THIS IS MY unusual, and so overly annoying problem for more than a year now. †I welcome any out-of-the-box solutions you may offer. †PLEASE!
At first glance this blog’s title doesn’t seem right, right?† How can I owe Citibank negative five centavos?† Shouldn’t it be the other way around — Citibank owes me negative five centavos?
Well, whichever is the correct statement, the burden of that negative centavo debt seems to fall squarely on my shoulders because apparently I am the one that is inconvenienced and also the only one who is burdened by it.
Bear with me as I attempt to explain this seemingly nonsense matter by narrating to you the background of my ‘negative five centavo’ debt.
It all started more than 12 months ago.† I decided to stop using my Citibank-Shell credit card which I started using just a few months prior.† I called the Citibank hotline to effect the termination.† I was referred by the call center agent to somebody who went on to probe why I wanted to terminate my credit card.
To cut the story short I was somehow convinced to continue using a Citibank credit card but they were to send me a new card with a new number and under a different reward program.
†
Of course when you terminate a credit card it is a must that you settle all your remaining balance first.† My bad luck stemmed from the fact that I overpaid five centavos (P 0.05) when I settled the last charges on my previous credit card. †But I had no inkling yet that a long-running ordeal was awaiting me because of that five-centavo overpayment.
I waited for the new card.† But I never received one.† Instead, I started getting monthly billings.† Apparently, they carried forward the ending balance (P -0.05) from my previous card after I had it terminated, without bothering to check whether I received the new card, IF they sent one at all.
†
†That negative five-centavo billing is what is giving me headaches until now.
Anyway, to continue with my narrative, after a month or two of receiving billing statements (Total Amount Due = P -0.05) with my supposed new credit card which, I repeat, I never got, I’ve decided I’ve had enough.† I called Citibank’s hotline again and demanded that they already terminate my credit card account for good.
The call center agent who took my call informed me that he effected the termination then and there, even before we ended our conversation.
But then I continued to receive the monthly billings with Total Amount Due of negative five centavos.
After perhaps another couple of months I again called the Citibank Hotline to complain about the persistent and nonsense negative five-centavo monthly billings.† Again the call center agent who took my call assured me that she/he already made sure that my account was already terminated.
On the† contrary I continued to receive monthly billings from Citibank with Total Amount Due of negative five centavos.† At that point I couldn’t care any less.† If they want to waste paper (poor trees) and ink by religiously sending me monthly billing statements for a Total Amount Due of negative five centavos AND for an account that I have already repeatedly requested to be discontinued then that is obviously their problem not mine.
Or so I thought… until December 2008.
I received another billing statement in December with statement date of 12/07/08 and Payment Due Date of 12/19/08.† As with the previous months I didn’t bother to open the statement expecting that it will be another negative five centavo billing.
It was only after Christmas, on December 28, that I got to open the billing statement, and only because I was doing some housekeeping on my mail matters and other accumulated documents.
Memories of my skyrocketing blood-pressure about a year ago came rushing through my mind when I realized that I was being billed P 2,499.95 for December.† They have the gall to charge me their annual membership of P2,500 for a Gold card (less negative five centavos) about a year after I have repeatedly requested for my account to be terminated.† And all those time I didn’t even have a Citibank credit card in my possession!†
While hyperventilating, I called the Citibank Hotline once more and went through the same ordeal I went through about a year ago.† The call center agent, in fairness to him, was quite professional in handling my call.† He patiently listened to my litany and assured me that he already closed my account and also reversed all charges.† He also suggested that I call the Hotline after about 10 minutes just to confirm that my account was indeed closed.
I did call the Citibank Hotline again after about half an hour to be sure that my account’s closure was already effected.† The call center agent who took my call that time around confirmed that my account was already closed.
Hallelujah!† Finally, after more than a year my ordeal with Citibank is finally over!
—
JANUARY 5, 2009.† First business day of the New Year.† Our village postman cheerfully delivered our mails.
Alas, one of my first mail matters for 2009 is a billing statement from Citibank.† Total Amount Due = P -0.05.† Here we go again. †@#$^$^&&*^%$)(!!!
blog hopping…i had fun reading this post. It’s good that the charges were reversed. Credit card companies are very notorious. I always feel na sinasadya nila ang ganito para ma-charge nila ang credit card holder.
Hi Nina. Nice of you to visit my blog. Cheers.
>Christine: It is in fact a five-centavo credit. Trouble is, it is a 5-centavo credit I would rather not have. I been trying to get rid of it for more than a year now.
so how can you owe negative 5 cents? you’d think that will be a credit!