Citibank - Changed Sort Codes

Clive_Matthews

Just posting this as a heads-up for any other Citicard customers who might get hit, like I've just been, with a £12 late payment "charge".

I've had a Citibank card for years, I originally had it when it was an "Associates" card, but Citi took them over years ago and I carried on paying it through my internet banking with no problems at all.

I logged onto Citicards to check my account this afternoon and found that I'd been charged £12 for late payment and that despite £200 leaving my current account, it hadn't been received by Citibank.

A phone call to Citi's insufferable Indian call centre was necessary, where I was told I'd used the wrong sort code. I said I'd been using these same details for years, and that I wasn't told of any change. Anyway, they're going to try and trace it and if they do, they will remove the £12 charge from the account. Oh - and "Would you like to make another payment today to bring the account up to date, Mr Matthews?" .... Er, no!

Don't know if this problem will affect any other customers of Citibank - it might just be people like me who had the old Associates card - but it's worth checking your online statements just to make sure, I guess.

Clive_Matthews

An update for you!

Rang Citi's Indian call centre today to see if they'd traced the payment.
They tell me they hadn't, and I need to go to the Halifax to get a "BACS trace" done so they "can help me further". I doubt Citibank could ever "help" anyone, ever. But there you go, I ring the Halifax who won't do a BACS trace because the £200 has been sent to the correct sort code and account number, "Citibank MUST have received it" they tell me.
Back I go to the script-reading zombies at Citibank and threaten to close the account, tell them they've in effect stolen my £200 and I wasn't happy. They won't budge an inch and insist on a BACS trace.

Advice, anyone? Apart from the obvious of "avoid Citibank like the plague"?

Clive_Matthews

Ok, another update for you. I phoned Halifax during office hours yesterday and spoke to a very helpful girl who was more than happy to do a BACS trace on this missing/stolen £200 payment.

BACS told her that it appears Citibank HAVE ACCEPTED the payment ... BUT for some reason known only to them, have not applied it to my account.

When I first phoned Citibank about this missing payment they allegedly tried to trace this payment and couldn't find it - funny that, eh?

BACS will send a query to Citibank now, asking them what the hell is going on and hopefully I will have an answer on Wednesday/Thursday. Possibly even get the morons at Citibank to apply the £200 I've paid them in good faith to my account, too!

Watch this space.

juliusceasor

Clive_Matthews wrote: »

. Oh - and "Would you like to make another payment today to bring the account up to date, Mr Matthews?" .... Er, no!

s.

I think you will find that you will now be paying interest until you clear your balance in full even if you continue to make payments by the due dates. That's my experience of Citi. Personally I find they immediately hit you with penalties interest etc as soon as they can no exceptions according to their terms. I personally think they are a god-awful credit card company for customer service and fairness.

Clive_Matthews

Another update!

Well, I recently had my latest monthly bill from Citi and the sort code for payments has indeed changed from what I have been using for years on end, the account number remains the same however. Just how long it has been changed I've no idea, I would guess years, I received no notification of it and have been paying these vultures successfully through internet banking for ages!

The scum at Citibank had the nerve to phone me during the week. One of the call centre simians demanded that I "bring the account up to date despite the ongoing dispute" - I said that I don't negotiate with extortionists and hung up on him!

Rang the Halifax earlier this week, and all too predictably, Citi have not responded to their demands for an explanation of what's happened to my £200. A BACS trace has been done, and Citi DID receive the money - but didn't apply it to my account. The matter has been escalated now and I will call them back on Wednesday (workload permitting) to hopefully be told some good news.

Clive_Matthews

Well, It's been a tad over SIX MONTHS but I've finally got my £200 credited back to my Halifax account, courtesy of the Halifax themselves.

Played ping-pong with Citi for months, they kept saying that the evidence I provided to them from Halifax was "insufficient" and was not a proper BACS trace print-out, which it wasn't, to be fair - but Halifax insisted it was as good as. Citi also kept on losing (or pretending to lose) other letters I sent to them with additional information.

Finally I launched an official complaint at Halifax about two months ago. Was contacted by phone last week by a reallt helpful chap from Halifax who had looked at the whole sorry saga and was baffled why Citi were insisting on a BACS trace anyway, since the transaction wasn't done through BACS but through Fast Track??! Anyway, he successfully managed to get the £200 credited back to my account electronically from the recipients account - turned out it didn't go to Citibank for some reason but to an offshoot of HSBC in Malaysia (don't ask me how THAT happened!).
Citibank also refunded my £12 late payment charge as well, so it's all worked out in the end, thank god.
Moral of the story is don't give up - I was continually fobbed off by Halifax at low level and Citibank at ALL levels, and was tempted to just give up on it a couple of times, but I'm glad I didn't - After all, £200 is STILL a fair sum of money, even today!

97trophy

Well done!:T