Complaint Review: Citibank Secured Credit Card - New York New York

 You learn more in failure and screwing up in life then going to an ivy league school or being successful in any other way. Some of the most successful businesses in the world had original owners commit bankruptcy multiple times. These are facts. Learning something from experience beats any school anyone will graduate from. And in my posts I said one business, what if I owned several? Bet you didn't think about it like that. Whoever posted a moving guide in this thread is the real funny one.

Thank you for your humerous posts.   The more I read your comments the more I just want to break out laughing.

If you want to give advice as to what you would do as a business owner, perhaps you should do that only when you didn't lead off your report saying you are in this situation because you were the owner of a failed business.

I've seen clients of mine utilize the benefits of the Citi secured card put a $200 deposit down go through their 18 months of it being unsecured, fix up their credit and then graduate to unsecured with a $7500 credit limit and get approved for their other cards like Citi Prestige or Citi Thank You Preferred.

I had a client that gave me a $200 security deposit to open a credit card and kept charging it up and paying it off multiple times, I'd graduate them much sooner than 18 months

You just proved my point. You said it took your clients 18 months to "graduate". Your comments and actions show you figured you should be allowed to shortcut this and get to that point much sooner than 18 months.  As I stated there are NO shortcuts to building/rebuilding credit and your "beliefs" while you don't see it that way are wrong.

If their reasoning to close now is correct , my utilization at 86% in 07/18 at the account opening would have the same response and they would've denied the application.

If they used the high utilization model to close my account now at 97% it only went up 11% since I opened the account in 07/2018

Keep in mind that I've never been late,

You have had the account about 2 months, at would mean that you have had only 2 due dates...possibly 3 depending on when in July you opened it. You haven't had enough time to gain any sort of track record for doing something you are SUPPOSED to do.  Why do you think that your clients had to wait 18 months?

Companies all go by what is normal. It is NOT normal for a person to do this sort of Yo-Yo account manangement.  If you had NORMAL usage on the card it is likely it still would have remained open but when you have the increased high utilization along with this "Yo-Yo" style account management you became too risky for them.

The scary thing here is that you seem to think a 97% utilization is good just because it only went up 11%. Well it couldn't go up much more now could it?  There is a HUGE difference between a change from 20% to 31% utilization and an 86% to 97% utilization.  If you can't see that then there is really nothing anyone can say to make you understand.

Anyways, I am sure your next comment will be "Citi is still paying me to not be a customer".  So in the end I will just say that the only RipOff here is the one you are doing to yourself with your credit managment ideas.

Good luck in your reevaluation.

Im glad you think I'm FUnny. You should send me money on PayPal cause I'm so amusing and abnormal. It's normally the people who think they can change the world that actually do. I bet brought up a bunch of topics and concepts you didn't know about and you learned something from me. Can't say the same about your posts considering you copied and pasted what I said and answered my factual statements like questions. I appreciate your wisdom officer but I'll handle it on my own. What I said about the FUture of credit approvals with bank balance verification in real time, is the FUture. If you go to the gym or fight or box, I'd love to throw my gloves on with you and see who comes out on top.

 No. Citibank is VERY SENSITIVE as I mentioned before with all their Citi branded cards. Their cobranded cards like home Depot and bestbuy not as much And I know I have good credit and may of been approved for a better card BUT I wanted to show Citi I was responsible before I took out a more prestigious one. I have other cards with much higher limits but given the facts I've said here I thought that was my best bet. After you go through the Citi secured program for 18 months, they give you a Citi diamond preferred unsecured card and give you back your security deposit. It's also MUCH MUCH easier to get approved for any of their other cards as long as your credit isn't damaged BECAUSE THEY HAVE AN ACTUAL PAYMENT EXPERIENCE WITH YOU. Lots of places that extend credit use this model even more so than just being a credit score like TMobile, chase and td bank. Some other Banks like Barclays also use this model in addition to your transunion report.

This is just naming a few. Many Banks are like that, Citibank especially. They are a very relationship based bank. I've seen clients of mine utilize the benefits of the Citi secured card put a $200 deposit down go through their 18 months of it being unsecured, fix up their credit and then graduate to unsecured with a $7500 credit limit and get approved for their other cards like Citi Prestige or Citi Thank You Preferred. So it's ALWAYS THE BEST if your not a Citibank credit customer to get their secured card first IF you are new to credit, have some past mistakes or would like to build a more solid foundation with them I'm optimistic Citi will reconsider because of the facts I stated here. It's a poor decision they made and I explained that to their EO. If they used the high utilization model to close my account now at 97% it only went up 11% since I opened the account in 07/2018. Keep in mind that I've never been late, it's a fully secured account and I always pay the bill in full.

This is why their risk exposure is very small here and their decision to close from most perspectives is quite excessive. If their reasoning to close now is correct , my utilization at 86% in 07/18 at the account opening would have the same response and they would've denied the application. It's simply a waste of my and their time for what happened here. The account has a zero balance and they will be returning my $200 secueity deposit back to me. That's another fact that should be taken into consideration. The secured credir account was closed when it had a zero balance.

Regardless of what you believe about credit, being a past business owner I can say from an executive standpoint that if I had a client that gave me a $200 security deposit to open a credit card and kept charging it up and paying it off multiple times, I'd graduate them much sooner than 18 months so long as they don't have any severe deliquencies on their credit reports, were never late and had no return payments. None of which Citi experienced when I was their credit client. Banks are experimenting with additional tools to approve more people for credit as the current stock market shows economic growth and investor trust which is projected to grow more as Trump makes sound decisions for our country. Companies like dropp.co are partnering with yodlee to approve customers in real time for credit solely based upon their bank balance histories without checking your credit report. Check it out. It's the future of how Banks are going to be approving people for credit cards especially with the CROA and FCRA mandates the bureaus and creditors are obliged to abide. Your facts about credit are correct but I'm more than a credit score. I hope you think the same about yourself.

In addition to your incorrect assumptions about credit, Something isn't matching up here.

in general someone with a 685 credit score...

their are no derogatory marks or any negative information at all on any of my credit reports.

In general a person with a 685 credit score and no derogatory information on their credit should not be religated to low limit "secured" cards. There is something you are not disclosing.

I don't really know where you got the idea that this entire cycle of charge-up, pay-off, charge-up, pay-off in the same month is a positive. To the outside world via your credit report they have no idea how many times you have done this, all they see is the "snapshot" on the day your credit card reports to the credit agencies.  If a credit card reports on a day you have high utilization that is bad..if they report when your balance is low..that is better. Since Citibank brought up utilization it sounds like it may be the former rather than the later.

So I would counter that if you never go more above the 30% at any time in a given month, within one or two billing cycles you may see your score show quite a nice bump and a much bigger bump than trying to open more cards. As in this case regardless of when they report you will always be at 30% or less utilization.

It isn't about showing you can charge-up and pay off your debt to the limit, it is about being able to MANAGE the limit you are given.  If you only spend a small percentage of your credit line you are showing you can "live within the means" which will in turn show you a better credit risk.

As for them paying you to not be a customer.  Your actions are actually very costly in many ways that would be too long to go here.  But to end their relationship they just need to spend about $1 to cut you a check.  But if you truly believe that they are paying you to no longer be a customer, that should be proof enough of how your actions are seen as risky by creditors.

By the way I wil have to say that you are basically in dreamland if you think they will reconsider, but of course anything is possible..just in this case not probable.  

 Charging up and paying off any credit card, when I already have half decent credit, is seen as something good. Look at amex for example that has charge cards where people spend amounts of money and pay in full every month. I have all my accounts with them and have so for a while. I know they are a relationship based bank which is why I decided to open a secured card first. I know they are picky and very sensitive people running the show over there but, in general someone with a 685 credit score with a 200$ secured credit card that charges up and pays off the card let's say 3 to 4 times a billing cycle has established their ability to pay theyre bill.

Regardless, I understand where your coming from and I fully understand all aspects of credit. Like I said before, their are no derogatory marks or any negative information at all on any of my credit reports. As a low credit limit that is secured and maxed out and paid off in full 7 times in 75 days I established that I can handle a lower card limit. This is in addition to my regular bank accounts with them which have always been in excellent standing and are uneffected by whatever issue their credit department has. I know Citibank is very sensitive to high utilization on their cards. I chose a low limit secured card for this reason. To show them my ability to pay back my debts to them in addition to my resources being over there as well. In general, securee credit products are geared towards those with much more negative information in their credit reputation like foreclosure, bankruptcy and public records, late payments. I have none of those. I've never burned citibank, ever. I've paid late on other credit cards I have which are unsecured with 50x the credit limit here and they have just charged me a fee. Even when I was a new customer, I missed a store card payment with comenity with a MUCH HIGHER limit that is unsecured and it is still open and in good standing today. That occurred within my first two billing cycles because they didn't credit my paper payment in time.

Regardless, I asked for a refund review here. I'm optimistic given the facts, they Citibank will reconsider reopening the account for the aforementioned reason. Underwriting in general for SECURED CREDIT PRODUCTS is much more lenient as they are geared make the bank more money off interest and fees while giving someone another chance at enjoying the benefits of credit. That's all I was trying to say here. They can close the account at any time and for any reason BUT if their logic is based upon their own underwriting criteria, they would be shutting out a ton of potential customers. We all know secured cards bring additional revenue streams through interest gained on the security deposits held by the issuing bank. It's 200$ I'm not even upset. It's just on principle. My time has been wasted and I've gotten no where. Thanks Citibank for paying me not to be your customer.

First of all having a Secured account that is "always" paid on time, when you have had it opened for 2 months isn't really saying a lot.  But I see your problem and it appears to be that you don't understand how to handle credit.

Since that time, I've charged it up and paid it off several times. I've never been late or caused any problems with Citibank at all!

- Actually having run up and paid off the account "several" times in 2 months is a problem for Citibank(as well as most other banks).  This actually seen as a negative by the credit card companies and increases your risk.

When I called to see why they did that, they said it was because of high utilization on my other credit cards!

- If you have other credit cards..why are you going for another "low limit" secured card? If you have high utilization on those cards you are showing improper credit management.

By the way when credit card companies report your "utilization", they will report your "high balance" for the month, as well as the balance as of when they report. So if they report on the 1st of the month, and on the first you have used 99% of your credit line. Even if you pay it off on the 2nd, your credit report will show 99% utilization.

THIS ACCOUNT IS SECURED WITH MONEY THAT I DEPOSITED TO CITIBANK TO REDUCE THE RISK THEY ARE EXPOSING THEMSELVES TO WHEN THEY OPENED THE ACCOUNT! I was also under the assumption that this secured credit card is for those who are rebuilding or establishing credit, which I fall into

- Yes your deposit REDUCES the risk, but you seem to be showing very risky behavior which was probably too much for them.  If you are truly looking to "rebuild" your card in addition to making sure your payments are on-time is to work within the credit limits provided.

Ideally you should never use more than 30% on any card, when you get to about 85% you are considered "maxed out". Your answer to that should not be "But the limit is too low". You would find using $50-$60/month on a $200 credit line and paying it off will most likely rebuild your credit faster than using $175 and paying it off(or doing that multiple times a month).

One final thing. There are no shortcuts, rebuilding your credit will take time.

Here is the information from the website you provided:

DOT: 3054918 MC: 51832 Please note that a properly licensed interstate broker, such as Excalibur Moving Group, is not a motor carrier and will not transport an individual shipper’s household goods, but will coordinate and arrange for the transportation of household goods by an FMCSA authorized motor carrier, whose charges will be determined by its published tariff. All estimated charges and final actual charges will be based upon the carrier’s tariff which is available for inspection from the carrier upon reasonable request. 

It doesn't get much clearer than that.  A moving broker cannot tell you what the final charges are because, of course, they're not the mover.  It also indicates the pricing is based on what the actual mover says the price will be - the broker won't tell you who the mover eventually will be.  However, once the mover shows up to pick up your stuff, the broker's job is complete.  I checked the DOT for you, and yes they are a licensed broker.

At this point, you now have to deal with the mover for your missing items and all claims because the broker's responsibility is complete.

Now, I don't know how much you paid, but moving is not cheap.  Finding a mover on the internet is the worst place to find a mover because all the scam movers live on the internet.  Legit movers are generally very expensive because the process is manually intensive and no 2 moves are alike.  One way or the other, you will pay - whether you pay the legit mover to move your items, or pay the scam mover, as you did, and find a lot of damaged, lost, and irreplacable items.

 Your right. It is their card and they can close it anytime under their card agreement. And Thanks for correcting my spelling! Losers with get no women always do that! A business decision to close an almost zero risk account secured credit account in full by a security deposit which is always paid on time in the eyes of many is not a good business decision. That's what happened here. They are mailing me a check for the full security deposit back! IT MAKES NO SENSE! I DID NOTHING WRONG! Thanks for correcting my spelling! Tell your wife I'll be over later.

 Your right they can close the account whenever they want. But they're still mailing me a check for my full deposit amount because the account had a zero balance. ITS LIKE THEIR PAYING ME TO STOP BEING A CUSTOMER! They just didn't like me for no reason. From a business perspective their risk tolerance is almost zero considering the account has a zero balance and is secured in full with a deposit. It's their loss not mine. I learned my lesson here. If you don't work in a bank, you have a really strong opinion and think your right. Why would they open a secured small dollar amount account, have it open for less than two months which is always paid in full on time? Sounds like their back office has a redneck accent and went to community college ;) they mad. And I appreciate your correction of my spelling. Thanks for that! I bet you get a ton of p***y correcting other people's spelling! Tell your wife I'll be over when your at work to put it in her butt because she can't feel anything! Have a nice day.

 First, if you want to make a better impression, don't start off a sentence with "So"! Be a cut ABOVE the rest! The FACTS are its their card and they can close it at any time and for any sound business reason. This was all explained to you in the Agreement you signed and no, I don't work for them!