A friend just called up in tears. She has a substantial balance on a fairly new Citi Platinum account, the majority of which was at a 0% BT promo rate. Her last payment (on-line) was a few days late and she has now lost the BT promo rate along with having the interest rate of the entire balance shoot up to whatever the punitive rate is (19%? 22%?). I think that this is the second late payment on her account. The first was due to her using click-to-pay for the first time which seems to have caused a delay in processing. They took off the late charges and preserved her APR that time. She threatened cancellation, saying that the BT promo was the reason why she got the account in the first place. They wouldn't budge. She can't BT the balance anywhere else and her credit history is too poor to apply for new credit. To give you an idea, her most recent CC addition was a Cap One with a $500 CL, which she was able to get up to $1k after a call or two. Is she screwed? The only way that I can help her is to add her as an AU to my 17.5k near-zero-balance Citi account and hope that it bumps her scores enough that she gets a good BT offer from someone else in the mail soon. Second, does MBNA permit AU's to be added to their GoldOption LOC's and do they report AU tradelines? Does does Cap One report AU's? How about Amex Blue? Lastly, will this show up as a 30-day late on her credit history, or does the payment have to actually exceed 30 days late before it's reported as such? Thanks for any help that anyone can offer... RM PS. THIS is why I'm a big fan of having 4-6 good CC and/or LOC accounts with comfortably high lines - even if you don't need them. If this were me, I'd BT the balance off and SOCK DRAWER that sucker.
I had this situation with Citibank and their on line service takes AT LEAST 3 days to post. They forgave my first time however they were very clear they wouldn't do it again. I know it's a little late now but she should have called her payment in. Did she try talking to a manager? not just a rep?
Yeah, that was worth a $10 over the phone fee. She could write the Office of the President (via www.planetfeedback.com) and beg for leniency - but the problem is that they know based on account reviews of her credit report that they have her stuck. But maybe the Office of the President will reverse the penalty.
She mentioned that she was transferred to a supervisor. Her cancellation threat did not get her transferred to any kind of retention department, though. RM
I'm not going to help , but i'll reiterate some advice to everyone (and her): You can pay twice per month with citibank online. If you do this you'll never be late, and of course pay off your debt quicker. I can understand the first time sign-up for Online payment, that almost got me once... But if you want prime BT offerings on prime cards with prime limits, you kinda gotta act like a prime customer ? Maybe you can help her by Bt'ing the balances to one of your cards and let her pay you, that would be nice.
sweetchild, I used Citibank auto-pay and I never late on my payment. They deduct the amount of the payment from my checking account by the due date. I don't to remember what date to pay them. No late fee, No past due for last two years. Ron.
Whew! That was close! OK. It looks like she got the promo back. It took two calls and a rejected request for the retention department and lots of sobbing, but I think she got her promo rate back. I don't know if new purchases are at the punitive rate or not, but I'll have her check. Her budget is real tight so this is a godsend. The interest on that big BT was going to eat her alive. I'm adding her as an AU to my account and we'll get a copy of her CR soon. I want to make sure that all is clear so that we can get her another CC account ASAP. RM PS. Good advice on the two-payments-per-cycle thing. I thought she had the bill paying thing under control but I guess not. I'll suggest this to her, along with having her set up the daily e-mail reminders on the Citi site.
Re: Whew! That was close! Seriously, pound it into her little head (not literally), Citi gave her a chance. She should NOT blow it, even if she has to eat peanut butter and jelly.
Re: Whew! That was close! I eat peanut butter and jelly all the time, NOT because I have to, but because I like it... I get tired of Filet Mignon every night...
Re: Whew! That was close! It's my understanding that you must go 30-days late before they can report you 30-days late. I was told this by a few creditors.
Re: Whew! That was close! tmitchell, Sears reported my brother's Sears Gold MC thirty days late after he missed one payment. He simply forgot to pay them. They hit him $29 late payment fee and they reported hsi account as past due account in his TransUnion credit report. He called them and they told him next tme they update his account to CRA. His account would be current. Now his Sears Gold MC is current. Even he's little bit late, they report his account as PAST DUE. Ron.
Re: Whew! That was close! They only warned me once and that is all I needed. since then I understand how far in advance I need to pay if I am going to use their website..
