{"id":8931,"date":"2009-10-14T20:00:25","date_gmt":"2009-10-15T00:00:25","guid":{"rendered":"\/\/www.askmrcreditcard.com\/news\/?p=8931"},"modified":"2009-10-14T20:00:25","modified_gmt":"2009-10-15T00:00:25","slug":"sister-act","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.askmrcreditcard.com\/news\/sister-act\/","title":{"rendered":"Sister Act"},"content":{"rendered":"

I had the most bizarre telephone call to a credit card company.\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 I was explaining to their supervisor<\/em> how their web site works.\u00a0\u00a0 Let me start from the beginning.<\/p>\n

I opened up an a savings\u00a0 account at Citibank some time ago.\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 They offer this neat feature where you can initially fund your account with a payment from your credit card.\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 I chose to fund it with a Citibank\/American Airlines credit card.\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 Later, I received the bill, and went to their web site to pay it.\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 The site clearly listed both my Citibank credit card account, and my Citibank savings account.\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 My first attempt to schedule a transfer was unsuccessful.\u00a0\u00a0 I received a message saying that the feature was not available at that time.\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 A few days later, I was successful in scheduling a transfer from my Citibank Savings account to my Citibank credit card.\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 Or so I thought.<\/p>\n

You’re Kidding Me<\/strong><\/p>\n

At work I received a phone call from Citibank’s credit card department asking me why I missed a payment.\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 I told them that I would have to research it and call them back.\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 When I checked the online account, there was no record of my transfer payment.<\/p>\n

Step One, Contact Citi Banking
\n<\/strong><\/p>\n

I call Citi banking, and try to explain the situation.\u00a0\u00a0 The representative authenticates me and is just about to tell me the problem, and the line goes dead mid-sentence.\u00a0 No one bothers to call me back.<\/p>\n

Step Two, Contact Citi Banking, Again<\/strong><\/p>\n

I authenticate again and wait. \u00a0\u00a0 Then I am asked by the same representative to give him all of the same information a second time. \u00a0\u00a0 Only then am I told the payment was canceled.\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 They can’t tell me how it was canceled, or who canceled it.\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 Furthermore, they can’t do anything to help me, other than to contact Citi credit cards.\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 I ask them to transfer me, and I am immediately disconnected, again.<\/p>\n

Step Three, Call Citi Credit Cards<\/strong><\/p>\n

This time, I am not as patient.\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 I quickly realized that the customer service representative did not have the power to waive my interest and fees.\u00a0 \u00a0 She kept asking me to make a payment first, and then they might consider waiving the late payment fee.\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 I am more interested in figuring out why my scheduled payment never happened.<\/p>\n

Step Four, Speak With A Supervisor<\/strong><\/p>\n

This is where things get interesting.\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 I try to explain that the money for my payment to the Citi Credit card was in a Citibank Checking account, and that the transfer was inexplicably canceled. \u00a0 I would like to be credited for the payment on time, which shouldn’t be a big deal, since Citi had the money the entire time. \u00a0 The supervisor explains that Citi banking and Citi credit cards are supposedly not the same company!?\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 As she explains it, they are “sister companies”.\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 That was news to me, as I am able to see both the savings and credit card accounts by logging into a single screen.<\/p>\n

Furthermore, she then claims that I can’t pay my credit card with a transfer from my savings.\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 This was especially surprising, considering that I was logged into my account at the time, and there was a button to make a transfer payment!\u00a0 When I clicked the button, it gave me the option to make a payment from my savings account to my credit card account. \u00a0\u00a0 This time, instead of making a scheduled payment, I make an instant one.\u00a0\u00a0 It appears to go through, and I printed out the confirmation page just in case this one is inexplicably canceled as well.<\/p>\n

The Citi cards supervisor is unable to communicate in any way with the Citi banking staff, to try to figure out what is going on.\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 In her view, what I tried to do was impossible, even though there is an option to do just that on their web site.\u00a0\u00a0 My only recourse, I am told, is to call the banking people directly, something I did not have the time or patience to do then.\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 Thankfully, she was able to waive the interest and late payment fees, and we hung up on a pleasant note.\u00a0\u00a0 My only concern now is that I am not charged more interest due to double cycle billing, and that my credit is not affected by a missed payment caused by their computer issues.<\/p>\n

My Next Move <\/strong><\/p>\n

I would like to call the media relations people for each of the “sister companies” and get the official scoop.\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 Of course, the contact number is the same for both retail banking and credit cards. <\/a> So much for the “Sister company” story.\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 My hunch is that they are just different departments of the same company that just don’t like to talk to each other, but I will provide you with their response as soon as\u00a0 I get it.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

I had the most bizarre telephone call to a credit card company.\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 I was explaining to their supervisor how their web site works.\u00a0\u00a0 Let me start from the beginning. I opened up an a savings\u00a0 account at Citibank some time ago.\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 They offer this neat feature where you can initially fund your account with a […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":5,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[3],"tags":[],"yoast_head":"\nSister Act<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/www.askmrcreditcard.com\/news\/sister-act\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Sister Act\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"I had the most bizarre telephone call to a credit card company.\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 I was explaining to their supervisor how their web site works.\u00a0\u00a0 Let me start from the beginning. 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