How to Mess with Citibank Collections
by The Pissed-Off One Armed Man
O.K., I bet you're thinking to yourself, why the heck would I want to mess with these folks? The answer: Citibank is evil!
Citibank has over 120 different types of "Private Label" cards, such as Rat Shack, Zales, Children's Place, Goodyear, Gateway, Helzburg Diamonds, and other fine merchants. Citibank even handles several oil cards as well, with brands such as Texaco, Shell, BP/Amoco/Boron, and Citgo. However, today we will discuss the oil card systems.
Citibank's collection centers for oil are located in Houston, Texas (collections only) (a.k.a., the Barker Cypress Center), Florence, Kentucky (collections only), and Des Moines, Iowa (customer service/payments).
Citibank uses a Windows NT-based system for all of its collections and customer service activities. When a person logs into the system they use a generic Windows NT login and authenticate to the CARDS-NA domain. Generic logins can easily be obtained by walking the collections floor. After entering your login ID, you are taken to a blank desktop where six different applications automatically pop up. Magellan/Melita is their dialer system. It will prompt for a user ID. Every associate in the bank is assigned an ID code in the format: AAAXXXX. The first three are the person's location. In Florence, it was referred to as a CIN number. However, every location is different with these IDs.
Whenever you talk to an associate, be it for oil or for private label or for MasterCard/Visa collections, get this number! They are required to give it to you. If they give you another ID, tell them that they are full of shit. Also, ask for the center that they are calling from. They might give you a BP or BJ ID number as well. It will be in the form of BX10XXX where the last three are letters. The second digit depends on the product. Texaco and Shell use BJ ID numbers, BP and Citgo use BP ID numbers.
During the call they will try to act friendly towards you and try to gain your trust. Don't tell them shit. If you are only a few days late with a payment, do not give it to them over the phone! Every associate is driven by dollars collected and contacts per hour. Most collection reps from Citibank are only paid $9.25 to $10.25 per hour, depending upon experience. Go take a look at careers.citicards.com.
The collectors in oil cards input data into a system known as CACS (or Computer Assisted Collections System). This application is housed next to the CCMS which stands for Credit Card Marketing System. This is the system that collections (limited access) and customer service (full access) use to service cardmember accounts. Each product has its own login command from starting screen. Every contact, be it a no answer, a busy, or an actual connect is noted within the system. If you use foul language against the collector, it is noted in the contact that the customer used foul language.
At the beginning of the call, get the operator's ID number. I can't stress this enough - it will come in handy. Collectors are also guided on customer feedback as well. You should do whatever you can to make them hang up on you. Then take that ID number you were given in the beginning and give customer service a call. If you're in collections, do not enter your account number when the Interactive Voice Response (IVR) comes up. Just wait... it will eventually transfer you to a customer service representative. Tell the customer service representative that you'd like to speak to a manager. If they give you a problem about it, demand the manager right then and there. Make up a story about how you were trying to discuss the account rationally with the collector and the collector hung up on you. That is forbidden by policy. When they pull your account, they'll see a note written by the collector revealing what you said or did on the phone. Tell them that it is bullshit, and they will also counsel the employee on Falsification of Bank Documents.
Citi almost always takes the word of the customer over the word of the employee. Now, assuming that the representative wasn't monitored (which rarely happens) Citi will kiss your ass to try to save your account. You can work out all kinds of interesting deals with them. Ask about REAGE (which means in English that if you pay a certain amount on the account, your account will be brought current), CAP (Customer Assistance Program - can be done anywhere from 3-12 months), or a settlement.
I remind everyone that this information is for educational purposes only and I am not responsible if you get some odd person knocking at your door. Oh, and also, Citibank's employment policy is Employment at Will. Some of these managers are Nazis towards their people.