On November 3, Citibank canceled (they call it "suspended") my home equity line of credit, which I rely on for about half of my living expenses every month.
On November 15, right before I left town for The Great Road Trip, I sent Citibank a letter, challenging the suspension, complete with documentation, and beginning with this line:
"Before taking legal action, I decided to write to you."
Today I called to check on the status of my loan, and was told that it had been reinstated.
Whew. The funny thing is that this is the second time Citibank has canceled my loan this year, and the second time they have reinstated it. So my first action is going to be to write myself a check for the remaining balance on the line of credit to stash away in MY bank account.
I don't need this stress.
No matter how good I am at stress management, and, after 10 years of living with cancer, I'm pretty good, there is no denying that I was incredibly stressed and anxious about this for the past month. That stress affects my health, both physical and mental, and it's exhausting.
But does Citibank care about that? I don't think so.
To those of you who were hoping that I would organize a class-action suit against Citibank, I have to say sorry, but I won't be. Because I no longer have a cause for action--my loan has been reinstated.
A couple of things you might consider doing:
** Send Citibank a strong letter. I'm happy to send you mine to adapt to your situation. It's a pretty good letter.
** I don't know why Citibank reinstated my loan, but I suspect it has something to do with the fact that the "debt" (I didn't owe it, it was a mistake by my cancer center) that I was sent to collections for was medical debt. I'm not sure, but that's my suspicion, so if you can get the terms "medical debt" into your letter somehow, that might help.
** If you would like me to edit your letter before you send it off, I'd be happy to do that. Shoot me an e-mail: jeanne.sather@gmail.com
Remember, Citibank is breaking the law here. The only reason they can cancel a home equity line of credit is if you don't make your monthly payments. Oh, or if you lied in your original loan documents, which would be fraud.
Read the whole sad story of my battles with Citibank, oldest posts are at the bottom: Citibank
@ Jeanne Sather 2008.
"No matter how good I am at stress management, and, after 10 years of living with cancer, I'm pretty good, there is no denying that I was incredibly stressed and anxious about this for the past month. That stress affects my health, both physical and mental, and it's exhausting." I think a lot of us suffering from some sort of chronic illness are like that. It's as though coping on a day to day basis takes us to the edge and it doesn't then take much to tip us over. Other people then wonder why we get so worked up about what to them might seem something minor. Hope things calm down a bit for you.
Posted by: Scriptor Senex | December 01, 2008 at 10:08 PM