If you are a student looking for college loans, don't use Citibank.
If you are a student with Citibank private loans and you are in school or just leaving, congratulations! You're fucked.
According to the Promissory note you signed, they can change any aspect of your loan without notification, and they will.
Forbearance is given out in 6 month increments. Thus, you apply twice to get your year of lender forbearance when you graduate.
Except back on May 14th, they canceled the last 6 months of that option, so you only get 6 months. They did not send out paper work, there is no notification on the website, and they only way you can find out is if you call them. In the pdf I downloaded in late May, it still says:
"CitiAssist borrowers are eligible for a maximum of one year of Lender Option Forbearance granted in 6-month increments."
As I sent in the paper work (on May 29th) soon after I downloaded this, I would have to say that for some reason, they don't want you to know about this.
And guess what! Even better! On the web site, here:
https://www.studentloan.com/pay_your_loans/repayoptions.htm If you look at payment options, this is what you see:
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Repayment Plans Is This Plan Right For Me?
Standard (Federal & Private Loans)
If you have the resources to make full monthly payments, it's the least expensive choice. Repay with the minimum amount of interest by making consistent principal and interest payments, and not extending the term of the loan.
Graduated* (Federal Loans Only)
If you're starting your career, this plan helps you afford the things you need now and pay more as your income grows. Make smaller payments for the first two or four years and then make larger payments.
Income-Sensitive* (Federal Loans only)
If your monthly income is variable, it's an easy way to reduce your monthly payments to a level you can currently afford. Get the lowest monthly payment based on a percentage of your gross monthly income.
Income-Based* (Federal Loans only)
An ideal way to lower your loan payments if you have a partial financial hardship, as defined by law. Payments are based on your adjusted gross income, family size, and federal student loan debt.
Extended* (Federal Loans only)
If you owe more than $30,000 in federal loans, it's a good way to make repayment easier on your monthly budget. Reduce your monthly payment by spreading them over a period of up to 25 years.
Having Difficulty Making Payments?
If you're having trouble keeping up with your federal student loan payments, you're not alone. We offer a number of options to help you repay your school loans:
* Choose a new repayment plan that may lower your monthly payment.
* Temporarily postpone payments with a deferment or forbearance. Learn more.
If you are having difficulties or are unable to pay your private student loans, don't delay in getting help. Contact us immediately when you encounter financial difficulties that inhibit your ability to pay. Call us at 1-800-967-2400, Monday through Friday from 8:00 a.m. to 11:00 p.m. ET. TTY users can call us toll-free at 1-800-846-1298.
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Notice something? Yes, that is right, if you weren't eligible for a federal loan, you have no payment options listed. Wait, but it says to call them! They'll help!
Except you better call them before July 1st, because that is when the possible graduated payment program is being canceled, again without any notification. Again, you can only find this out if you call them.
And if you do call them, you'll get someone who will transfer you to a 'Account Specialist' who will then transfer you and then transfer you again and transfer you again! Apparently, 'Account Specialist' is the code name for first level grunt in the call center. Even if you specifically ask for a manager, you'll likely get forwarded to yet another 'Account Specialist'.
Let me give you the example of my experience!
I got my bill in May, telling me that the first part of my forbearance was finished.
I downloaded the paperwork off of their website and faxed it on May 29th.
Fast forward a bit, when I get a bill that says, your loans are overdue!
What? But I sent in the paper work well before it was due, I exclaim, and call the help line that very evening. Where it precedes to ask me if I want to check the balance of my loan, if I want to apply for a loan, if I want to check on the status of my application, and if I want to hear everything in Spanish. (All of which I can do on the website...which is where I found the phone number.)
In order to actually get help, you have to press 0 a couple of time and wait.
SO I wait, and someone picks up the phone and, in between breathing into the phone, mumbles something at me. I tell them that I can't understand what they are saying, and they repeat it...in the exact same manner. By listening very carefully, I can tell they are saying words this time! Kind of. While mumbling. In a very, very, very thick accent. While breathing into the phone. I can handle an accent! I can kind of block out the hissing as people breath into the phone, although it hurts my ears and makes it more difficult to listen hard to the voice which has now been translated by the phone to be background noise. I... can not understand mumbling.
I tell her again, I am sorry but you are breathing into the phone and I can not hear you.
I manage to hear that she wants my name. I tell her and she then tells me that she can not understand me. What? Seriously? So I say it again, very slowly, and spell my last name.
She then tells me... something? About checking the website? I tell her three more times that I can not understand her and finally I get, Have a nice day, and dead silence.
Did I just get hung up on? Please allow me this mini rant: If you are in customer service in a call center and you can not speak clearly, you are failing your job. If you are told someone can not understand you and you do not transfer this person to another call center person who hopefully the customer can understand, than you doubly fail.
Fast forward to today. I call and can understand someone, yay! I tell them, I sent in my forbearance paperwork back in May on the 29th. My bill just came in and told me my loans are overdue. What is going on?
I get transferred once or twice, verifying my information each time, and then finally get a hold of some.
I explain it again. One moment, I am told, I need to put you on hold to read through the notes on your account. I am very confused and alarmed by this; what could there possibly be notes on?
She comes back and lets me know that there is nothing on my records. (Wait, what happened to those notes you needed to read?) I ask her, what about the paperwork for my first forbearance? Not there! (What the heck is going on?)
She then asks me what my financial situation is. I tell her I am unemployed, as is my husband, and we are in the process to move in order to hopefully get jobs.
Oh, she responds, then there is nothing I can do.
....WHAT???
She does not know why, but the uppers in the company changed policy back in May. You can only get 6 months of forbearance, and then you can NEVER get forbearance on that loan again. You know, we understand that people are in rough times right not, but so are big corporations.
Because I already used my 6 months, I can either pay or... not pay. After 15 days I will get a late fee and, after I ask, she tell me that after 30 days they will hand over my account to creditors.
I am crying at this point in time. I have no money, that is why I applied to the forbearance that I was told I would have when I signed up for this loan.
She tells me there is nothing she can do, but I should just pay them when I get a job, that they understand.
I double check with her that my only options now are to either pay or to just not pay until I get a job, during which I will be getting late fees as well as calls from creditors. She tells me that yes that is correct.
I call my mom and tearfully apologize and beg for money. We have money in the bank...enough to cover the mortgage for two months and that is it. I have no idea where we are going to get the money to actually move, other than putting it on a credit card. We are getting some money from my husband's unemployment, but have no idea when that ends and no idea even if we can get the house sold as we have already been having problems for the last couple of months. She can give me the money in a couple of days, so at the very least I can stave off the current late fee and the creditors for a little longer.
My husband calls the company, as he also has loans through the company and I am too upset to talk on the phone. It can't be legal to just change the policy like this without written notification, can it? After being lied to repeatedly (they tried telling him that the forbearance had always been only 6 months), then transferring him when he called them on it, and transferring over and over again, he finally gets a hold of someone to get some information. This is where we find out that actually, the company can do whatever they want with no written notification because of a clause in the promissory note. Also, it is only at this time that we find out that the payment plans are being dropped in July. So that lady who told me that the company would help me when I hypothetically get a job in September? Yeah, most likely lied to me.
So, that's it. I will have to beg family and hope that they can somehow get the money to help me pay the loans...or get a million calls from creditors and trash my credit record. And did you know that some companies check your credit record when they do hiring? That is what I have been told anyway. As I was hoping to get a government job though, I wouldn't be surprised if they did.
This is all on top of being in unemployment for two years, my husband and I getting occasional part time jobs at minimum wage in order to cover expenses, and a chronic health condition that already limits my job opportunities. (Can't do waitress or anything with food prep.) We were just making ends meet...kind of. Don't buy as much food, and other than the mortgage, electricity, water, his school loans, internet and cat food and litter, we cut out every other cost.
So please, don't tell me 'big corporations are having troubles too.'
Please, if you can, please signal boost this? I can't be the only person with private loans through this company, and as it took considerable efforts to get what little information that I have, there has to be people who do not know that they are about to get screwed over by their loan company. That is the only reason why I posted this publicly instead of under a friends lock like I usually do.