Incredible US banking ineptness

[jaywalker2]

I received a credit card statement in one of my secondary email accounts from Citibank. Now, I don't have a Citibank credit card, I have never applied for a Citibank credit card. The name on the email account is not my real name, it's basically an account I use when signing up for things on the web to avoid spam in my primary account.

 

But this credit card account was using my email address and the name on the email account. So as a courtesy, instead of just blocking it, I called up Citibank to report a fradulent credit card account. First of all, it took me several phone calls just to talk to a representative. Then it was not the right representative, I had to  be transferred, they transferred to the wrong place, I had to be transferred again, I was cut off. I had to call back.

 

Finally, I reached somebody who ostensibly could help me and I duly reported that my email address and the name on the account had been used fradulently to take out a credit card. Were they grateful? No. They insisted they needed my social security number and name, which I wasn't about to give them, of course. Instead, I told them that it was very easy to check whether this was a valid account. I gave them the last four numbers of the credit card account, the name on the account, the date the person became a card member. And I told them all they had to do was check the social security number on the application against the name. They can't possibly match.

 

The representative, it sounded like a Filipino call center, kept giving me an argument, so I finally told them they could investigate or not as they pleased, but I wasn't going to be associated with a fradulent account and that I would block any further message.

 

It's just amazing to me the hoops somebody who lives overseas has to jump through in order to open a bank account, keep it open, or get a credit card or do anything else. I tried to open an account at Ally Bank, for instance, and they rejected me because I didn't have enough of a US credit history even though I gave a US adsdress. And yet ithese banks seem to be handing out credit cards with no credit checks at all.  And even when you report a fraud, they act like they don't care.

 

Well, that's my rant of the day.
 

[1FinickyOne]

Sounds like business as usual... 

 

But, not at my bank. I have had the same account for over 20 years and the management knows me and the account is locked down other than our regular transactions. 

[gamb00ler]

It seems likely that the website/company where you supplied that email address was hacked.  Hackers then sent you a phishing email to that account trying to get more data from you.

 

It's quite likely Citibank was just chosen at random by the hackers and the bank knows nothing about that email, credit card or that fictitious name you supplied.

Edited October 1 by gamb00ler

[jaywalker2]

No, citibank confirmed it was a real account. They said they couldn't close it without proof it was fake.

[Everyman]

21 hours ago, jaywalker2 said:

No, citibank confirmed it was a real account. They said they couldn't close it without proof it was fake.

 

I have several real Citibank credit cards and accounts. Nine out of ten representatives in those Filipino call centers are useless idiots. They know nothing, have no power or common sense and just waste your time. 

[BigStar]

On 10/1/2024 at 8:55 AM, jaywalker2 said:

It's just amazing to me the hoops somebody who lives overseas has to jump through in order to open a bank account, keep it open, or get a credit card or do anything else.

 

Oh, just close the account and use a Thai account. I never have any trouble w/ my Thai banks or Thai credit card. 🙂 

Edited October 2 by BigStar

[jaywalker2]

1 hour ago, BigStar said:

 

Oh, just close the account and use a Thai account. I never have any trouble w/ my Thai banks or Thai credit card. 🙂 

You've brought all your money over to Thailand?

[BigStar]

24 minutes ago, jaywalker2 said:

You've brought all your money over to Thailand?

 

It's been happy here for quite some time. You may report me to our ANF Poster Banking Regulators. 

[JackGats]

Count yourself lucky not to be from the EU. At least as a US citizen you can still open a US bank account while living in Thailand. Once EU expats lose their EU accounts, there's nothing for it but to bank only in Asia (how do you transfer an EU stock portfolio to Thailand?), or go back and live in the EU for one fiscal year in order to open <deleted>load of new accounts before becoming moving out again.

 

Yes, setting up call-centers manned with employees who know little and can do little is the new way for bank to cut costs these days. The day crypto takes over and all banks vanish will be a victory for mankind. I'm not even a crypto investor, I missed that band-wagon, but I now understand why long term there's no alternative to crypto.

[bubblegum]

14 minutes ago, JackGats said:

Count yourself lucky not to be from the EU. At least as a US citizen you can still open a US bank account while living in Thailand. Once EU expats lose their EU accounts, there's nothing for it but to bank only in Asia (how do you transfer an EU stock portfolio to Thailand?), or go back and live in the EU for one fiscal year in order to open <deleted>load of new accounts before becoming moving out again.

 

Yes, setting up call-centers manned with employees who know little and can do little is the new way for bank to cut costs these days. The day crypto takes over and all banks vanish will be a victory for mankind. I'm not even a crypto investor, I missed that band-wagon, but I now understand why long term there's no alternative to crypto.

Just open a Wise account, it's in Belgium with a Belgium bank nr. and IBAN.

[gamb00ler]

On 10/1/2024 at 2:07 PM, jaywalker2 said:

No, citibank confirmed it was a real account. They said they couldn't close it without proof it was fake.

I think it likely that there is some miscommunication between you and the Citibank customer service representative.

 

How likely is it for Citibank to issue a credit card in a fake name (without documentation) that presumably has no credit history?

[jaywalker2]

1 hour ago, gamb00ler said:

I think it likely that there is some miscommunication between you and the Citibank customer service representative.

 

How likely is it for Citibank to issue a credit card in a fake name (without documentation) that presumably has no credit history?

Well, that was my exact question. I asked her if they issue credit cards without checking the application. She had no answer, of course.

 

But,, no, there was no miscommunication. She understood what I saying. It was her position that she couldn't close the account without proof that it was actually fradulent. I told her to check the social security number and compare the name with the name on the account. They can't match, so that should be proof but she wanted my personal details as well.

 

I can easily imagine this happening. In my former life, I worked with a lot of bankers and usually they have sales quotas. In this case, the maximum limit on the credit card ws only $5400, so I suppose that would be an incentive to rubber stamp it without checking the details in order to make a sales. That's how the financial crisis occurred, remember?

 

 

[jaywalker2]

5 hours ago, bubblegum said:

Just open a Wise account, it's in Belgium with a Belgium bank nr. and IBAN.

No, as a US citizen you can't open a bank account with a US bank. Almost all banks and brokerages require that you have a permanent US address to apply. And they might also run a credit check. You might be able to open an account if you have an address in the US that you can use but you run the risk that they will close it if they find out you're living overseas

[jaywalker2]

5 hours ago, JackGats said:

Count yourself lucky not to be from the EU. At least as a US citizen you can still open a US bank account while living in Thailand. Once EU expats lose their EU accounts, there's nothing for it but to bank only in Asia (how do you transfer an EU stock portfolio to Thailand?), or go back and live in the EU for one fiscal year in order to open <deleted>load of new accounts before becoming moving out again.

 

Yes, setting up call-centers manned with employees who know little and can do little is the new way for bank to cut costs these days. The day crypto takes over and all banks vanish will be a victory for mankind. I'm not even a crypto investor, I missed that band-wagon, but I now understand why long term there's no alternative to crypto.

Even worse, most banks now have automated answering systems so it's almost impossible to talk to a real person or report a problem that isn't related to an account. I had to dial the number for credit card applications to get a live representative and then have him transfer me to an appropriate department (which didn't really work).

[bubblegum]

9 hours ago, jaywalker2 said:

No, as a US citizen you can't open a bank account with a US bank. Almost all banks and brokerages require that you have a permanent US address to apply. And they might also run a credit check. You might be able to open an account if you have an address in the US that you can use but you run the risk that they will close it if they find out you're living overseas

Read again, I'm talking Eu.

[mdr224]

15 hours ago, JackGats said:

Count yourself lucky not to be from the EU. At least as a US citizen you can still open a US bank account while living in Thailand. Once EU expats lose their EU accounts, there's nothing for it but to bank only in Asia (how do you transfer an EU stock portfolio to Thailand?), or go back and live in the EU for one fiscal year in order to open <deleted>load of new accounts before becoming moving out again.

 

Yes, setting up call-centers manned with employees who know little and can do little is the new way for bank to cut costs these days. The day crypto takes over and all banks vanish will be a victory for mankind. I'm not even a crypto investor, I missed that band-wagon, but I now understand why long term there's no alternative to crypto.

You didnt miss anything. I keep my savings in bitcoin, and only what im ok with losing in a bank.

[jaywalker2]

2 hours ago, bubblegum said:

Read again, I'm talking Eu.

Sorry, I was responding to the other post about opening US bank accounts from Thailand. Wise isn't a bank and I would certainly never put a substantial amount of money in it.

[Celsius]

How different do you think Thai customer service would handle your complaint?

[retarius]

Crapification of customer service and security. Don't worry Citibank probably saved a salary or two moving to the Philippines. 

[ricklev]

18 hours ago, bubblegum said:

Just open a Wise account, it's in Belgium with a Belgium bank nr. and IBAN.

I predict that someday Wise will go out of business causing tremendous losses and sadly all of their account holders will realize that it is not a bank and their losses are not covered by any government agency (in the USA anyway).

[ravip]

21 hours ago, Everyman said:

 

I have several real Citibank credit cards and accounts. Nine out of ten representatives in those Filipino call centers are useless idiots. They know nothing, have no power or common sense and just waste your time. 

 Nine out of ten representatives in those Filipino call centers are useless idiots. They know nothing, have no power or common sense and just waste your time.

 

This is very common today. Call centers are the worst. But, sales persons, technicians, etc are the same - and its international!

We cant expect the service standards we experienced a couple of decades ago.

[mdr224]

12 minutes ago, ricklev said:

I predict that someday Wise will go out of business causing tremendous losses and sadly all of their account holders will realize that it is not a bank and their losses are not covered by any government agency (in the USA anyway).

people hold money on wise? I thought it was just currency conversion

[JackGats]

13 hours ago, jaywalker2 said:

No, as a US citizen you can't open a bank account with a US bank. Almost all banks and brokerages require that you have a permanent US address to apply. And they might also run a credit check. You might be able to open an account if you have an address in the US that you can use but you run the risk that they will close it if they find out you're living overseas

Ok, so US as bad as the EU. Western countries are now screwing their own citizens. From what I see around me Russians have it easier with settling wherever they want and accessing their money.

 

We are now in an inverted Cold War World. Our beloved "democracies" are restricting our freedom. Soon they will start refusing to issue us with passports.

[JackGats]

1 hour ago, Celsius said:

How different do you think Thai customer service would handle your complaint?

Except in Thailand you can still walk into the bank and have your problem taken care of. Which is more than you can say for many banks in other countries. Even non-direct banks, ie banks that have high-street branches, will not do much if you have a technical problem. And if you want cash they will refer you to the nearest ATM, too bad if your ATM card doesn't work.

[mdr224]

4 minutes ago, JackGats said:

Ok, so US as bad as the EU. Western countries are now screwing their own citizens. From what I see around me Russians have it easier with settling wherever they want and accessing their money.

 

We are now in an inverted Cold War World. Our beloved "democracies" are restricting our freedom. Soon they will start refusing to issue us with passports.

You had it right with crypto. Follow your own advice and use bitcoin as your bank. I trust it a lot more than i trust bankers

[JackGats]

Just now, mdr224 said:

You had it right with crypto. Follow your own advice and use bitcoin as your bank. I trust it a lot more than i trust bankers

I suppose you use it with your own crypto wallet? My feeling is that BC exchanges can be as devious as banks when it comes to freezing your account.

[mdr224]

Just now, JackGats said:

I suppose you use it with your own crypto wallet? My feeling is that BC exchanges can be as devious as banks when it comes to freezing your account.

Yeah dont use an exchange, use a hardware wallet like trezor

[Celsius]

Just now, JackGats said:

I suppose you use it with your own crypto wallet? My feeling is that BC exchanges can be as devious as banks when it comes to freezing your account.

 

No, they are much, much worse than banks.

 

 

 

 

 

 

[Pouatchee]

sounds like scam call center... watch this... a hacker scamming scammers

 

 

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tbZeC9IPmhA

 

[Everyman]

3 hours ago, mdr224 said:

people hold money on wise? I thought it was just currency conversion

 

They do, but I’ve always thought it was not a good idea compared to a traditional account. At least Citi is too big to fail, no matter how useless their call centers.