Hey guys, figured I'd post this since I don't work there anymore =) These are the citi payment concessions and lingo in case you need them. I went $5 over my credit line over vacation, and citibank raised my APR from prime + 1% (employee rate) to 28.24%. Screw 'em. Basic knowledge: Calling collections back is not in your favor. The callback center does not have many options for you and they don't budge for late fees and other things. You do have a lot more leverage when collections calls you, because we get a monthy incentive for payments collected, and trust me: collectors calling you from Citi will do anything to get you to pay anything. *Bucket 1, or first month behind: You can't really get much out of being 1 month behind. You have leverage when they call you by saying "Hey, I'll make a payment with you over the phone if you credit me back the late fee and waive the stupd $15 phone fee." I charged 5% of fees when I did payments over the phone. Even the best fee charge collectors struggle to get over 50% check draft fees charged. You also have your first chance of getting an ABOT: ABOT: (account-back-on-track)... this conession is normally offered by collectors during months 1-4 of being behind. You have an option of 3-6 months of either having your interest rate dropped to 10%, or your OCL (over credit line) and late fees stopped, or if you're lucky... you can get both the fees and interest rate lowered. However, the drawbacks: your accounts is closed, and once your 3-6 months is up, your account goes back to square one (high interest plus fees) and your account stays closed. You will only get a good ABOT (10% interest and zero fees for 6 months) when you're 3-4 months behind. *Bucket 2, or two months behind: Same thing as 1 really, except we can offer a little better ABOT. *Bucket 3: You now have PAYALT (PAYment ALTernative) options. There are a lot of them, such as: 0% interest and zero fees for 12 months, 5% and fees for 6 months, and any combo you can think of in the middle (12 months of 5% with no fees, etc) *Buckets 4-6: Pretty similar...they can offer PAYALTS, abots, settlements, etc. Settlements: Citi settlements are like this. Bucket 1 is told not to settle for less than 90%... Bucket 2 85%, Bucket 3, 75%, Bucket 4+... 70%. However, they will go lower if you tell them you are settling for really low percentages on other creditors. Citi will pull your credit report and see what you settled for the other guys. Most abots / payalts are computed by diving your balance by 32 and adding some amount... Hope some of that stuff helps.
Thanks, Great Post. I have 2 Citi accounts that I am trying to settle for my mother. One is a OfficeMax Balance $1,374.00 they would settle for 60% it's back 4mo and the other is a account with a Bal of $5,900.00 that is back around 12mos. I have settled a lot of her accounts for 30 to 50%, never over 50%. The one account I'm not to worried about but the $5,900.00 What do you think they would settle this account for 50%? Like I said, Great post thanks for taking the time to do that.
