The Assertive Cancer Patient

Another Letter to Citibank

July 9, 2009

Since I mailed my application to your Workable Solutions program on April 27, I have received two copies of a letter confirming that you have my application, one dated May 6 and the other June 3.

Both letters were identical, and both said that I would hear from a “Loan Mitigation Specialist” within 30 days.

I have not been contacted by this loan mitigation specialist, however, I have now received a total of five letters—all computer-generated form letters—threatening me with foreclosure.

Meanwhile, I am still waiting to hear from your loan mitigation specialist. Does the left hand know what the right hand is doing?

Please stop the collections phone calls to my home phone. All communications with me concerning my mortgage must be in writing.

As I said in my letter to the Workable Solutions program, I have advanced cancer and I am in bed much of the day. I do not answer the phone.  

Writing to Citibank, an Exercise in Futility?

Since I last posted about Citibank on June 22, I've received FIVE more threatening letters, but they are all form letters. Not a single one addresses my application for help under Citibank's "Workable Solutions" program. 

I sent Citibank an application for help under this program on April 27 (See: Citimortgage Letter), and I've received two form letters telling me that I will hear from a Loan Mitigation Specialist within the month. The first of these form letters was dated May 6, and the other June 3.

So I've been waiting to hear from the loan specialist, and in the meantime, as I mentioned, five threatening letters have arrived--all of them computer-generated form letters. 

Does Citibank's left hand know what its right hand is doing?

It certainly doesn't appear so. 

But just to keep the ball in play, I will write to them again, today, and point out that I have applied for assistance and they have not responded. 

For more on this ridiculous dance with Citibank, see: Citibank

If you have a HELOC with Citibank and they've canceled your loan, please e-mail me and I can put you in contact with an attorney who is bringing a class-action suit against Citibank. jeanne.sather@gmail.com

@ Jeanne Sather 2009. 

HELOC: Lawyer Suing Citibank

Recently I was contacted by a lawyer who is suing Citibank over the HELOC mess--people having their loans canceled illegally--so if you are in this situation and would like to talk to the attorney, shoot me an e-mail and I will give you his contact details.

I'm waiting to talk to him myself till after our Germany trip, but I will definitely be doing so in late July and I'll write a post about it. 

Don't know what I'm talking about? See: Blindsided by Citibank

@ Jeanne Sather 2009. 

Those Lovely Folks at Citibank: The Left Hand Don't Know What the Right Hand Is Doing ...

As I wrote back in April, I have pretty much run out of money. I can't begin to pay my bills on the $1,100/month I receive from Social Security Disability, and I've exhausted my home equity line of credit, which I'd been using for two years to supplement my income. 

So I wrote to my mortgage holder, Citibank, asking for assistance under its "Workable Solutions" program. 

I received a form letter in reply, telling me that it would take one month from the date of the letter (May 6) to review my request, and to expect a phone call from a Loan Mitigation Specialist. (See: A Reply From Citibank, Sort Of)

In the meantime, I started getting daily voicemail messages from people who said they represented Citibank, but who did not identify themselves as Loan Mitigation Specialists. 

I also received another letter from Citibank, dated May 18, pointing out that I had not made my May mortgage payment (that's the left hand/right hand part). 

Finally, after a week of phone messages, I called back, and, sure enough, they weren't the Loan Mitigation Specialists. Rather, they were an outside company, hired by Citibank, to see if I qualified for the Obama Plan. 

I already knew that I didn't qualify, and it quickly became obvious that the person I was talking to had not seen my letter asking for assistance under the Workable Solutions program ... but I try to be nice, so I answered all his questions and at the end of the 20-minute phone call was told that I didn't qualify. 

Yup. No surprise there. You have to have an income to qualify. 

Then I went off to Nebraska and let the mail pile up a bit. Came home and started picking up the reins of my life in Seattle and opened the backlog of mail, which included several letters from Citibank. 

Among them was a threatening letter, dated June 1,  that began "Dear Citimortgage Customer(s): Your account is in default ..." [No duh!] and continued through various threats--including one that I could be charged for the costs of "winterizing the property" (Note to sender: It's JUNE) to end with "This is an attempt to collect a debt. ..."

And then another letter, much softer, dated June 3, that said "Dear Mortgagor (never heard that word before. DId they make it up?): Thank you for submitting your request for assistance ... file forwarded to a Loan Mitigation Specialist for review ... timeframe needed to complete this review process is 30 days from the date of this letter ..."

In other words, the exact SAME LETTER they sent me on May 6.

 More left hand/right hand. 

Is it even worth replying to these letters? It's certainly not worth calling them and talking to the bill collectors. Maybe it's time to get my attorney involved ... 

Is it too much to expect that a business (or a bank) actually know what it is doing? Is this business-by-computer-generated-letter? 

Never mind that I sent this company a letter explaining that I have a terminal illness and needed help--and they sicced the bill collectors on me. 

See also:

Ouch! One Down

Citimortgage Letter

@ Jeanne Sather 2009. 

A Reply From Citibank, Sort Of

I am, unfortunately, running out of money. So I wrote to my mortgage holder, Citibank, asking for a temporary suspension of my loan payments under their "Workable Solution" program (What a horrible name!).

I just found this reply in my mailbox. A form letter, natch. 

Dear JEANNE SATHER:

Thank you for submitting you request for assistance on the above-referenced loan, which was received on May 4, 2009. Your file has now been forwarded to a Loan Mitigation Specialist for review. The expected timeframe needed to complete the review process is approximately 30 days from the date of this letter [May 6]

During this time you will receive a call from your Specialist in an effort to obtain any additional information needed to compete their review. 

Depending on the type of foreclosure prevention treatment you have requested, you may be asked to make a financial commitment to assist in our shared efforts to prevent foreclosure. You may also receive a call from a property appraiser and/or Realtor in order to make arrangements to gain access to your home to determine the value of the property. 

Please be aware that collection or foreclosure activity may continue until a foreclosure prevention treatment has been approved or completed, depending on the type of solution offered. 

Should you need to contact us .... etc. etc. 

So now I guess I sit by the phone and wait for a call from my very own personal Loan Mitigation Specialist. Won't that be fun?

See also: 

Ouch! One Down

Citimortgage Letter

@ Jeanne Sather 2009. 

Did Citibank Cancel Your Loan?

If you have (or HAD) a home equity line of credit with Citibank and it was canceled by the bank, and if you want to fight back, send me an e-mail: jeanne.sather@gmail.com In the past few days I've talked with some journalists who want to do a story about this, and also with a lawyer who is interested in a class-action lawsuit against Citibank. In the e-mail, please tell me what city and state you live in, and give me your phone number. I'll pass your contact info on. If you've already e-mailed me about this, expect to hear from me some time today or tomorrow.

@ Jeanne Sather 2009.

CITIBANK: Reinstated, Once Again

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. 

Those Evil Folks at Citibank Do It AGAIN

I received a form letter from Citibank, my mortgage holder, today, telling me that the bank is canceling my home equity line of credit (HELOC), for the second time.

My HELOC was canceled by Citibank for the first time last May. I fought back, and the HELOC was reinstated, although the bank never bothered to send me a letter telling me so. I found out when I called to ask when they would reply to my letter.

The woman I spoke to on the phone told me it had been reinstated, and said I should have received a letter confirming that. Well, I never did get the letter, but that doesn't surprise me, considering all the e-mails I've gotten from others who had their HELOCs canceled by Citibank without notice. One woman said that she only found out when a check she wrote against her HELOC bounced! 

I plan to fight back with the same strategy I used last time--First, a strong letter, pointing out that I have not "experienced a material adverse change in [my] financial circumstances." Believe it or not, I'm in better financial shape now than I was at the time Citibank made me the original loan--at that time, I was teetering on the edge of bankruptcy. 

I also plan to consult with Steve Berman, class-action attorney extraordinaire, to see if he is willing to sue Citibank for me and others who have lost their loans. 

Stay tuned. If you want to be part of this lawsuit, send me an e-mail: jeanne.sather@gmail.com

To read more about my problems with Citibank, click on this link and then scroll down. The oldest posts are at the bottom. Citibank

@ Jeanne Sather 2008. 

 

MOMS ONLINE

Update on Citibank

This is an apology to the folks who wrote to me after having home equity lines of credit cancelled by Citibank or another bank.

When my HELOC was canceled, I planned to bring a class-action suit against Citibank, and I said that on my blog. Then, when my loan was reinstated, I had no grounds to bring the suit, so I never met with the class-action attorney.

I'll try to e-mail the folks who got in touch with me individually, but in case I miss anyone, I wanted to post this update. I think a class-action suit is a good idea, I just won't be the person carrying the flag.

For more, go to this link and scroll down:

Citibank

@ Jeanne Sather 2008.

Want to Sue Citibank?

I have an appointment with a class-action attorney on Thursday to talk about suing Citibank for cancelling my home equity line of credit.

I know I'm not the only person Citibank did this to, and if your home equity line of credit was cancelled by Citibank (or another bank, for that matter), and you would like to join in a class-action suit, or would like more information, send me an e-mail: jeanne.sather@gmail.com

Don't know what I'm talking about? Click on this link Citibank and then scroll down to read my older posts.

@ Jeanne Sather 2008.