Citibank credit card hardship programs.
Citibank, which is part of the international banking conglomerate called Citigroup, offers consumers a credit card hardship program. This programs provide customers a variety of ways to get other emergency assistance, including forbearance, deferrals, as well as other payment programs.
Citi is assisting customers who are in a hardship with paying their debt. They are offering several different possible solutions, depending on the customers current financial situation, past payment as well as overall credit history or scores. Some of the other assistance the bank provides from their hardship program includes competitive debt consolidation loans, waved fees, temporary forbearance, debt settlements, matching payments, reduced interest rates, and more.
The Citibank credit card hardship programs generally helps thousands of consumers across the country. Below is the phone number to apply as reviews and examples of some real life examples of how Americans are receiving assistance from deferred or extended payments, forbearance, as well as the other emergency solutions.
How to get help from Citibank hardship programs
Citi offers a variety of assistance. Customers will need to ask for assistance and/or negotiate. While they can be difficult to work with (like most lenders), and it often takes repeated calls and transfers to find the correct people, if you persevere you can get help with your credit card bills or outstanding balance from a hardship program. Here is what they can offer and the phone numbers to call:
1. They will waive late fees and charges for the length of any program entered into.
2. The hardship program may defer payments to a later date, such as when the customers employment situation improves. Some customers may get forbearance.
3. Citi will agree to begin reporting your monthly payments as on time so you start immediately improving your credit ratings.
3. The first payment on your plan may be slightly higher that what you paid in the past, but it will go lower.
5. They will also offer a match payment hardship program to select customers that you may or may not be eligible for. There are examples of them agreeing to match a first payment of up to $600. The reason they do this is to encourage the consumer to make a good large first payment. They may even make this available for more than one month, but you need to ask for it.
6. Your payments on the Citi hardship program may be as low as 1.5% of the balance to begin with. This is a reduction in the interest rate on the credit card account.
Call 1-800-388-2200 or 1-888-579-9239 for more information on getting help from the Citibank credit card hardship program.
Additional tips
Some of the key rules on dealing with the Citibank hardship department are as follows. As noted, it may require multiple telephone calls to their recovery department.
- Be sure to call the right number.
- You need to keep asking because they tend to say no a lot, so you may need to place multiple phone calls and keep escalating the issue.
- If they say no to your request for hardship or a deferral on the payment, hang up the hang up the phone and try calling again...try someone else.
- No matter what they may say, if you keep trying they may very well give you 0% APR for five years. There have been many reported examples of Citi offering that deal. To determine your monthly payment for this deal, just divide the total amount owed on your debt by 60 months and that gives you the monthly payment.
- After each year that goes by, you need to call them to renew the deal and see if Citibank will offer different types of help from their hardship program.
- If you miss just one monthly payment, the credit card hardship deal is canceled. So pay on time going forward.
Examples of how people are receiving assistance
One customer owed $25,000 on their credit card. They became about 120 days late on their payment, and called Citi to settle their debt or learn about a hardship program. Their minimum payment was about $450 per month when they were paying on time. After calling them, speaking to multiple people, Citibank ended up offering a 0% interest for 12 months, and their new monthly payments would be just $258 per month. This is part of a Citibank credit card deferred payment arrangement offered to some customers.
Another customer called, and the customer service rep did not offer a great deal, but alluded to a monthly “cycle” of deals of some sorts. The representative from Citibank hinted that it is possible to get a better deal on their outstanding balance at a different time. So two days later, they called back, and after a few requests, the person was offered a deal at 0% interest.
Another example. Citi provided a customer a hardship program that reduced their APR to 5% and required them to pay $350 per month as part of a payment plan on a $20,000+ debt. They also reported it to the credit agencies as "paid as agreed", therefore not lowering their credit scores. The bank in effect deferred the majority of the balance on their credit card to a future date.
Once customer had his interest rates increased to over 20% due to previously missed payments. He called Citibank to state his case and plead for lower interest rates. Both companies agreed to lower his interest rate to 6 percent rate, but only if he closed the credit card account. He did not accept right away, and then shortly after, a different Citi representative called him to offer a zero percent interest rate on his cards for 12 months, but he did have to close the account.
An individual who lived in California lost their job. At the time, they owed about $20,000 on their credit card. As soon as this person lost their job they called Citibank to notify them and request a forbearance. They also called every other week for about 3 months and kept them informed of the lack of reemployment opportunities.
After about three months the bank finally offered them a hardship program and cut their interest rate in half and suspended their minimum payments for 6 months. This is part of a forbearance program from Citibank. This customer believes that the communication from day number one was the reason they were offered this deal.
Applying for Citi hardship programs for credit cards
There are two main phone numbers to dial. They include 1-800-388-2200 or customers can try 1-888-579-9239. Or look for a phone number on the back of your Citibank credit card. The lender may offer different solutions to customers requesting a hardship on their account, and that may be a deferred payment, reduction in interest rates, or some other form of assistance.
Related Content From Needhelppayingbills.com
|
