CitiFinancial Shady business practices Superior Wisconsin

I worked for CitiFinancial for over 3yrs and yes, all those methods take place. Viennasound may not be in a district where those are enforced or practiced, but it does happen.

Before I tendered my resignation they started to enforce the wonderful DRP's (debt relief plans) which were to be presented by an employee and if they couldn't sell it, the manager was brought in. Hence the double-team method. The reason why you probably don't use those solicit lists is because Sales Finance Conversions are no longer the 'flavor of the month,' so to speak. My first year with the company I increased our SFC by over 500%. Then I realized a pre-compute loan works pretty similar to a front-end loan and stopped selling them. Yes, they are installment loans but much like any other loan, all are not created equally.

I stayed with the company because my training manager encouraged full disclosure but when she left, so did the branch's integrity. I witnessed my new manager repeatedly lying to our customers. Though much of this stemmed from ignorance, when you are in a management position, that is not an acceptable excuse.

Oklahoma is purely a pre-compute state, the only interest bearing loans we close are mortgages, but time after time they are told they can make principal only payments on PC loans i.e saving on interest. But again, a pre-compute loan is an entirely different beast (hence our use of the rule of 78's which is on the bottom of page 1 on the loan agreement and disclosure statement, and try getting your manager to explain that to you Viennasound). On top of that, even when our customers came into the branch to make principal only payments, because their indication in the memo part of mailed in checks was ignored, they were told they couldn't do that! I had to step in and train them on how to properly execute a principal only payment on Maestro, much to my new manager's chagrin. Though after my departure, only one employee remembers the training, and sadly she will be leaving in approximately 2mos for the same reasons as I left.

There will always be regions, districts that are ran according to the leadership they are given. Sadly mine was not one of them. It sounds like Viennasound may be in a region that actually upholds integrity, but also realize there are many that are not operated at that level, hence the neverending posts.

As an aside, consumers need to be more active in gaining some financial acumen. There's a 50/50 blame here. Check out innercitypress.com and read! Buy Predatory Bender if you're so inclined. But above all, the best defense is KNOWLEDGE.

As I have said before, you are not always saving money, you may be saving money on a monthly occurrence but not in the long run (term) or you can pay more for a shorter time and get rid of the bill. Consolidation only works in a few ways, either a lower rate than what you have combined saves you money over time due to the rate or the rate is higher but everything is together and savings is illustrated by having a longer time to pay it off........ or a mixture in between. Consolidation makes it easier for you to handle your bills and keep them together on a term loan....... there is no prepayment penalty so if you can refinance it to a lower rate, do so....... if you can pay part of it back with a lower rate, do so.

I will not rebuttal any of the solicit lists as I have only used one about a dozen times in two years and I only use them to contact people that are going to have a large sum of interest added to their bill because they are exiting a free interest period and back interest is about to be applied. Anything we would quote to save money is reflective of my opening paragraph.

The law isn't that you can contact a person once, it is the you can leave a message once per day, you can call over and over at a house and not leave a message if no one is there to answer........ people have caller id, they could report someone calling over and over in a given day if it were illegal (granted, some states may be different but I think the FCC is pretty universal on the laws state to state) and have proof! But nothing happens to these companies because it isn't wrong to call back, if we don't leave a message or speak to someone, you are still due, we still don't know if you know we are trying to get a hold of you. Put yourself on a DNS list and if a sister company calls (as the previous rebuttler commented on) tell them you are not interested........ it doesn't have to be made difficult, it is a simple solution.

I drank the kool-aid! Sorry...I am with you Breakdwn0219! I worked for CitiFinancial and while not everything was identical to what you described, the practices are very similar. We used our Sales Finance list daily...we did solicitation all day long...if we weren't making collection calls. Which, by the way, these companies can only call once per day between 8am-9pm to collect money. If you are being called at work or home because you are behind, we were told to call all day long at any number we had and to just not document that we called. These companies are also not allowed to block their numbers, but we were told to. (These are all FTC guidelines so they are for ALL businesses, not just finance companies.) Oh and if you are on the do not call list and one of these companies calls you...they are allowed only if you are already a customer or if you financed through one of their affiliations...for CitiFinancial the companies could be Raymour and Flanigans, or some smaller more local companies that sell maybe furniture or electronics.
We were trained on what to say when customers question the practices there. The savings looks really good on paper, but really the customer is not saving any money at all.
I just wanted to say Kudos to Breakdwn0219 for speaking out!

I drank the kool-aid! Sorry...I am with you Breakdwn0219! I worked for CitiFinancial and while not everything was identical to what you described, the practices are very similar. We used our Sales Finance list daily...we did solicitation all day long...if we weren't making collection calls. Which, by the way, these companies can only call once per day between 8am-9pm to collect money. If you are being called at work or home because you are behind, we were told to call all day long at any number we had and to just not document that we called. These companies are also not allowed to block their numbers, but we were told to. (These are all FTC guidelines so they are for ALL businesses, not just finance companies.) Oh and if you are on the do not call list and one of these companies calls you...they are allowed only if you are already a customer or if you financed through one of their affiliations...for CitiFinancial the companies could be Raymour and Flanigans, or some smaller more local companies that sell maybe furniture or electronics.
We were trained on what to say when customers question the practices there. The savings looks really good on paper, but really the customer is not saving any money at all.
I just wanted to say Kudos to Breakdwn0219 for speaking out!

I drank the kool-aid! Sorry...I am with you Breakdwn0219! I worked for CitiFinancial and while not everything was identical to what you described, the practices are very similar. We used our Sales Finance list daily...we did solicitation all day long...if we weren't making collection calls. Which, by the way, these companies can only call once per day between 8am-9pm to collect money. If you are being called at work or home because you are behind, we were told to call all day long at any number we had and to just not document that we called. These companies are also not allowed to block their numbers, but we were told to. (These are all FTC guidelines so they are for ALL businesses, not just finance companies.) Oh and if you are on the do not call list and one of these companies calls you...they are allowed only if you are already a customer or if you financed through one of their affiliations...for CitiFinancial the companies could be Raymour and Flanigans, or some smaller more local companies that sell maybe furniture or electronics.
We were trained on what to say when customers question the practices there. The savings looks really good on paper, but really the customer is not saving any money at all.
I just wanted to say Kudos to Breakdwn0219 for speaking out!

I drank the kool-aid! Sorry...I am with you Breakdwn0219! I worked for CitiFinancial and while not everything was identical to what you described, the practices are very similar. We used our Sales Finance list daily...we did solicitation all day long...if we weren't making collection calls. Which, by the way, these companies can only call once per day between 8am-9pm to collect money. If you are being called at work or home because you are behind, we were told to call all day long at any number we had and to just not document that we called. These companies are also not allowed to block their numbers, but we were told to. (These are all FTC guidelines so they are for ALL businesses, not just finance companies.) Oh and if you are on the do not call list and one of these companies calls you...they are allowed only if you are already a customer or if you financed through one of their affiliations...for CitiFinancial the companies could be Raymour and Flanigans, or some smaller more local companies that sell maybe furniture or electronics.
We were trained on what to say when customers question the practices there. The savings looks really good on paper, but really the customer is not saving any money at all.
I just wanted to say Kudos to Breakdwn0219 for speaking out!

OK, I don't recall everything you said as there was a lot but I know I can hit a few things that you said. First, you were talking about utilizing a local finance company instead of using your cash and there is an interest free time frame..... which is great and all, I use that all the time..... granted, your information is sent higher up but in no way have I ever started calling someone right after they got it to start consolidating it.... wells fargo may be different from citifinancial because we get lists of people who are about to be out of their interest free financing or that their credit came back well enough to get them a guaranteed loan..... and I don't know about you but in the two years I have worked there, I have only used that list 5 times, tops.... although I do know other branches use them more but if someone says no, the answer is no. Furthermore, isn't that the point? What benefit is there to give someone free interest over a period of two years if not to upgrade them and do something for them that actually makes them money.....

I don't remember all about the "double-team" tactic you were talking about but I have never heard or seen that, ever. I do recall you saying people had to pay 5 points in a mortgage, where in the world is that?! We do 3 points, always, and it is financed into the loan and not made to pay up front. Also, I have a mortgage that escrows and wish I didn't...... they have my insurance paid almost 3 years into the future rather than putting it to principal...... my escrow amount had never been adjusted and I swapped companies a month before I booked the loan...... if I did it myself, I would have extra to put towards my principal more than I am already paying. Escrow isn't always the best but it does give people one less thing to worry about, especially if they get behind or are not as quick to keep up on their obligations.

You did make one great point, the consumer can say to themselves 150.00 a month for 5 years equals 9000.00 and I am borrowing 5000.00 without a prepay penalty.... if you are not smart enough to multiply it out, you can look at your note and disclosure which shows rate, borrowed amount and amount of interest if no extra is paid monthly which shows...... a total amount borrowed over the course of the term! In Black.... and white!

There is never a prepayment penalty and if someone believes they are wronged and they have an awesome credit score, they can get a loan somewhere else and pay it off. I have a 5% fixed rate mortgage and I will end up spending almost 140k more than I am borrowing in interest alone, 105k borrowed, 242k paying back.... and it is at a great rate. That is how it works, high rate on a small balance or a low rate on a high balance, anything in between makes no one money and that is the point right? When you consolidate, typically you save money each month but not over a period of time..... make the choice, pay a higher payment for a shorter period of time or consolidate them together for a smaller payment but take longer to pay off.....

Oh, I do remember you saying something about an open line of revolving credit that we would give you......... that is incorrect and you can say that about Wells Fargo all day but not in a Citifinancial rebuttal as all of our loans are installment loans, citicard or citifinancial retail have revolving loans or credit lines but we do not.

OK, I don't recall everything you said as there was a lot but I know I can hit a few things that you said. First, you were talking about utilizing a local finance company instead of using your cash and there is an interest free time frame..... which is great and all, I use that all the time..... granted, your information is sent higher up but in no way have I ever started calling someone right after they got it to start consolidating it.... wells fargo may be different from citifinancial because we get lists of people who are about to be out of their interest free financing or that their credit came back well enough to get them a guaranteed loan..... and I don't know about you but in the two years I have worked there, I have only used that list 5 times, tops.... although I do know other branches use them more but if someone says no, the answer is no. Furthermore, isn't that the point? What benefit is there to give someone free interest over a period of two years if not to upgrade them and do something for them that actually makes them money.....

I don't remember all about the "double-team" tactic you were talking about but I have never heard or seen that, ever. I do recall you saying people had to pay 5 points in a mortgage, where in the world is that?! We do 3 points, always, and it is financed into the loan and not made to pay up front. Also, I have a mortgage that escrows and wish I didn't...... they have my insurance paid almost 3 years into the future rather than putting it to principal...... my escrow amount had never been adjusted and I swapped companies a month before I booked the loan...... if I did it myself, I would have extra to put towards my principal more than I am already paying. Escrow isn't always the best but it does give people one less thing to worry about, especially if they get behind or are not as quick to keep up on their obligations.

You did make one great point, the consumer can say to themselves 150.00 a month for 5 years equals 9000.00 and I am borrowing 5000.00 without a prepay penalty.... if you are not smart enough to multiply it out, you can look at your note and disclosure which shows rate, borrowed amount and amount of interest if no extra is paid monthly which shows...... a total amount borrowed over the course of the term! In Black.... and white!

There is never a prepayment penalty and if someone believes they are wronged and they have an awesome credit score, they can get a loan somewhere else and pay it off. I have a 5% fixed rate mortgage and I will end up spending almost 140k more than I am borrowing in interest alone, 105k borrowed, 242k paying back.... and it is at a great rate. That is how it works, high rate on a small balance or a low rate on a high balance, anything in between makes no one money and that is the point right? When you consolidate, typically you save money each month but not over a period of time..... make the choice, pay a higher payment for a shorter period of time or consolidate them together for a smaller payment but take longer to pay off.....

Oh, I do remember you saying something about an open line of revolving credit that we would give you......... that is incorrect and you can say that about Wells Fargo all day but not in a Citifinancial rebuttal as all of our loans are installment loans, citicard or citifinancial retail have revolving loans or credit lines but we do not.

OK, I don't recall everything you said as there was a lot but I know I can hit a few things that you said. First, you were talking about utilizing a local finance company instead of using your cash and there is an interest free time frame..... which is great and all, I use that all the time..... granted, your information is sent higher up but in no way have I ever started calling someone right after they got it to start consolidating it.... wells fargo may be different from citifinancial because we get lists of people who are about to be out of their interest free financing or that their credit came back well enough to get them a guaranteed loan..... and I don't know about you but in the two years I have worked there, I have only used that list 5 times, tops.... although I do know other branches use them more but if someone says no, the answer is no. Furthermore, isn't that the point? What benefit is there to give someone free interest over a period of two years if not to upgrade them and do something for them that actually makes them money.....

I don't remember all about the "double-team" tactic you were talking about but I have never heard or seen that, ever. I do recall you saying people had to pay 5 points in a mortgage, where in the world is that?! We do 3 points, always, and it is financed into the loan and not made to pay up front. Also, I have a mortgage that escrows and wish I didn't...... they have my insurance paid almost 3 years into the future rather than putting it to principal...... my escrow amount had never been adjusted and I swapped companies a month before I booked the loan...... if I did it myself, I would have extra to put towards my principal more than I am already paying. Escrow isn't always the best but it does give people one less thing to worry about, especially if they get behind or are not as quick to keep up on their obligations.

You did make one great point, the consumer can say to themselves 150.00 a month for 5 years equals 9000.00 and I am borrowing 5000.00 without a prepay penalty.... if you are not smart enough to multiply it out, you can look at your note and disclosure which shows rate, borrowed amount and amount of interest if no extra is paid monthly which shows...... a total amount borrowed over the course of the term! In Black.... and white!

There is never a prepayment penalty and if someone believes they are wronged and they have an awesome credit score, they can get a loan somewhere else and pay it off. I have a 5% fixed rate mortgage and I will end up spending almost 140k more than I am borrowing in interest alone, 105k borrowed, 242k paying back.... and it is at a great rate. That is how it works, high rate on a small balance or a low rate on a high balance, anything in between makes no one money and that is the point right? When you consolidate, typically you save money each month but not over a period of time..... make the choice, pay a higher payment for a shorter period of time or consolidate them together for a smaller payment but take longer to pay off.....

Oh, I do remember you saying something about an open line of revolving credit that we would give you......... that is incorrect and you can say that about Wells Fargo all day but not in a Citifinancial rebuttal as all of our loans are installment loans, citicard or citifinancial retail have revolving loans or credit lines but we do not.

OK, I don't recall everything you said as there was a lot but I know I can hit a few things that you said. First, you were talking about utilizing a local finance company instead of using your cash and there is an interest free time frame..... which is great and all, I use that all the time..... granted, your information is sent higher up but in no way have I ever started calling someone right after they got it to start consolidating it.... wells fargo may be different from citifinancial because we get lists of people who are about to be out of their interest free financing or that their credit came back well enough to get them a guaranteed loan..... and I don't know about you but in the two years I have worked there, I have only used that list 5 times, tops.... although I do know other branches use them more but if someone says no, the answer is no. Furthermore, isn't that the point? What benefit is there to give someone free interest over a period of two years if not to upgrade them and do something for them that actually makes them money.....

I don't remember all about the "double-team" tactic you were talking about but I have never heard or seen that, ever. I do recall you saying people had to pay 5 points in a mortgage, where in the world is that?! We do 3 points, always, and it is financed into the loan and not made to pay up front. Also, I have a mortgage that escrows and wish I didn't...... they have my insurance paid almost 3 years into the future rather than putting it to principal...... my escrow amount had never been adjusted and I swapped companies a month before I booked the loan...... if I did it myself, I would have extra to put towards my principal more than I am already paying. Escrow isn't always the best but it does give people one less thing to worry about, especially if they get behind or are not as quick to keep up on their obligations.

You did make one great point, the consumer can say to themselves 150.00 a month for 5 years equals 9000.00 and I am borrowing 5000.00 without a prepay penalty.... if you are not smart enough to multiply it out, you can look at your note and disclosure which shows rate, borrowed amount and amount of interest if no extra is paid monthly which shows...... a total amount borrowed over the course of the term! In Black.... and white!

There is never a prepayment penalty and if someone believes they are wronged and they have an awesome credit score, they can get a loan somewhere else and pay it off. I have a 5% fixed rate mortgage and I will end up spending almost 140k more than I am borrowing in interest alone, 105k borrowed, 242k paying back.... and it is at a great rate. That is how it works, high rate on a small balance or a low rate on a high balance, anything in between makes no one money and that is the point right? When you consolidate, typically you save money each month but not over a period of time..... make the choice, pay a higher payment for a shorter period of time or consolidate them together for a smaller payment but take longer to pay off.....

Oh, I do remember you saying something about an open line of revolving credit that we would give you......... that is incorrect and you can say that about Wells Fargo all day but not in a Citifinancial rebuttal as all of our loans are installment loans, citicard or citifinancial retail have revolving loans or credit lines but we do not.

I have read the comments and responses by the two citifinancial employees listed above... and guys, I must say that your points are very valid, however, you are defending a terrible company that really does rob people blind. I appreciate the loyalty to your company, but you should really look to find somewhere else to work.

Citifinancial is just one of the many deplorable companies that take advantage of unsuspecting consumers on a day to day basis. In all honesty, if you are dealing with any company that contains the word "financial" in their name, then that alone should set off some bells ringing in your head automatically. There is a laundry list of your common offenders.... Citifinancial.... Wells Fargo Financial.... American General Financial.... HFC... I could keep going and going. Every single one of these companies claim that they are helping their customers gain access to financial services that they could previously not attain due to low credit scores or low income. There is some truth in their claims. But, the grim reality is that many times the reasons behind the poor credit profiles stem from doing business with these companies in the first place!!!!!!

Allow me to explain...

I will first start by letting you know that I used to work for one of the worst offenders... a most despicable institution by the name of Wells Fargo Financial. I started working there right after I graduated from college and for a short amount of time thought I was really helping people. From the get go I was fed a bunch of crap from my "DM" about how wonderful we were and how we were helping people in real need. Well, suffice to say, I believed the lines and I too drank the kool aid. But, I will get back to all of that later. I think it is important for people to first truly understand how the majority of these companies gain their customer base.

Let me tell you how they get you. Most of the time it all starts with you heading to your local furniture store. You probably have the cash to buy whatever you want, but you notice that the store has a 12 or 24 or up to 60 months of zero percent financing. Why not spread it out? So you sign up and let them run your credit. Now, if you do not have great credit, then you do not get approved. Fair enough. But, of course you have a credit score in the mid seven hundreds or so. So you go ahead and sign the papers. You probably see that one of the many various "finance" companies are actually financing your purchase. Most of them are connected with major reputable institutions, so you assume that everything is fine. But then the calls start.

See, when the furniture store ran your credit, a copy of your credit report was imputed into the "finance" companies' lead generation computer. Once it saw that you had a good credit score it approved the purchase and set up an account. Then before you receive your first bill you might get a call from someone from the "finance" company to go over the terms of your agreement. They quickly go over what you signed up for, then you get your little surprise.

"Mr. Customer, when we opened your account, we noticed you had x y and z credit cards with x y and z balances. Have you considered consolidating those and really **reducing** (corporate compliance has actually had to mandate that they can no longer use the word save) the amount of interest you are going to pay in the life of those cards? I have worked out a simple plan to **reduce** (remember, we are not actually saving you any money) your monthly obligation by over XXX dollars a month. Why don't you stop by and see me here at the local office and I can show you on paper."

Wow, they know all of that from you buying some furniture. Oh by the way, that first call could come at home, or work, any time from 8 AM to about 9 PM at night. *Also a note, if you are a renter, then you are generally safe. They weed out folks who do not own their homes. Most times, you will not make it to their solicitation lists unless you list yourself as homeowner on the credit application at the furniture store. See, the ultimate goal of every one of these companies is for you to refinance your house with them. That is where they make all their money. I will get there... be patient it really starts getting good now.... :-)

Well most likely, you are fairly put off by the curt nature of their call, and you refuse. Some folks bite on that first call, but most refuse because you are not happy to have received that call. That's ok... they will keep trying... and they are convinced they will get you if they try hard enough.

Now the checks and letters start. All of the big guys do it a bit differently, but most of them involve some sort of live check through the mail for about a thousand dollars or so. They send them out indiscriminately. As long as you own a house and they have your name, then you get checks. They send them and send them and send them... until maybe one day you car breaks down, or you have some sort of emergency, or you just want a little extra cash. The terms seems simple enough 38 bucks a month, for a set period of time. Not too bad you think (kind of silly not too add up all of those payments... that is the consumers' fault... but that is what they expect). So you cash or deposit the check. Then you are hooked into them, because they know you need money. The calls now go into overdrive!!!! See, you just fell into a special lead category for the sales people at your local branch. They love to see these leads come through!!! They are the easiest to turn over into other products. Arguments actually take place at the branches over who is going to get those leads!!! They tell you they can reduce the interest rate of the loan b/c it came out to you at 29%. ahahahhahhhahhah Just come on down to the branch and we will reduce that rate for you!!! Sucker...

Ok, so you are down at the branch now and you are sitting waiting in this little room with all of these posters on the walls about responsible lending, etc. You see another "closing booth" with a couple watching a movie that looks like it is explaining what a refinance is and what all of the terms mean. "Odd," you think to yourself. But, whatever, you are just here to lower your rate on that little loan you took out.

Ok, now in walks your "Credit Manager" that has been calling you three times a week along with the branch manager. They sit down and discuss the terms of your "loan". Well, you see that now you are signing up for a revolving line of credit with a limit of 7k. Woah... WTF!!! But, they have also found a way to include a few credit cards in the loan and pay them off directly. They are now **reducing** your monthly payment and you total interest for you!! Wow, that is so nice of them!! Hey!! Remember that first phone call? I told you they would get you...

Ok, at this point you object, because this is not what you came in for. That is when the manager jumps in. They double team you and the manager then shows you a "loan optimizer" or something of that nature that points out the interest **reduction** (not savings) in the long run. The manager uses high pressure to almost make you feel stupid if you don't sign up. Some people will get up and walk out at that point. But, let's face it. Most people are not financial experts. The average consumer does not understand the complexity that is involved in personal loan products, revolving products, or even a mortgage for that matter. So, you in turn end up trusting the manger and the sales associate because let's face it, they are pretty nice people and you really don't think they would be trying to scam you. So, you give in and let them go ahead and pay off a few small balance credit cards. The don't bother to mention that there is a 3% fee (no max) on each and every balance transfer.

Oh but then the real fun starts..... The second "loan optimizer" gets pulled out. Wow, you new "friends" have worked out a "plan" to **reduce** your monthly payment by hundreds a month!!! Oh boy how could it be true? And look, now you only have to make one "small" monthly payment!!! They went ahead and included everything for you! Your mortgage (was at 6%), you cars (say at 5.9% and 6.9%), your students loans (at 5%) and all of your credit cards (average 12% or so). And they now have one nice big tidy package for you. They have even been nice enough to include that 7k you already just took out not 5 minutes ago (funny how it was assumed on the "loan optimizer" that you would take the 7k revolving loan in place of the loan check you had already cashed). WOW!!!!!! What a day. We have gone from reducing the interest rate on a thousand dollar check you had cashed, and now you were talking about a refinance of your house!!!! You most likely refuse and be done with the place for a while.

The calls subside for a while, probably, a month or two. But then, as your name is recycled through the lead system, the calls start again. Twice a day at home and work for a week at a time.

Boy this is getting long winded. Sorry for the lengthy post, but this is serious business. I can extrapolate much much more if anyone would like me to. But I will finish explaining what will happen when you finally do take out that mortgage...

You WILL be asked to pay at least 4 points with any one of these companies. Citifi is one of the worst and generally charges 5 points. Your interest rates are much higher then you deserve. Remember, you have great credit, they accepted you as their furniture customers first!!! Generally we are looking in the 7% range for a 30 year fixed when the going rate is 6.25% with about one point. YES! They will charge you 7% with 5 points (*$^^^$!!!!!!) with excellent credit, and tell you no one could do better, that your debt-to-income ratio is too high for any other companies to work with you. Oh yeah, by the way, they do not include your taxes and insurance in your monthly payment!!!! So all of those payment **reductions** may be null in void from the get go!

Ok, if anyone is still interested at all, post something back here, and I will get much more into detail about the employee aspect of these companies, and the things that they tell their employees to make them rob people blind. That is where things get really interesting. The lies and terrible practices that I have seen would make your head spin!!! So, if anyone would like to comment, or would like to continue this discussion, please let me know. I have lots more of good info.

Oh and not like anyone really cares, but I work with a much better company now that really does have our clients' best interest in mind.


I hope for a discussion to ensue.

First, you were either given the wrong information or you misunderstood the information you were given. You can make principal payments. They can select it on the payment screen. Typically, no one posts principal payments on personal loans because it works the same way as if you were just paying extra on your account assuming you make a regular payment every month. You are correct that if they are not positing the payment to your account as principal only then anything above and beyond your payment is going to the next payment and will keep advancing your account. If you continue to do that while making your regular payment every month you will pay the account off early and save the same amount of money that would would have by selecting the payments to go to principal only. You are incorrect to think there is no way you could have known that they were not applying your payments as you thought they were. You get a monthly statement that shows you what day you are do for. If your account was being advanced due to extra payments then it would have been reflected on your statement. Also, if you were going into the branch office to pay you would have been receiving a receipt. The receipt would show when you are next due. It would also show your current balance and balance after the payment which would show the whole amount you were paying go to the balance and not being seperated.

Second, you allowed your car to be used as collateral, it's virtually the same thing as getting a car loan from somewhere. Yes, they basically own your car now. You would have brought in your title and given it to them. On the Itemization of Amount Financed it would show a $10 recording fee which would have been to record the title with their lien information. On your note, it would show that your car was being used as collateral. This means that if you don't pay on time they have the right to repossess your car. This also means that if you are in a car accident the money would be sent to them first. Which brings us to point three.

Third, it is correct that they can take the whole check from the insurance company and apply it as a principal only payment to your account. It won't advance your payment, it just reduces the principal. That is company policy. Now, there are exceptions sometimes made to this based on your standing with the company, but again they are exceptions so they don't have to be granted. If your account balance is now reduced because of the payment and you need the money out for a down payment, assuming you quality, they can solicit you to take the extra money out on your loan by refinancing it. You don't have to accept this offer at all, it's just an offer that may help you out. You have to understand that the money was lent to you in the first place based on that they had the car as collateral for the loan so they felt more secured about lending the money. This could be due to your credit score, payment history, tight income, amount of loan you wanted, etc. Now that they are no longer secured they want to post the insurance check to reduce the balance owed to them to ensure they are going to get at least part of the money you owe them.

Fourth, it is their mistake that they posted your payment to your sisters account or vice versa. Unfortunately, it was a mistake and mistakes happen. It is unfortunate that your information was given to your sister. At least with her having a receipt assuming she looked at it when given it to her it should have been correct imeddiately. There isn't much they can do to correct what already happened except to make a note in each account to make sure they double check identity before posting the payements. This could also be eliminated by your bringing in your statement with the account number on it.

Fifth, you are correct that CitiFinancial reports the total balance to the credit report. This is something you could have asked before signing the loan and it would have been disclosed to you. This is not something illegal that they do and they are not the only company that does it.

Sixth, mailing a payment and coming into the office is not the only way to make a payment. First, you can bring a payment into the office or drop it in the night slot when the business is closed. Second, you can mail a payment which is a totally normal thing to do. Third, you can set your account up on AutoPay. This will allow your payment to come out on your due date from your checking account. You can set it up for the regular payment to come out or extra. Fourth, you can do a phone payment and on your type of loan it would be free of charge. Fifth, you could set it up through your own bank to mail out a payment for you to their location every month. Also, they don't have the weirdest business hours. They are open Monday to Friday and open at least three days a week until 5:30 p.m. and depending on which location you go do open til 7:00 p.m. or possibly 9:00 p.m. two days a week. Most banking type locations close by 5 or 5:30 each night so they have better hours then that.

Seventh, you will continue to get ads soliciting you for extra money or possibly a lower rate (lower rate one I am not aware of) unless you opt out to receive them. They are sent from a marketing department and not the actual branch your account is out of although it does show their address as to where it came from on it. The marketing department has no idea what you may or may not qualify for and even if it did, your credit could change and the things you qualify for may change because of that so there is no way to know if you may qualify for extra money or a lower rate without applying each time to check.

ok, I will try to provide some help based on what yo have written. First off, your car is collateral on the loan, basically your car secures the loan and there is a lien against it for the amount of the loan. Some people say "well, my balance is 5k and that car is only worth 2k, you can have it" and a lot of people think it is fully securing the loan, that isn't always true. Sometimes you are approved for 7500 unsecured but 10000 with an auto...... the car literally only helped you get the other 2500. At any rate...... when you wrecked your car since there is a lien on it, Citifinancial receives the check and applies a "Special" payment on the account to release the collateral and this payment is applied to balance for the date of the accident and doesn't move your due date. It goes straight to principal. Once it is applied you can then refinance to borrow money to buy another car or whatever you are wanting to do..... although it has both of your names on it there is a lien that gets satisfied with that check..... it isn't split between the two of you because that car supported a portion of your loan..... just the same as if a car would be repo'd and whatever they got on it would be paid off the loan. Sorry about that, that is how it is done and is a normal business procedure although it may put you in a hard spot.

Next, you were talking about paying the extra and it advancing your due date....... although it is paying your account ahead it is taking money off your principal and you are paying less interest on future payments and at any time you would want to pay your loan off you would see the difference in payoff between today and 3 months in the future when your loan is due ...... it is going to principal but also gives you the availability of having breathing room if something happens. Keep paying like you are, that money does go to principal, the only time it doesn't is if you paid ahead and then waited for it to be due again, it would be like you made the payments each month and on time, no benefit to you other than breathing room..... pay every month, pay extra, it does go to principal.

I know it appears as though your balance is higher in the cb, it isn't like that at every citifinancial. In WV for WV customers, it reflects your payoff balance as of the last time you paid your bill (then accrues interest each day) but everyone who lives in Ohio has a precomputed account and it shows the balance as a whole 5 year loan (or whatever) with finance charge and principal balance (so a 5k loan may show 8k depending on term and rate). I would have to say (although I may be wrong) that it is state legislated how it is reported (for a finance company, may not be the same for a national bank (i.e. United, BB&T etc.).

Hope this helped you, sorry about your car but they gave you money or additional money due to the possession and value of your car and they need to get that out of it, it secured your loan. If your balance was 7k and they sent a check for 4k, your new balance is 3k and your payments remain the same but you will pay it off a lot faster due to the interest being calculated off of a 3k loan but you are paying payments as if it were a 7k loan (or whatever you financed it for). If you have kept your credit up and now that you are an existing, established customer, maybe they can take your loan up to 7500 unsecured, giving you 4500 and refinancing the 3k into the loan........ now you are unsecured and paying basically the same payment since generally the difference between a secured loan and an unsecured is a percent or two (depending on credit.....and whether your credit allowed you any other loan products that just secured and unsecured as we have premier, homeowner 1 and homeowner 2 which generally are based off your credit and your remaining income vs. debts after everything is paid (generally have to have 40% or more income remaining)).