Citi "Homeowner Helper" Site Merely Potemkin Village?
Did Citi set up its "homeowner helper" site to comply with Obama's mortgage assistance programs, but then not actually attach it to any humans that will help homeowners? After inputting his info on the site, Citi told reader CoarseLive to schedule an appointment with a representative. No one ever called him. When he tried calling Citi directly, multiple agents told him they had no idea what he was talking about, and they hung up on him, again and again. His story, inside...
CoarseLive writes:
Last week after learning about President Obama's mortgage assistance programs, the news said to go to mortgage company websites to learn more about how each company was handling these proposals. Last week, I visited CitiMortgage.com. Attached is a picture of their website prompting the visitor to learn about the new programs they have available for homeowners. I followed the links, and inserted my information. After that was completed, their service prompted me to schedule an appointment with a representative. The screen capture of that prompt is also attached. I schedule an appointment for today for between 9:30 and 10:00. I took off work to wait for the call, that way I would be here with all of my information and papers.
After I received no call, I began calling Citi. I was transferred to 4 agents, all of whom had no idea what I was talking about and told me, unequivocally, that Citi doesn't schedule calls with customers online. I walked the final agent in the Loss Mitigation center through their website, and the agent Jeremy Mirchal in the Missouri office told me that the option doesn't exist. That "I'm being told that no one here is aware of that, and that it doesn't exist." He repeated that "we don't call customers."I asked Jeremy to transfer me to his supervisor. He said he would. Then he transferred me back to India, and I was promptly disconnected.
After being hung up on, I called back and found my way back to CitiMortgage's Loss Mitigation office. I spoke with another person named "Jeremy." I explained my situation, and he put me on hold. He told me I had to talk with customer service. I told him that all of my calls began with Customer Service, and that I would like to speak with a supervisor. He said yes, and then transferred me to Customer Service.
Once Customer Service was on the line, I explained that I was "accidentally" transferred from Loss Mitigation. They then hung up on me.
(Photo: Panorama of the City of New York)
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Comments:
Pop-over phishing scam? If Citi doesn't recognize it, it might not actually be theirs...
My experience:
I called on Friday, (the day after Obama's announcement of the plan details), to the Citibank Mortgage Assistance Team number 866-592-8131.
Shocked that I got through, the woman said that because the plan was just announced, they had no details or information yet, but took all my contact info and promised I would get a call within three weeks.
Do they really call it "Homeowner Helper?" As in "just add meat and serve?"
Yes, add meat and serve. But not just any meat... fresh ground homeowner!
@jfielder23: Fresh ground meat from the haunches of former Wall Street bankers forced to give up their private jets and luxury vacations.
Homeowner helper?.... I got the tagline:
"Made for people....made from people....made by Citi"
Soylent Green will probably sue in 3...2..
So, SkokieGuy, they basically put a new function live before they were ready to actually implement that new function. What a bunch of dolts.
seems similar to the Sovereign bank homeowner assistance. you call, they refer you to the website; you go to the website (special, non-linked to URL) and it says to call. Fun!
Best Part of it; you must be in good standing for their help. WTF?
There is a similar situation going on with Chase. Initially, they had lines set up only for those 120 days or more behind, but after the Obama announcment they changed and offered a two-tier approach: current and 120 days.
BUT to get to the 'current' folks there are people that say "this does not exisit" or "Let me transfer you into the ionosphere" etc. And then when you do reach them, they give you a non-direct access website address that lists a group of items they'd like to get from you.
BUT they mention that you need to fax them to a special fax number that is NOT on the website. After you fax the information they say they will call you. But they have not ... yet.
It's all not quite ready for prime time. I guess they should get some credit for trying but why make it A) seem like they are not participating when they are - one agent told me "everyone is not up to speed yet," meaning callers are being told Chase doesn't have such a plan in place when they do. B) Why make it so ridiculously opaque. Okay, you've got a website. Fix it up, create a login for JP Chase mortgage holders, allow us to upload documents like many big banks and insurance companies. Then we can click "SUBMIT" get a time/date stamp and an estimate of when you'll get back to us.
Right now, it feels a bit like my chain is being yanked - and that's not a good thing in this case.
This would be a good example of something your local congressman should be made aware of. They could help and it gives them a great publicity opportunity to "help a homeowner."
You all know that these companies typically get MORE money for servicing defaulted mortgages than current ones, right?
Another reason the companies do not want to easily "deal" with people behind on payments...
I have a mortgage through Citi that I have been paying on-time (actually, a month ahead). Can I stop paying and get some "Homeowner Help" from you taxpaying suckers now?
OP is not doing it right.
He needs to find a bigger house with a price that is half of what he paid for his current home, start a new mortgage on that, move in, and abandon his old home and mortgage, and leave Citi holding the bag.
If you can't pay your mortgage, and want to weasel, then be a really big weasel.
I had the very same experience as Coarselive. My appointment PER THEIR WEBSITE was for 19:00pm last night. No one called. I called Citimortgage 45 minutes after the appointed time and spoke to 7 different people in 7 different offices. Finally, an Acct Mgr told me to call "Loss Mitigation" the next day. I did today. They have no knowledge of this programand sat that there is no such thing as scheduling a half hour time window - - however, it was right there on their website!
I smell fraud and am calling my Senator and Representative.
If you stop paying, you will not qualify.
I visited the site for other purposes and encountered this window. I'm not shaking a cup looking for handouts.
I qualify only because I am current on my mortgage and DON'T have $15,000 or more in credit debt. As such, I qualify, according to their site, for a point reduction or principle reduction. I'd be nuts to pass that up.
You'd be nuts to pass that up, if you qualified.
Well congrat-u-freaking-lations, HiPwr. You've been insulated from the calamnity. Why not sit and taunt others who have fallen on bad times? Were some people foolish? yes. Were some people greedy? yes. Were some of us model-citizen bill-payers who have gotten kicked in the pants by the terrible economy? YES.
Now stop gloating and go help out at your local food pantry. It'll lend you some perspective, which you clearly need.
The same way that Citi is trying to "help" customers is the same way the government got rid of sales of machine guns during the thirties. Any machine gun transferred needed a "transfer stamp".
Government issued no such stamps.
Court upheld such shenanigans.
Problem solved.
That's why you should get a Mortgage with ING Direct. You actually talk to real people in the US. You get one person that will handle your Loss Mitigation with your mortgage so no dealing with different people.
Wow, a system that works!
@Blueskylaw
Goddamn government, taking away all my machine guns. I mean jesus, just yesterday I needed one to take out the trash, and another to load the dishwasher. What a bunch of assholes
So far, my experience has been the opposite.
We're not having any trouble with our mortgage, but we are upside down due to declining home values, so we wanted to take advantage of the program to refinance. So I went to CitiMortgage's website, clicked on the same ad, filled out my info, and waited by the phone dutifully at the assigned time.
Sure enough, they called on time. The person told me that I was scheduled for an appointment today, but due to extreme demand for the program, they weren't going to be able to keep the appointment, so they asked to reschedule to next week.
I'll come back and let Ben know if I don't hear from them, but their initial response was on time, even if they had to reschedule.
Is it really surprising that nobody via Citi's customer service offices knew how to help? I mean, really...
The last time I called up Citi after finding out that they put a security hold on my account, I was told that they tried to notify me. No missed called, no messages, no nothing. So I guess they "tried" but somehow failed.
Maybe that's what happened to CoarseLive, and Citi "tried" to call him.
Today is Soylent Green Day
Poor Sol...
I never received a phone call either and my appointment was on 3/10/09 at 4:30pm. I understand if Citibank received an overwhelming response and can't keep up with the volume, but it is inexcuseable not to put a message on the website or provide a phone number to call notifying customers that they won't be holding up to their end of the promise. People are taking off work to wait by the phone for Citibank, and no one is on the other end. What a slap in the face to people already struggling to keep their jobs and make ends meet. CitiMortgage is disgraceful....
I called in on this sham when it was first unveiled in November. I then called every week for 6 weeks and never got so much as a phone call back. I am still current on my loan but the very least they can do is call me back and tell me I don't qualify. I fully agree with the OP that Citi never had any intention of helping anyone with this program and just did it as a PR stunt.
I work with Banks as part of my job and I can categorically say that from a technical and customer service standpoint Citi is the absolute worst bank I work with.
maybe this is another way of them trying to determine who's got a mortgage with them that *may* be in trouble....get the contact information, cross-reference it with their files - voila! They could then raise your CC rate, because they've 'determined' that you may be a higher risk now. Or, it could just be they're scrambling for PR since they're the 800# gorilla in the room of these potentially failing banks.
More BS from the banks. When is this crap going to STOP???
Reminds me of when Dell would advertise that they had customer service.
@Blueskylaw: @Blueskylaw: And the same way the federal government made marijuana illegal in 1937. You have to have a tax stamp; they sold no tax stamps; viola.
@mad3air: Uh, INGDirect only offers 5/1 and 7/1 ARMs. Unless I've missed something and they've started offering 30 yr fixed mortgages, INGDirect's not a wise choice for the vast majority of people.
Wow, my bank has some great programs to help make paying the mortgage easier!
Oh wait, those programs are only for deadbeats without jobs.
Doesn't this seem completely assholish to anyone else?
I know I, you, or anyone could lose their job at no fault of their own at any time. But that's why some of us prepare for that eventuality.
Those that don't shouldn't be rewarded. They should be living in shitty lower-class apartments. Sorry, but you get what you pay for, and you make what you can earn. When I was little, my parents would have said, "that may seem unfair, but that's life". Not "oh, just whine about it long enough and you'll get a handout".
I have citimortage for my mortgage. twice I called for some issues with my mortgage and they were keep on transferring back and forth to India/USA and never got the answer and disconnected. This happen both times I called for 2 different issues. It is frustrating that you cannot call the customer service and get the answer .
Do they really call it "Homeowner Helper?" As in "just add meat and serve?"