Citibank Positive Customer Service Ratings - page 2

Citibank is probably the most stringent banks when it comes to approving customers for checking and savings accounts. Not only do they pull Chexsystems, they pull all three credit reports from the major credit bureaus and rely heavily on credit scores to determine account eligibility.
Citibank will deny you a checking account if you have bad credit. The same goes for savings accounts. You can have a stellar Chexsystems report, but have bad credit listed as credit scores from all three credit reporting agencies, they will decline your applications for deposit accounts. They are a credit score driven bank like no other. A branch manager told me that "We don't give out deposit accounts to anyone".
A guideline is that if you have filed bankruptcy, forget it, you can't get a savings, checking, or any type of deposit account from them. You have to wait until the bankruptcy falls off. Also, if you have a prior charge-off with Citi, they will blacklist you for future bank and credit accounts for life.
Citibank makes money from cross-selling credit to its customers. So if you have bad credit, you are not profitable to the bank. They weed out credit risks immediately. If you are thinking about switching over to Citibank to open a checking, savings, CD, or other deposit account and you already have bad or average credit, don't waste your time. They will deny you. Usually you will be approved online, assigned an account number. Once risk management looks at your online application, they will close it. End of story. Plan on having good to excellent credit to be approved for a deposit account. That way, you are approved for their lines of credit, credit cards, installments, etc. that are linked together to build a Citibank relationship. They are by far the most credit oriented bank in the United States.

I have been a customer for 5 years and so far I have had the best experience with the customer service very unlike Wells Fargo with which I have a second account..Very courteous and knowledgeable and ready to help staff..

I urge anyone reading this to go to the Negative comments and scroll until you find information for "Mike". I had several negative interactions with Citi until I found this website and contacted Mike. I was honest with my situation - while not going into too much detail - my negative experiences with Citi, what I was trying to accomplish, what I could afford, etc. Mike emailed me back within a couple days, asked for my phone number and had someone call me within a day. That person (Ms. Min) was helpful, professional, compassionate - WONDERFUL!! She was able to offer me two different programs that was actually going to HELP my situation, and I chose the best one for me. Yes, my card was closed, yes it will show on my credit rating as being in a "program". But I wanted to do the right thing and pay my debt, so I was willing to compromise with certain things as long as Citi would work with me.

So, if you are willing to make sacrifices and be honest with your situation - I HIGHLY recommend contacting "Mike". I feel so much relief after doing so - and I have hope again for someday (in a foreseeable future) being debt free.

Appreciating that most of us look for these types of web sites when we have negative experiences but wanted to share something positive about their systems. Transactions post almost real time - whether I am making a deposit at a branch or buying a coffee at Starbucks, I can go online and see that transaction post to my account. Try doing the same at HSBC - deposits to my account don't show up on the same day. Real time systems make it easier for me to verify transactions and contribute to a more positive customer experience. Seems like something very simple and I appreciate it when I compare Citi to my other banks.

I contacted Mike from Citi and he put someone on my case in a few minutes flat. Fast-foward a few more minutes, a quick phone call (halfway around the world, might I add) and all my issues were resolved!

Can't get better than that!

My name is Maria Aguilar, I have only banked with citibank for a few months but i loved the service i received. I was calling regarding unauthorized transactions made by virgin mobile. Virgin mobile was not being cooperative and citibank rep. helped me get to the appropriate department that could help me. When i got on the phone with the fraud unit i spoke to Joanna. She was very informative helpful and used all her resources to help me. Although after i hung up with her the prob did not get resolved because of lack of information i needed from virgin mobile. She made some suggestions on what i should do and i followed them. She did not have to give me any suggestions or comments on what i should do to better resolve my problem but she did and i really appreciated that. I called back a second time and i cannot remember her name but i called at around 1:30pm PST and she was excellent. She exhausted her resources to help me, she called virgin mobile for me got them on the line and she got the information she needed from the supervisor of virginmobile. She transferred me to her supervisor Randy and he finished the transaction and i got my money back and it all got settled. He was very professional, friendly and great customer service from him overall. I will definitely be recommending citibank to any one that will listen and i will always let people know how great citibank is at helping there clients. THANK YOU SO MUCH!! I needed that money to pay for my nieces birthday and could not wait to get it the next day. I really appreciate how fast you handled it keep up the good work.

Spoke with a Seema, a Surekha and a Smita before I got to a supervisor named Tom. The S's couldn't do anything including thinking, speaking English or listening. Tom was terrific and resolved the problem to my satisfaction

In my own personal experience, I have nothing but praise for Citi. I have always been treated with respect by their customer service personnel and the ones I've spoken to had a strong command of the language which helps tremendously. As a credit card customer, they have treated me very well and very fairly which has been a striking contrast to other companies this year (2009).