Citi [isn't it ironic]

Following someone's feedback, I decided to delete a post on how Citibank was wasting my time. The person correctly pointed out that it was ironic that my time to write the post likely exceeded their impact on me.

He/she was correct.

Heartland Victim?

Citibank just canceled a credit card of mine and issued me new cards. The new cards came with this insert:

Upon calling to activate my new cards, an automated recording confirmed what their security message said "your card ending in xx has been compromised or stolen". The Citi rep who came on the line added that Citi doesn't know which merchant caused the problem, that Visa had sent over a list of account numbers and that Citi was issuing new cards as a precaution.

With all the recent news, like here and here, on Heartland's losing some 100 million account numbers about 2 weeks ago, want to bet that they're at fault?

Heartland is a Company Acting Badly for putting millions of customers at risk.

Citi Targeting Kids

As a loyal Citibank customer for almost 20 years now, I get disappointed when I see them acting badly and doing dumb things. Like targeting my son for a credit card. My seven year old son.

Below is the application that arrived yesterday. It's not the first time they've sent him one of these (click to enlarge).

It's not just any card. It's a Citi Gold card. For a seven year old? They'll give him 25,000 points with $750 in spending. That's about five years worth of allowance money. And if you read the fine print on the back... they are offering him a 13.99% interest rate. Not great. Not killer. If a seven year old should miss one payment... it shoots to 28.99%. He'll owe Citi for life.

How did Citi decide to target a seven year old? It's obvious that they bought or bartered for a list of American Airlines Advantage members (frequent fliers). They then determined who on the list didn't already have this credit card with Citi. I got my son his own Advantage number a few years when he flew American.

Innocent mistake? Or stupidity? American airlines knows my son's age as I've purchased tickets for him and flagged him as a minor. Either American can't scrub their list and send Citi only those over 18, Citi didn't think to ask American for a list of those over 18 or Citi actually wants to load debt on kids.

Once Vik figures out how to pay the US taxpayer back for its bailout, maybe he can ask his staff to stop targeting kids for credit cards. Citi, a company that acts badly once again.

Citi Speak

Perhaps when they're not laying off 50,000 employees, the folks at Citibank could figure out how to map the English language.

As a long time customer, I recently added a new payee to Citi's online banking program. Citi has Business and Individual payees split and upon choosing business, I hit their search.

I was attempting to add Conroy Irrigation (great bunch of folks).

Here's the list of matches from Citi... as they refer to it that 'closely match the name' I entered.

Now where does Energetix, Wichita, or Greystone sound like Conroy? Perhaps in Citi land. Again, a Company Acting Badly for investing in a tool for customers that only wastes our time.

Citi Bold Update

In the 200 days since I received Citi CEO Vikram Pandit's "Bold" email, we've seen Citi post record losses, declare that tens of thousands will be laid off, increase credit card fees, and have members of its board clamoring for the head of its Chairman.

And it's stock price? Down.... way down... As of today, Citi's stock has fallen some 73% from $34.77 when it named Pandit as CEO on Dec 10th, 2007 to $9.50 as of Nov 14th, 2008. You can see the stock chart here.

Citi - So Bold

I have been a customer of Citibank's for almost 20 years. In that time, Citi has gone through a few CEOs and most recently appointed Vikram Pandit to lead the company.

Last month I received the following email from Vik:



By this mindless waste of time, customer SPAM delivered under the name of the CEO, Citi is my latest Company Acting Badly:

1. Vik wants me to "be among the first to know" of the new things Citi is doing. Do I feel special? No. Any friend I have who banks online with Citi received the same email.

2. Vik wants me to know of "the bold steps ... at Citi". Were there any of these bold steps in his email? No. Have I received another email, letter or call from Citi in almost 50 days of these bold steps? No. Do these bold steps exist?

3. His commitment is "create an experience in which services are seemless". Since Vik sent this via email, how about he starts with Citibank online. Why do I have a different experience if I log into Citibank.com and Citicards.com?

How can a company as large as Citi set up customer expectations for some Bold new steps and not deliver? Did Mr. Pandit even read the email that went out under his name or did some lawyer water it down to be utterly meaningless?

Since Citi named Vikram Pandit as its CEO on December 10th, the stock has fallen some 51% from $34.77 to $16.76 as of June 30th. You can see the stock chart here.

Updated 11/14/08: here