Did anyone else get uninvited MasterCards from Citi?

[Brat]

DH got one as a result of his once having a Sears card, likewise I because of Macy's. We are NOT happy! Canceled them both and will be on the phone to both merchants to make sure our old accounts are canceled ... forever.

 

[piano88]

credit cards

Same here. DW received unwelcome CITI card in the mail which she immediately cancelled. Another annoying and time-wasting expereince.

We also received one for my late mother-in-law who died over a year ago. She will be with us forever based on the mail she continues to receive.

 

[dessert]

I always used to get these cards and other financial garbage daily. I would simply shred them but one day I opened one of them up and read the last page. It included instructions to follow that would take your name off of the list for all such mailouts. I called the number, received a form in the mail, mailed it off and wa-la...no more stuff like that.
I am surprised at how well the process worked.
Give that a try if you want off their list. I recommend it.

 

[Brat]

Oh, but this is different. They are REAL credit cards, just like the one you may already use. Citi claims that they are a REPLACEMENT for your card with (Macy's, Sears... maybe other stores), in our case accounts that we haven't used in many, many years.

 

[chinaco]

Were the accounts active? Or did you have to activate the account?

 

[Brat]

They could be activated by anyone who intercepted the card and the following activation letter. Those of us who live on rural mail routes are familiar with mail theft. It doesn't take a rocket scientist to steal enough information to activate those cards.

 

[dessert]

Oh, but this is different. They are REAL credit cards, just like the one you may already use. Citi claims that they are a REPLACEMENT for your card with (Macy's, Sears... maybe other stores), in our case accounts that we haven't used in many, many years.

Yeah, I guess that does sound different. I used to get cards too and you're right that "anyone who intercepted the mail could activate the card and change the address". That is a common practice I think.

I don't get any of that anymore so you might want to read the fine print somewhere on the last page. That's where I found it.
Good luck with that.

 

[Texas Proud]

Brat...

Sorry for your irritation... but that is what banks do... they buy and sell customers... You had an account with someone and they sold you to Citi... Citi said "here is your new card"... what's the beef??

What if you had owed money? Don't you think Citi should get it from you?

IMO you can be pissed with the company who sold you, but I just don't see where Citi is wrong here..

 

[Eyerishgold]

Citi sends unrequested credit cards - USATODAY.com

I think the beef is that these customers had a Macy's card, which you can only use at Macy's, and Citibank sent out MasterCards which you can use anywhere.

 

[cute fuzzy bunny]

Pull your credit report.

Call and close any inactive accounts you see on it.

Get on the DMA's "dont mail" list
https://www.dmachoice.org/onlineform.php

Have the three credit bureaus stop selling your information
https://www.optoutprescreen.com/?rf=t

Call each bank/credit card/insurance/other financial company you WILL be doing business with and tell them that you are opting out of all information sharing with all other affiliated businesses, internal and external, and opting out of all communications except for matters pertaining to account security.

This stopped it all for us. No offers of credit, no unexpected credit cards, no calls, no junk mail, and a lot less opportunity for fraud.

 

[UncleHoney]

Speaking of the devil, guess what came in the mail this afternoon?

This one was addressed to my father who died 19 years ago. Evidently my mom still had her Macys account in my dads name. She died about 4 years ago and all her accounts were closed. I'll bet Macys got a real charge out of selling names of deceased account holders to Citi Bank.

I don't think I'm even going to bother calling the toll free number to cancel the card, I'll just let Citi think they might have a live one on the hook. Let 'em send some follow up mail and waste some more of their money. From the looks of their stock today I don't think they will be answering the phone tonight, probably busy bailing water and patching leaks. Couldn't happen to nicer people.

As for Macys, they just lost a real live long time credit card customer. Sell my name, and sell your sole.

 

[cute fuzzy bunny]

If I get a card for someone else, I think i'll be going on a shopping spree. At Macys.

 

[Worried in FL]

Pull your credit report.

Call and close any inactive accounts you see on it.

Get on the DMA's "dont mail" list
https://www.dmachoice.org/onlineform.php

Have the three credit bureaus stop selling your information
https://www.optoutprescreen.com/?rf=t

Call each bank/credit card/insurance/other financial company you WILL be doing business with and tell them that you are opting out of all information sharing with all other affiliated businesses, internal and external, and opting out of all communications except for matters pertaining to account security.

This stopped it all for us. No offers of credit, no unexpected credit cards, no calls, no junk mail, and a lot less opportunity for fraud.

Has anyone ever used this optout site? Is it legit?

Worried in FL

 

[cute fuzzy bunny]

Yes I have, and it is. Its funded and operated by the three major credit bureaus.

After using it my credit reports all showed "File Blocked For Promotional Purposes" and all the calls and junk mail for credit card offers, mortgage refinancing and so forth dried up.

 

[Texas Proud]

Has anyone ever used this optout site? Is it legit?

Worried in FL

I used an opt out sight, but don't know if it was this one or not... a lot of them stopped coming except American Express...

Now, I am getting one every few days from the CPA group... I have 5 or 6 stacked up waiting to hit the shredder...

 

[Worried in FL]

Thank you! I hate all those offers that come constantly.

Worried in FL

 

[cute fuzzy bunny]

Just make sure you make the same request to the credit companies and banks you currently do business with. Their standard opt-out allows them to share information with "any partner or affiliate", and I believe they're using the ancient latin definition of 'affiliate', which means 'any other company with a name, and $5'. Citibank was a prime offender.

 

[Sarah in SC]

Hey CFB, what is your opinion on the credit freeze service being rolled out by the big three? Costs $10 per name, per company. Is it worth it? Since we don't intend to apply for any more debt, it seems like a good idea, but $60 is not cheap!

 

[cute fuzzy bunny]

The freeze protects you to a higher degree from identify theft and other fraud. Makes it a pain in the butt to do a lot of things since many companies pull a credit report before offering a service...not just loans. I think the cable company and telephone company did a credit inquiry. And PenFed did an inquiry when they opened my account and sold me CD's.

You'd have to do an explicit unlock for each of those activities and theres a fee for each temporary life/refreeze.

It may be cheaper to get the credit monitoring service from one of them when theres a deal or coupon thing for it. Then you not only can see if someone is opening accounts, you can look at your credit report any time you want. I'm in my second year of getting Equifax for free due to the stolen fidelity laptop fiasco. I check it every six months and they email me if anything on the accounts changes, like adds, credit limit changes, etc.

Then I put an email thingy on all my credit cards and bank accounts to send me a note when any transaction over $250 occurs. I think that pretty much covers me.

But I think I'd put a credit freeze on if I lost my wallet in a weasely foreign country.

 

[nwsteve]

Then I put an email thingy on all my credit cards and bank accounts to send me a note when any transaction over $250 occurs. I think that pretty much covers me.

CFB-
Please say some more about the email thingy. Do all card companies offer and is there a fee? Is part of your credit monitoring service? What is it you have to ask for to get it.
Thanks
nwsteve

 

[cute fuzzy bunny]

I dont think everyone has it, but my credit card and bank accounts do. Theres a 'notifications' section that lets you put in email alerts for large charges, when your bill is due, if your bill is overdue, if the minimum payment hasnt posted, etc.

One of my banks offers a pretty flexible setup. You can lay out all sorts of rules if a balance is over a certain amount and/or some other condition then email me. Nice. I had it set up to alert me if future bill payments exceeded the current account balance so I'd know when I needed to shoot more money into the account.

There was no charge for me for any of this on any account, but that may have been self fulfilling. I dont open accounts anywhere that has any sort of fees whatsoever. My experience has been that if there are plausible fees, that you'll be charged them. Even when the fees dont apply. Wells Fargo seems to find a way to tag my dads free checking with fees for stuff he didnt do every few months, just to make sure he's reading his statements.

 

[Sandy]

Last spring I had my debit card stolen when I used it at a restaurant. While identify theft was unlikely, I contacted the credit agency's and asked to restrict all promotional mailings and to notify me of any credit requests. Most mailings have gone away . and since I didn't go anywhere asking for credit, no hassles on my end.


As for the stolen card, bank immediately caught and refunded mispent funds (they were the ones who notified me within 1-2 hours). Turns out it was an interstate ring, so the FBI got involved. The first defendent has gone down in federal court..facing 15 years . I expect the rest of the co-sonspirators will plea....but that is another story.

 

[UncleHoney]

Isn't this too bad?

Does my little heart good.

Citigroup calls emergency board meeting - Nov. 2, 2007