Citifinancial nasty caller

[nazstar]

My husband and I both have personal unsecured loans with Citifinancial. They called him today because we both missed November and December payments. Our lawyer said not to pay unsecured, dischargable bills. Citifinancial lady told him that they were going to garnish his paycheck if he didn't pay today. She also asked for the lawyer's name, which he didn't have since we haven't officially retained him yet. Then she told him to have his wife call because I was "dodging her". Oh, and at the end, she said that she thought this whole thing was a "farce". So, I get reved up and call her ASAP. She was really nasty to my husband, I'm in a foul mood today anyway and figured I could vent a little. I've been keeping a very detailed journal of all these calls since I started answering them. Call went something like this:

Me: Hi, I'm returning a call my husband just got, but he didn't catch the name of the caller. Since there are only 3 people in that office, I was hoping you could help me.

Operator: Yes, okay. Let me see if I can look you up in the system and see who's handling your account.

Me: No need. Just turn around and yell, "who just called to harass *my husband's full name*. (At this point, she got all serious and said, yes, hold on please).

*waiting*
*waiting*

Nasty Lady (NL): Yes, how can I help you?

Me: Are you the person that just called my husband?

NL: Yes.

Me: Ok. What can I do for you?

NL: Well, he said you are filing for bankrupcty. Is that true?

Me: Yes.

NL: What is your lawyer's name?

Me: I haven't retained on yet. I'm still interviewing prospects. When I get one, I will let you know.

NL: Well, what changed that you can't make payments?

Me: A lot of things changed.

NL: You know I can garnish your wages, right? 25%.

Me: Yes. YOU know that you would have to take me to court, wait for a court date, get a judgement, and only then can you touch my paycheck, right?! Unless Citifinancial has been acquired by the IRS, you have no authority to garnish my wages without going before a judge first. Plus, this is an unsecured account that is 2 months behind and hasn't even been sent to YOUR internal collections department yet. I am assuming this is because you get rated, as an office, on you ability to collect or not collect payments. If you fail to collect, I am assuming that this will go to some internal central collections department, then an outside collection agency. After they fail to collect, you may seek a judgement against me. HOWEVER, given your reluctance, as an office, to elevate this issue, I am further assuming that you will not want to go through the expense and paper trail of garnishing my wages for an account that you KNOW will be discharged when I file chapter 7. So, let's just cut the crap and please mark me and my husband down as "do not call". I will be following up with a letter tonight, which will be sent return receipt requested.

NL: Okay. Fine. *hung up on me*


Okay, so I have no idea if that's really the way they would escalate this, but judging from her reply, I think I am in the ballpark.

[chpxiii]

I have noticed that people who make the calls for collections enjoy harassing and f*cking with people. However, they also won't put up with those they've called being stern back. Especially since you obviously know what you're doing and are informed. For them, it gets to be there's no use trying to pull b*llsh!t crap they know works on the uninformed masses. So they hang up.

Good job!

[HHM]

LoL, nice

Your description is actually pretty close to what happens.

[jennordhavn]

Good for you

I've had similar conversations but with collection agencies. They ask for payment, I say I can't pay right now, they say "well you're working, I'll just garnish your wages" and then I tell them I understand the process and I know my rights and they can't garnish my wages without going to court and obtaining a judgment. The last lady I talked to said "It's in process" and hung up. Hmmm, funny since I've checked the court every couple days and they STILL haven't filed a suit (this conversation was a month and a half ago).

They just harass you hoping you'll pay and I guess a lot of people don't know their rights. I had a previous wage garnishment and I was able to reduce it from 25% (almost $400 per check) to $75 per check by filing a claim of exemption. It's a fairly simple process. My boss at the time (an attorney, I work in a law office) said I could probably get it reduced to $0 based on my income and expenses, but I wanted to pay something affordable so that it would eventually go away. I didn't want it hanging over my head.

Anyways, good for you for asserting your rights and not falling for their scare tactics.

[whywhywhy]

I have noticed that people who make the calls for collections enjoy harassing and f*cking with people. However, they also won't put up with those they've called being stern back. Especially since you obviously know what you're doing and are informed. For them, it gets to be there's no use trying to pull b*llsh!t crap they know works on the uninformed masses. So they hang up.

Good job!

I worked for collection agency for about 3 weeks once in college, well, when I went back to college, that is. Tier 3! Worst. Job. Ever. Funny part is, most of the poeple who worked there were college students, which is the most appropriate person to have in that job of course, given the life experience of college students. Most of them were jerks because they were hungover and they found it entertaining, and of course, they got an incentive for certain amounts they collected on certain clients. Most of them didn't know how to react when someone shot back at them, other than to insult them. "Collection activity will continue" was the phrase they all said before they hung up. Only fun part (Well, its fun now) was the little black book of clients that had fun information on it, such as if they reported information to your credit report (Cingular did not at one time!) and how much they'd accept as a settlement. I quit one day in all my glory and instead of walking out, I actually told them I was leaving - "because this job sucks" They asked me to fill out an exit interview. I had fun with that.

Ironic part: took them almost 2 months to give me my last paycheck.

Ahhh, memories.

[krielly]

Oh yes..........I remember them well. Citifinancial is one of our creditors from the 13 we have been in for 26 mos now.

I just recently logged into Pacer and find that they were a couple weeks late in filing their proof of claim on about $5800.

So......... I made sure to bring that to the trustee's attention. He told me I was right, and he will file an objection to their claim.

Don't get me wrong, we are not in 100% payback, so it won't reduce the amount we have to pay, but in the end, Citifinancial will get SQUAT, and money they would have rec'd will be divided amongst our other unsecureds.

I get a twisted sort of satisfaction out of it though

[nazstar]

It just makes me so mad! We missed November payment and December isn't even due until the 10th. So, she's jumping to all this over 1 month of a missed payment. She acts like I've been avoiding her for months and months. We each owe about $7,000 to them. I can't see them bringing suit so fast against BOTH of us in 2 separate cases (both loans are individual and were taken out prior to us being married). It wouldn't be cost efficient to them at this point. There are other avenues for them to exhaust in the meantime.

[FreshLikeADaisy]

It just makes me so mad! We missed November payment and December isn't even due until the 10th. So, she's jumping to all this over 1 month of a missed payment. She acts like I've been avoiding her for months and months. We each owe about $7,000 to them. I can't see them bringing suit so fast against BOTH of us in 2 separate cases (both loans are individual and were taken out prior to us being married). It wouldn't be cost efficient to them at this point. There are other avenues for them to exhaust in the meantime.

This is what I have experienced with them, and much, much worse. You know Citi owns AT&T Universal Card, right? Same collections people, same process... ugh, I'd rather trim my nose hair with a lit match than talk to those people.

It's not like they actually listen to a word you say, anyway: the few times I actually bothered to interact I kept having to repeat myself because they were interested in bombarding me with questions, not actually hearing the answers. And then when I'd pause and just go quiet because I was done answering, they'd hang up on me and then call the house over and over and over just to make the phone ring. (Yeah, I know that is specifically mentioned in the FDCPA, but that act makes no difference to them: they broke it so often in so many different ways I lost track.)

Although they really don't call me anymore ever since I went batsh*t on them. I mean, really, really batsh*t: I had just lost my house and that was the least of my problems, it was a really bad day among MANY bad days, and some little smartass wench decided to call and start that crap with me. Again. Mmm, not wise. Somehow all that pent up grief and rage and loss and everything else of many months just came out in a screaming limitless rage. Never did that before in my life; it was a fresh new hell. I screamed so hard in less than two minutes that I was hoarse for two days. I can't believe I did it, either: from 0 to complete rage in less than a minute. I understand now how people can go postal. (And she *still* kept trying to interrupt!) No, this time I had my little loss of sanity and then *I* hung up on HER. But it must have been impressive because they don't call me anymore.

Now they just harass my elderly mother. Bastards.

[twinsplus14me]

They are relentless with us too.

We now have an unlisted number we don't give out. They would call every 5 minutes starting 1 DAY after the payment was due. I couldn't believe it. I finally stopped talking to them. It's not worth it.

[treehugger1]

I'm getting a good laugh out of all of this. i also have about $7K in unsecured with CitiFinancial. they claim that they do not have any type of hardship programs or five-year reduced interest payment plans. They are one of the few who will not work with me.

The next time they call (my local office also has a "wicked" woman,) I'm going to say, "Say there, aren't you one of those companies in the news who is having your own financial problems? Aren't you borrowing money from outside sources (and international sources) to make ends meet because you made bad financial decisions? See, we are not so different!"

I've been wondering why they are so aggresive when you miss a payment for 30 - 45 days. I also note that they seem concerned that it would be nice to get my balance below $7K. This could be that in my state $7K is the max for filing in small claims. I think I'll work real hard to keep it slightly above $7K for a few more months.
I can imagine them fixing their numbers to file a claim against me in small claims, only to have me file a counter claim that they can't file in small claims, and requesting a hearing. More important to me is that the "mean" local woman has to know that in my state neither party can have a legal representative present in small claims. I would relish the oppotunity to meet with her in small claims, which is why I know they would never allow her to be there. I would hazard a guess that most of the local office collection people have no idea what is int he small preint of the contracts their "sales" people set up. Where do they get these folks? LOL

[ruggal]

Another Citifinancial Nightmare

I was also harrassed and lied to by the folks at Citifinancial, to the point I was sued. They served me with papers, and after receipt of them, told me they would withdraw the suit if I made payment in $x amount, which I did.

However, they did NOT withdraw the lawsuit, and in fact went to court about three more times without notifying me (according to the papers I saw the judge didn't like that). About four months later, I received a certified letter stating I needed to go to court about the suit...WTF??? Well I went to court, their attorney was late, and I was given 30 days by the judge who was very nice by the way.

Their attorney took me in the hall to try to settle, and I told him and I quote "your client is a lying POS", (I had a letter from them stating they would withdraw the suit, BUT they obviously didn't), and he was not much better (attemping summary judgements without notifying me, which the judge didn't like). I also told him I would do everything in my power to avoid a judgement from them.

My attorney filed my BK one day before the return to court

Oh, and a recruiter from Citifinancial called me last Friday, to see if I would be interested in a position with them...now THAT was funny. I mentioned their financial woes, and I didn't view them as a stable company, too much risk. He didn't like that one AT ALL

[roki]

I was also harrassed and lied to by the folks at Citifinancial, to the point I was sued. They served me with papers, and after receipt of them, told me they would withdraw the suit if I made payment in $x amount, which I did.

However, they did NOT withdraw the lawsuit, and in fact went to court about three more times without notifying me (according to the papers I saw the judge didn't like that). About four months later, I received a certified letter stating I needed to go to court about the suit...WTF??? Well I went to court, their attorney was late, and I was given 30 days by the judge who was very nice by the way.

Their attorney took me in the hall to try to settle, and I told him and I quote "your client is a lying POS", (I had a letter from them stating they would withdraw the suit, BUT they obviously didn't), and he was not much better (attemping summary judgements without notifying me, which the judge didn't like). I also told him I would do everything in my power to avoid a judgement from them.

My attorney filed my BK one day before the return to court

Oh, and a recruiter from Citifinancial called me last Friday, to see if I would be interested in a position with them...now THAT was funny. I mentioned their financial woes, and I didn't view them as a stable company, too much risk. He didn't like that one AT ALL

In order for a creditor to withdraw a sued the creditor must submit into court a Motion to dismiss in which a judge will received that there is an agreement and that the Plaintiff( Creditor) is satisfied and will not move on the case. Now allot of collection companies they tell you that they are going to make the lawsuit go away if you pay them now. But if you agreed for a payment plan this collection companies will leave the lawsuit in stayed so they will use the excused in court that they are gathering evidence so on and they could keep this lawsuit in court for a year or so!. If you miss a payment they will reactivated. It is more costly for collection agencies to close lawsuit cases and open new ones that just keep that lawsuit open. I know people are always scare about going to court but sometimes is good that you paly the same legal game they are playing with you if you have a written agreement that the creditor is going to remove the sued for payment agreement. With that letter you submit a Motion to Dismiss case thru the court. What this would do if that you are making them know that you are going to honor the agreement but you want to documented thru court so case is close. Let me tell you you will get them furious and they are going to probably tell you that the agreement is off that they want the full amount but in court you will take the offer and a certified check and show the judge you just wanted to document this. Also by doing this action and the case is close you just made it super hard for them to sued you again for the same thing.

[JollyGG]

Oh, and a recruiter from Citifinancial called me last Friday, to see if I would be interested in a position with them...now THAT was funny.

I gotta say. Their benifits rock. Good health care, on site daycare, good advancement oportunities, ect. ect. I'd work for them in a heartbeat. Mabey I'm a sell out, but hey I gotta feed my family.

[FreshLikeADaisy]

I gotta say. Their benifits rock. Good health care, on site daycare, good advancement oportunities, ect. ect. I'd work for them in a heartbeat. Mabey I'm a sell out, but hey I gotta feed my family.

I think I mentioned in another post that I know people who have worked for them (AT&T Universal Card is located in the city I'm in, and Citi took it over) and without exception they said that as bad as it had been prior, when Citi came in working conditions reached a whole 'nother level of hell. Yes, you're right, the paycheck is stable and the bennies are great (for now), but if you're anywhere near Customer Service in your duties, or you're not a member of management (there are extreme disparities of treatment between the two, from what I have been told) you may not work there long enough to benefit. High turnover and **horrible** working conditions.

I wouldn't blame you if you went to work there, like you said you gotta eat, I just wouldn't expect you to stay too long. Ruggal dodged a huge bullet by turning them down, in my opinion. YMMV, of course.

[JollyGG]

I think I mentioned in another post that I know people who have worked for them (AT&T Universal Card is located in the city I'm in, and Citi took it over) and without exception they said that as bad as it had been prior, when Citi came in working conditions reached a whole 'nother level of hell. Yes, you're right, the paycheck is stable and the bennies are great (for now), but if you're anywhere near Customer Service in your duties, or you're not a member of management (there are extreme disparities of treatment between the two, from what I have been told) you may not work there long enough to benefit. High turnover and **horrible** working conditions.

I wouldn't blame you if you went to work there, like you said you gotta eat, I just wouldn't expect you to stay too long. Ruggal dodged a huge bullet by turning them down, in my opinion. YMMV, of course.

I work in the town that houses Citibank's main offices. I know a number of people who work for them. Mabey the benifits at the subsidiaries aren't as good as with Citibank itself.

Everyone I know who works/worked there loves it, has seen lots of carreer growth, and enjoys the great benifits.

Of course I live in a town that has more credit card companies than just about anywhere else. If you want good pay you kinda gotta go work for the devil if your are in certain carreer fields.