risk accounts, including bacruptcy and loss privention I guess, which falls into early warning dept (the one that sents notices with AA) or vice versa. I opted out, so CCSI on my report is Account Review from citi, but different group since it is different from regualr AR entry CITI
Yeah... sounds like the whole bit about watching what address your AMEX account reviews come from, where I think FL (IIRC) indicates an FR is coming.

I was curious too and found this in a court filing--

Citicorp, a global financial services company, has among its subsidiaries, Citibank and Citicorp Credit Services, Inc. (“CCSI”). Citibank issues credit cards and places its delinquent accounts for collection with CCSI, a credit card servicing company. This arrangement requires Citibank to deliver confidential information concerning its accounts and its collection practices to CCSI. CCSI is contractually bound to maintain the confidentiality of the information it receives from Citibank.

and in another:

CCSI is an affiliated entity that assists Citibank in collecting delinquent debts.

The question is -- Why are they running softs on Experian on accounts in good standing?

ETA--

Somebody else wrote to Citigroup Investor's Relations and received this breakdown of the various Citi entities.
Per this info CCSI is a "service corporation"

Citi Cards as an organization is comprised of several corporations and
banks that make up Citibank's credit card business in North America.
Each of these corporate entities are wholly-owned subsidiaries of
Citigroup.

The principal service corporations in the US are:

Citicorp Credit Services, Inc. (sub of Citibank, N.A.)
Citicorp Credit Services, Inc. (USA) (sub of Citibank, N.A.)
Citicorp Credit Services, Inc. (Delaware) (sub of Citibank Delaware)

Citibank (Nevada), N.A. (a national bank) is also a principal servicing entity

The banks that issue credit cards for the organization are:

Citibank (South Dakota), N.A. for consumer products Visa, MasterCard
and private label oil programs
Citibank USA, N.A. for a number of private label programs including
Sears and Home Depot as well as commercial, small business and
government credit card programs.
Both banks are headquartered in Sioux Falls, South Dakota

Citibank (Nevada), N.A. provides services to the issuing banks, but
also holds a participated interest in credit card receivables that are
originated by the two SD banks.

Nummerkins said: LaJollaInvestor said:
The question is -- Why are they running softs on Experian on accounts in good standing?


Because you give them PP by have an account with them. Lots of credit companies do this, most famous of all AMEX.

Sorry if I wasn't clear Nummerkins. I know about soft ARs

I was wondering what prompts a CCSI inquiry (vs. CBNA) for prime or super-prime customers. From everything I've read
CCSI is the division that handles delinquencies. Perhaps it also now operates the "early warning dept" ??

There is no question that Citi (along with all of the CCIs) is hyper-vigilant these days.

Lenders are extremely nervous and focused on risk management.

Here is a better question. Has anyone successfully applied for NEW Citi cards after Citi closed accounts?

Citi closed my accounts back in December. But my next AOR is due to start this October. Would a clean credit report and 10 months between adverse action be enough for Citi to give me some more free money?

74ak said: DjPiLL said: Here is a better question. Has anyone successfully applied for NEW Citi cards after Citi closed accounts?

yes, I did, see above. The question is how soon will they close it again? If that decision is algorithm based then may be in a month or so...after 1st AR pull

Who cares. As long as I have their money I don't care of they close it again.

It took them over a month after my AORs to close my other accounts. I'll definitely have their money by then.

Sintax said: DjPiLL said: Here is a better question. Has anyone successfully applied for NEW Citi cards after Citi closed accounts?

Citi closed my accounts back in December. But my next AOR is due to start this October. Would a clean credit report and 10 months between adverse action be enough for Citi to give me some more free money?

I got denied for a CashReturns card after getting AA on my accounts.


Here's what you should know
Unfortunately, we are unable to approve the application at
this time because:

o The credit privileges on your existing account(s) are currently restricted.

Was that an instant decline? Or after a deferred decision?

Sintax said: DjPiLL said: Here is a better question. Has anyone successfully applied for NEW Citi cards after Citi closed accounts?

Citi closed my accounts back in December. But my next AOR is due to start this October. Would a clean credit report and 10 months between adverse action be enough for Citi to give me some more free money?



Here's what you should know
Unfortunately, we are unable to approve the application at
this time because:

o The credit privileges on your existing account(s) are currently restricted.
I got denied for a CashReturns card after getting AA on my accounts. How long did you wait between the AA and your CashReturns application? Weeks? Months? Years?

tim1 said: Wife did 25 card AOR this month. Citi closed her 8 accounts after BT of 89% of CL on 2 new cards and one existing card, also cashreturns usage to fund new checking accounts, and request for refund of overpayment to one existing card. no other aa from any other issuer, just citi.

no surprise, but at least we have citi's money at 0% for the next 12 months

Interesting on using the cc for funding a checking account...this has been mentioned before...I just did one to fund a BOA account (a little used Citibank dividend card that is getting 2% back on all purchases right now)....I guess tread lightly...

Ok, I have been trying to profile myself to see if I am due for AA. Do any of you think voluntarily closing my citi amex now would be a good idea. It has a 20k limit and recently requested a CLI for a total credit line of 35k. Also applied for cashreturns card but it was rejected. Also, has anyone tried 360creditsolutions? They claim they can remove inquiries from Experian and Equifax with $40-$90 a pop. I have over 15 inquiries on EX. Hmmm.

Has anyone here had experience reapplying after "Severe Adverse Action from Citibank?" If so, how long did you wait, and what happened?

I posted my latest experience here.

tim1 said: Wife did 25 card AOR this month. Citi closed her 8 accounts after BT of 89% of CL on 2 new cards and one existing card, also cashreturns usage to fund new checking accounts, and request for refund of overpayment to one existing card. no other aa from any other issuer, just citi.

no surprise, but at least we have citi's money at 0% for the next 12 months

so, after all my card were paid off from her AOR, I applied for 4 cards myself, and after consolidation took a bt from associated bank, discover, 37k from boa (100% of CL), and consolidated 2 chase cards cl to a chase business with 15 month 0% offer. weeelll... after the consolidation I had a 58k limit, and before I could take the BT, chase did a review and saw 40k in the bt's from the other cards and decided I was risky.

Chase closed all my accounts and all my wife's accounts. I called and asked if I could send asset statements or w2 or anything.. the guy said I was only using 15% of my total CL, but it was to risky to reopen my accounts.

got the letters today explaining 3 reasons listed from the re-review, but to be honest I would not loan to myself at 0% so I do not blame chase. my heloc is paid off for another year, and I have 100k in 4 rewards checking accounts earning extra money... so I guess I pushed things a little far... will try again in another year.

canhelp said: My citibank checking and saving accounts are blocked. I called them today, an Indian guy let me go to branch. But there is no branch in my state. I want to close all my accounts and get my money back. Anyone has idea about that?

Any idea why they got blocked? If my experience is a guide, you are in for a long road to get them unblocked.

canhelp said: I applied for another new checking account. They let me send phone bill, pay stub etc. After that, they said they cannot verify my information and close my new account. But my old ATM card is also got blocked, I called them they said they will send me new ATM card and pin by air mail. After 2 weeks, I haven't got anything, I called back on Saturday, an Indian guy said my account got blocked and I need go to branch. But there are no branch in my state. I may call back on Monday to see other people can do it for me.

I had good luck recently dealing with a supervisor named Matthew - mr46576 is his code. Everyone else I dealt with there either gave me the "visit a branch" or "call back during a different time of day" or "write a letter to corporate." None of those suggestions did any good, as no one at the branch could remove the block and calling at a different time of day just gave me more "visit a branch" suggestions. The letter never seemed to arrive where they told me to send it.

We just had six accounts closed between me and my husband. None of them were used heavily, none had balances at the time of closure.

It sucks, I'm not sure I'm going to call and try to get them restored. I haven't had much use for Citi's cards in a while, they just aren't competitive for us and our spending habits.