CITI CARDS Have you found deductions on your Citi card statements from PAYMENTAID or PAYMENT PROTECTOR and had no clue how it got there, then found you could not get a fefund when you called Citi Card? Sioux Falls, South Dakota

I found a PAYMENTAID charge on my credit card statement and had no clue what it was or why it was there.  After many hours of research; after many hours on the phone; after many attempts to have the charges removed, only to be told rudely by Citi Card: you ordered this service, we have your voice on tape, no refunds, case closed, I think I have found out what's going on.  Citi Card is welcome to write and set things straight. 

If this happens to you, Citi Card has sold your private account information to affiliates: PAYMENTAID and CREDIT PROTECTOR.  They have not asked your permission to sell your private information.  These organizations are scam artists.  In my case, PAYMENTAID left a telemarketing pitch on my answering machine, telling me about a great credit insurance they offered.  I was not at home that day, may have heard a junk sales call and erased it immediately, since I am on the "Do Not Call List."

PAYMENTAID followed up with some sort of mailing stating that they had signed me up for their insurance, a monthly deduction from my account.  It was easy for them to sign me up because Citi Card had sold them all of my private information including my account number, phone number and address.  I never saw this mailing, if indeed it came.  I would have pitched it as junk mail.  My research showed that the mailing would have stated that I was signed up for monthly insurance to protect my account.  If I did not want it, I would need to call within 30 days to cancel.  Thus the insurance was placed on my account without my knowledge.

Attempting to cancel takes months talking to rude PAYMENTAID reps who are trained to bully and give you a big run around.  They will tell you that you signed up for the insurance, claim your voice is recorded doing so, and try to shake you off in every way possible.  It can get comical.  When I asked to hear the tape of my voice ordering PAYMENTAID, the agent told me this department did not own a phone.  But I kept pushing over weeks and months and finally heard this tape.  It was simply the automated telemarketing pitch on my voice mail.  I had never answered the phone.

In 2002, Citi Card lost a class action suit for selling your private information to both affiliate and non affiliate companies.  They are still going at it.  Has this happened to you.  Do you have more info, or can you correct what info I have researched?  Write to your State Attorney General so that they can get a handle on the problem.  Perhaps the federal gov. needs to pass a uniform law to protect consumers. 

After several months, I have still been getting the run around and my money has not been refunded.  These people have your bailout money, they charge you high interest rates, and they have found another way to take money out of your pocket.

Joe A, Pittsburgh, PA