I applied for a Citibank card that offered 0% interest for 18 months on balance transfers so that I could pay off the balance on another credit card sooner. I applied online and was immediately approved, however (despite my good credit history and score) I was only given a credit limit of $1, 000.00. That made the card useless to me since the only reason I got it was for the balance transfer and $1, 000.00 wouldn’t come close to covering my balance. Plus, I already have enough credit cards and didn’t want to take a hit on my credit score for opening up a new account with such a puny limit.
I looked online to see if there was an option to cancel my application, but there wasn’t. So I immediately called Citibank’s customer service department...and spent the next hour dealing with sheer incompetence. The first person I talked to said their department didn’t handle my type of request and I needed to call a different department. I called that department and they told me they didn’t handle it and I needed to call the department I had already spoken to. I spent over an hour on the phone being routed around and told by everyone I spoke with that they couldn’t help me.
Finally I was told since the application wasn’t in the system I would have to call back the next day. I called back the next day and was told I would need to wait 48 hours for my application to process and show up in their system. Every person I spoke to I told that I did not want my application to process, I was trying to cancel it and that they had better not open an account, send me a card, or report a new account on my credit. The response from everyone was that they had no control over any of that. I called back 48 hours later and was told my application had been processed but they would close the account.
The next week a card came in the mail and now 3 months later I have a new account on my credit that was closed the same day....double whammy on my score. I’m in the process of purchasing a home, and this has dropped my score significantly. I called Citibank to complain and demand they remove the account from my credit report....and was told they do not handle those types of requests over the phone, I will need to send in a letter. I have NEVER dealt with a credit card company with such poor customer service and just all around incompetence. After I resolve this issue with my credit, I will never deal with Citibank again and I will advise everyone I know to avoid them as well.