2009-05-24

Why didn't you do what we wouldn't let you?

So while I was in the hospital watching over my son, I signed on to CitiCards.com to pay my Master Card bill. Imagine my surprise when I see a message, saying my account information has been compromised, and for my security web access to my account has been disabled, and a new card is being sent to me.

In the meantime, fortunately, my card still worked for purchases (even online), so I wasn't completely without access to my credit. I just couldn't sign on to my account online.

Now, this did concern me a bit. After all, the reason I was signing on was because I needed to pay my bill. And this was how I paid my bill. Since I signed up for "paperless billing" — a service they provide and encourage — it was also the only way I had to pay my bill. And here they were, disabling access to my account and the means for paying my bill. But surely they wouldn't hold me responsible for not being able to do something they were keeping me from doing, right?

I finally got my replacement card. I lost count, but it was a few weeks later. So I was finally able to register my new card for online access, check my account… and see that finance charges and a late fee had already been assessed to it.

I guess CitiBank got tired of waiting for their bailout and decided to take it out on their customers.

3 comments:

bookladydavina said...

sadly, that sounds about right..
you could try fighting them on it, you have grounds, but they'd drag it out and make life miserable, so it may not be worth it... they know how to play the game.. and are going to play all the games they can to suck every penny from you they can get.


good luck.. glad everyone is still doing well. and my numbers (at least those i can check at home..) seem to be improving.. yay!!

. . . said...

Next time call them to see if you can pay over the phone or if there is some way to pay on time. It's your responsibility to pay your bill. Sure, it's really crappy that they did this, however, you still need to be on top of your own credit.

Yakko Warner said...

It's a fair bit of advice. However, I'd argue that they also have an obligation in this arrangement to (a) provide me a bill, and (b) provide the means to pay that bill without my having to "go find it".