02-12-2007, 05:09 PM
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Senior Member
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Join Date: Nov 2006
Posts: 456
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Quote:
Originally Posted by Dilmun
Thank you for your reply.
First of all we ar not US citizens nor residents. I just thought, that since Citibank is US Company, they have to act after those laws and regulations.
Of course, we tried several times and in different ways to get statements. We spoke to I don't know how many persons, send faxes and e-mails, without any success. Which is not only frustrating but also annoying. We paid until December 2006.
But what makes me concerned is, that since we have no statements, we have no clue, what there is left. We don't know how many interests are charged aso.
We are more (!) than willing to get a final settlement, we have already asked last year on several occasions, whether they could give us the final amount - again with no success.
On the other hand, they call my mother-in-law. They got her contact details, when we opened our bank account with these towel-heads (in Bahrain it is customary for expats to give a contact in the home country, when opening a bank account). We had the same problem, when we moved from Bahrain to Qatar two years back. We asked them to stop calling someone who is not involved. Everytime the payment was late (it was always only a question of days ) they started calling her again. They always had our contact details, we never moved without giving those. And our e-mail always remained the same. How can an international operating bank allow itself to operate in such manners?
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Citibank has over 1400 locations in a total of 46 countries and is owned by Citigroup. Here is the link to their privacy statement:
http://www.citibank.com/privacy/
Obviously the type of treatment your account is receiving is clearly in violation of their own interal policy, however if you provided your mother in law's name, address and telephone number on your original application, they ARE entitled to contact that person if they are unable to contact you directly. There's also nothing you can do to stop them from calling, even if the payment is only a "few days late." It's late, period. They are attempting to collect on the debt. Has your mother in law provided you with the telephone number, name and title of the person who is calling? Do you have the account number in question? (That can be obtained from the person who is contacting your mother in law, if you no longer have it.) If you have that information, you can access your account directly online to 1. find out what the balance is and 2. schedule payments in plenty of time so that the telephone calls cease. Chances are your account has been referred to Citibank's internal "collection department" and as is common industry practice, may have been contracted out several times to several different companies scattered all over the world. Can you access your account online, or have you set it up to access online?
In answer to your basic question, yes a creditor IS entitled to contact anyone listed as a reference on a basic application if the payment is 1 day late according to your contract. And yes, on the surface, it appears that this creditor is acting well within the terms of the contract with you by contacting your mother in law.
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